EVE Online - EVE-Pirate.com (Entries tagged as pirate)

Word Games

nospam@example.com (Hesh) — Mon, 06 Sep 2010 02:15:00 +0200

Oresbain switched on the small astro-mapping terminal. His mission was important and he wanted to be sure his chosen route was accurate. Many pirates before him had lost valuable time and money because of bad navigation. The destination was some run of the mill Concord patrolled system called Halaima. However, the prize was anything but normal. An entire industrial fleet operating at a belt during the sanctioned corporate war his colleagues had so generously arranged not three days before. Latest intra-corporate comms had indicated as many as four Hulk class miners being supported by an Orca command ship.

He phased out the map by flipping the H.U.D. back online. The Ishtar Class HAC creaked and shook as its engines fired up and Oresbain entered the jump sequences. Frozen Miner had been with him a long time; often the only ship within multiple jumps of travel. He had been forced to make special adjustments this time and as a result her maneuvering was a bit more sluggish than his regular standard nano-enhanced setup.

Light and matter compounded in an explosion of transmitted velocity as the gate in Halaima received Frozen Miner from warp. Oresbain double check the local comm registry and set course for the Ninth planet's asteroid belt. His adrenaline surged when he came across their names still in the registry--the intel was still accurate! Bright blue afterburners kicked him back into his seat for the short system warp to the belt.

In the black of Halaima IX, shadows were being extinguished by the orange red glow of Ore industries strip mining lasers. A group of Ore's finest Hulk class mining vessels sat clustered around their command ship and mobile hangar. They sat motionless and proud; a space stonehenge in dedication to efficiency in industry.

Warp shed from his hull, he watched the targeting assist terminal tucked into the corner of his H.U.D. One red target was designated, then two, three, four; an industrial command ship sitting directly in the heart of the fleet! He kicked on the afterburner module to close the 12km between his ship and they prey. Targeting reticules sprang to life as his on board computer bracketed the slow-responding vessels. Frozen Miner slammed into the grouping of Hulks. Industrialist shields collided with assault ship armor and the resulting concussion countered emergency alignment thrusters. At the same moment, the Ishtar spewed Ogre II class combat drones into the already massed confusion of tritanium and energy. Mere moments passed before the first star explosion lit the night with fire and debris. The remaining Hulks continued to align as one managed to enter warp confusion. Oresbain cursed and continued to pulse his warp disruption computer at the remaining ships. Another starburst as his Ogres moved their angry teeth on to the final Hulk and his Ishtar spit hot antimatter plasma at the industrial command ship.

The final Hulk ignited in a flash of dust at nearly the moment Oresbain's comms flashed.

"Please, stop."

Oresbain let the Ogres chew away some of the Orca's remaining armor. "Would I do that? You're mining during a war buddy...you'll get exactly what's coming."

"You're right. Just stop. We're just trying to mine in peace. We didn't want this war. Lets work something out!"

"Haha, ok, how about some isk? Two hundred million should do the trick," he laughed as he keyed up his account in the computer and waited for an indication of a deposit. Moments later his grin grew and his eyes sparkled when the 200 million joined his original balance. "Thanks. Now, did ya wanna work something out or not?"

"You son of a bitch."

Lesson Learned

nospam@example.com (Damien 1) — Sat, 04 Sep 2010 02:14:00 +0200

I am a pirate and I am the most ruthless kind. A true pirate through and through. I only care about getting a lot of good kills, loot, and ransom by any means. I play eve to blow stuff up. I don’t care about people’s feelings and I’m not bound by some higher moral code in this video game. My loyalty is to my friends, my corp, and my alliance and no one else. I think role players and carebears are generally weak and pathetic and most pirates agree with me. I think these mislead kinds of mentalities are something to be ashamed of, where as they would probably feel the same about pirating.

I’ve been in one of the most ruthless pirate corporations and alliances in eve and I have come to tell of one of the most hilarious pirating stories I can remember, because everyone loves a good laugh.
Our whole alliance existed in one low sec system that bordered a busy high sec area. Anything that came into the system that wasn’t blue died and most residents of the area steered clear of the system.

This fine evening I was waiting at a perch in my Megathron with some mates and ready to pounce on anything that came to the gate. Randomly, I got a convo from a neutral in system I had never met. Some pilots had been trying to locate him for about 15 minutes but he was nowhere to be found. I am not sure why he convoed me out of everyone in system… but I prefer to think it was fate.
Me - “How can I help you?”
Him -”I need some help”
Me - “Sure man, what can I do for you”
Him - “Well I am having trouble with this mission and I could really use some help. These ships are really kicking my butt.”
I’m thinking this guy can’t be serious. He comes into our system, a low sec system known for its pirate presence, to run a mission and then convo’s someone with a negative 8 security status to get help with it? I’m thinking this has to be Christmas.
Me - “Well what level mission is it and what are you flying so I know what to bring. Should I be tanked for sansha or guristas?”
Him - “It’s a level 4 and I’m in my raven. Its just my regular tank. I don’t know what you mean.”
Me - “Hold on a minute, let me grab my ship.”

He actually told me what he was flying and I confirmed it by d-scan. All the intel I could ever hope for. I get on voice coms and I tell everyone in system whats going on. We all meet at the perch and I tell everyone to hold and not say anything in local. After all, we were hoping it was a trap.

Me - “Well I’m ready. Why don’t you join our fleet so I can warp to you.”
Him - “Join your fleet? Ok sure”
HAHAHA! He actually joined the fleet with my entire alliance in it! We all warped to the mission gate and warped into the mission grid at the same time. He was 50k from the warp in point and he freaked out when he saw all the ships we brought and immediately warped off. Aww, crap. I tell everyone to start shooting the rats and stay at the warp in.
Me - “Where did you go? We all came in to help you with your mission? Come back dude we need your help with this. We are taking a lot of damage and some of us have to warp out.”
Him - “Sorry, I saw a bunch of flashy red guys and I ran. I’ll come back.”
Me - “Hurry up we need your help.”
Him – “I’m coming.”

I told everyone in voice coms he was coming back and they kept pretending to help with the mission. He warped back in. He was immediately tackled and my alliance opened fire. I shouted in local “Hey guys what are you doing?” (pause) “No don’t shoot him he is the friendly we are helping! Shoot the rats not him!” Meanwhile we are all laughing so hard in voice coms we can barely breathe. Tears streaming down my face I am laughing so hard. His ship pops fast under the hail storm of dps and he warps out of system in his pod. The walk of shame.

Him - “What the hell man?? You blew me up?”
Me - “Im so sorry dude it was a mistake. I didn’t shoot you at all, check your killmail. They thought you were neutral and panicked. Bunch of morons. I told them not to shoot you. I can’t believe I asked them to help. They killed most of the ships in this mission for you though. I can help you finish your mission if you want. I won’t ask for their help this time. I just thought they would get it done faster. Do you have any other ships?”
Him – “Its ok man I understand I guess. Yea I have a brutix I just bought in Dodixie and I need to fit it. Let me go get it.”

Im thinking, he cant be serious can he? Is he really going to go get another ship for us to kill? All my alliance mates let the GCC wear off and they go wait on gate. About 20 minutes pass go by and I hear a roar of laughter in voice coms.

Him – “They blew me up.”
Me – “Huh?”
Him –“They just blew up my brutix when I jumped into system”
Me – “You gotta be kidding me. I told them you were coming and not to shoot you. I am so sorry dude. I should have linked your name and stuff. They just said they didn’t realize it was you. What a bunch of idiots. We have had a lot of ships come through here in the last few minutes and they thought you were with them.”
Him – “I thought you told them not to shoot me.”
Me – “I did I swear! Do you still want to finish this mission? I can’t do it alone.”
Him – “I guess. The only ship I have left is my merlin and I don’t have any money left. Fitting that brutix was all I had”
Me – “That merlin should be enough.”

Sure enough he comes back into system and gets insta-popped on gate by everyone waiting for him, haha. This was back when there were only one size of rig and they were expensive as hell. We found out when we posted the killmail that he had rigged his frigate and it was worth 20-30 million isk, lol!
He finally realized he had been had.

Me – “What did you learn? Never trust a pirate.”

We blew up every last asset he had and he kept coming back again and again. Stupidity is the only constant in the eve universe and my ship is fueled by carebear tears. The odd thing is I didn’t get on any of the killmails because if I had, he wouldn’t have believed I was on his side. It was still some of the most fun I’ve had in the game and one of my finest displays of my talent as a scammer. I did take the time afterward to tell him every stupid mistake he had made and try to make sure he learned his lesson well. I normally don’t do that but I thought after all he had lost, he should walk away with something priceless – how to make sure it never happens again.

I am not with that corp anymore, but I have to admit I will always miss it.

outnumbered, outgunned... fuck it lets go

nospam@example.com (pushbyte) — Mon, 23 Aug 2010 17:10:00 +0200

with the disolving of the space police we are now left with the remnants of a once thriving pirate alliance now scrounging to put fleets together from what is left. what caused the disbanding is not even important as it had nothing to do with our efficiancy in pirating. so we are left with this state of affairs...
gunmen have increased their forces, lg has fled and united have been keeping to themselves. the former space police, gunmen and united are all at ends with one another and fighting daily. most of the united have respect for the space police systems and do not travel in them often. the gunmen on the other hand, look for every opportunity to camp out gates stopping high sec targets from entering and waiting for easy kills. this makes us angry.
we decided to take a trip to otou to harass the gunmen a little and see what else we could find. we took in a raptor, curse and drake. there are a few gunmen in system, maybe 5 or 6, but they appear to be afk for the most part. we see a rupture and merlin on scan, they appear to be ss'd. our drake pilot hops in his arazu and begins to probe...

Continue reading "outnumbered, outgunned... fuck it lets go"

Becomming a pirate

nospam@example.com (Joe Hawks) — Sat, 17 Jul 2010 02:06:00 +0200

So iv been playing EVE for a few years now, and iv always been the nice guy helping out people. I do not can flip nore warp into peoples missions, and iv been grinding missions with a nice 5.0 sec.

Yesterday i desided to start another account and have a blast. Iv always seen the boards in space with most wanted and thought... why not try the dark side of the game.

Anyway Joe Hawks was born and i though i better get going with the tutorials.

After i finished the first two military tutorials i had to wait for a skill to finish to carry on next tutorial.

Well... how could i kill time waiting with not even 50.000 skill point. Gunnery 1, Minmatar frigate 2, propulsion Jamming 1, Afterburner 1, Armor repair 1.

I fitted the Slasher i got in the tutorial with 2x 150mm ac, 1 warp scram, 1 armor repper and an afterburner and headed out.

Continue reading "Becomming a pirate"

First Attempt At Piracy - Success!

nospam@example.com (Slaul) — Sun, 30 May 2010 02:20:00 +0200

I decided to fit out a Rifter with a cookie-cutter build and go cruising around low-sec looking for a fight. I found one. While jumping through the asteroid belts in a 0.4 system, I encountered some wrecks. Checking the ownership details, I found out whose wrecks they were and that this pilot was still in local! So I kept jumping through the belts, this time moving more quickly, and after three or four more jumps I found him! He was piloting a Vexor ratting the belts with T1 light scout drones and T1 medium scout drones.

Since it was my first time out and I've only been playing EVE for about three weeks now, I was slightly intimidated by the idea of fighting the Vexor and all the drones at the same time but I decided to do it anyways. It'd be good experience regardless of the outcome.I quickly moved in, afterburner blazing, while the Vexor pilot simply looted his wrecks; didn't he notice me?

Once I made it within range, I activated my scrambler and stasis webifier and quickly started orbiting at 500m. Within moments his shields were going down under the combined firepower of three 150mm autocannons and a rocket launcher. However, the Vexor had not yet opened fire or attacked with drones. What was he doing? Did he have a secret weapon? Apparently not because around when I started hitting his armor he finally began attacking me with, if I recall correctly, 250mm railguns which could not hit me. His drones, however, were now attacking me and were eating through my shields rather quickly.

Choosing to forgo targeting the drones in favor or trying to finish the Vexor quickly, I kept all my firepower on the main target and in short order he was into structure. At this point I opened a conversation hoping for a nice ransom to pad my wallet. However the Vexor pilot turned out to be Russian and did not speak English so he did not understand my demands for ISK and I ended up destroying the Vexor in one of the most beautiful explosions I have seen in EVE.

I decided to let the pod go and just go straight for the loot. A decision that probably enabled me to escape with any loot at all because seconds after I had filled my cargohold a battleship warped to zero right on top of me! With my armor and ammo running low, I decided to warp to a nearby planet and then docked at a station to survey my winnings. In total I made over 1.5M from my first kill!

It was a good day and I look forward to more kills, and probably deaths, in the future.

-Slaul

Mistakes and Lessons Learned

nospam@example.com (Seligas) — Sat, 29 May 2010 02:20:00 +0200

I suppose we all start somewhere in this vast universe. Alone in the middle of nowhere, a tutorial window hollering at you to do its bidding before carelessly sending you off into the broad expansion of Eve to make your first mistakes. I made many such mistakes - some cost me my ship, some my life, and even worse, some, my pride. I came into Eve not knowing where I was going. I fit a ship, haphazardly throwing on whatever I thought would work - a shield booster, an armor repairer, some mismatched weapons - nothing really seemed to work. I would lose ship after ship before finally mastering the art of fitting - to a degree.

By this time, I gleaned much from others - learning of the ways of the universe, knowing how much there was to explore, and conquest. I realized how much wrong there was - pirates, ninjas, can flippers, gate campers, spies, thieves - and I began to have visions of glorious battle, of myself piloting a powerful ship and hunting down these miscreants. So just barely into a cruiser, I fit up something possibly held together with popsicle sticks and paper-mâché and hurled myself into the mysterious unknown(low security space, because I was a wuss).

I'm not sure what I was honestly thinking back then. Perhaps I thought I could tackle whatever lie out there in wait, utilizing my "massively powerful" small tech 1 blasters against such foes. I really don't know - but I digress. I jumped to the nearest 0.4 system and quickly found myself warping between asteroid fields, melting down computer pirates while I searched for a real one. To my misfortune, they found me first - two of them, to be exact. They demanded a payment of 100 million for my ship and my life - a sum of money I could not fathom at my current state of existence.

Knowing full well the outcome of this exchange, my set of blasters made an underwhelming counter-proposal against their shields. Before I knew it, I was a small pod in the midst of vacuum as their interceptor-class frigates locked and opened fire. Score: Pirates one, Me: Zero. Chalk up one more mistake made, one more lesson learned.

After what I considered at the time to be a fairly costly mistake, I came to a realization that perhaps a pirate hunter's life wasn't for me. Instead I settled for high security space, training my skills and running missions to pass the time. I thought I was safe here of course, as many naïve fools are wont to believe, and went about my daily life as if the whole fiasco in low security space had never happened. However, I soon realized how wrong I was to believe that even here, surrounded by Concord and their single-minded intent to hunt down and slaughter even the most minor offender.

By now, I had a battlecruiser, decked out in missiles and an unbreakable passive shield tank - a Drake, you guessed it - running level 4's at a slow but steady rate. I came across a particularly difficult mission that had me warping in and out constantly to maintain my tank while slowly picking them off to the point where my shields would hold. It was in the middle of this process that I suddenly noticed a big red square on my overview - a merlin-class frigate, stealing something out of one of my wrecks. I had just killed the mission objective, and I didn't want him stealing that before I could get my hands on it, so I "shooed" him away with my drones.

I sigh now. Another mistake made, and yet another lesson about to be learned. Add another tally to the pirate score you are no doubt keeping track of in your head, for within minutes I found myself staring down the large blocky bulk of another drake - piloted by none other than the same pirate who had been in the merlin. I honestly do not think he would have posed much a problem had I been taking only his fire - but with my shields already buckling under the pressure of several computer battleships as it was, I soon found myself staring at the scattered remains of my own drake. Fortunately, I was able to dock with the nearest station rather than find myself waking up in a cloning vat.

As was only natural, I was very angry with the pirate. I was naïve enough to message him without realizing that his original intent was to kill me in the first place. I apologized profusely for firing on his merlin, stating that killing me in retribution had been entirely unnecessary. I relayed my dismay that I simply could not afford to buy and refit another ship like that, and how far it would set me back. He drank my tears and dined on my loss - laughing at my misfortune. The billows had been pumped, and the ashes sparked aflame again. My resolve to hunt down and slaughter these miscreants was renewed.

Fortunately, this time around I had a corporation to lean on and was able to regain my ship at the cost of my pride. I did not seek revenge, and called off the manhunt that was about to be set loose. I had made the mistake of firing on him - the loss was on my shoulders, not his. However, I was tired of these pirates, preying on the weak and the naïve. I wanted to do something, anything - but was afraid that any action I could take would simply lead once more to my ruin.

However, an idea sparked one day. Born when a new corporation mate was can flipped - one of the other members warned them off about firing on the wrongdoer. I realized that I could turn the tables - that I could choose to initiate the fight, and who I fought. I had seen it on battleclinic - an interesting fit involving an Osprey fit with a single mining laser, and then filled out with a battle fitting made for taking out players.

The plan was simple - I would fit such a cruiser, taking care to place a mining laser that didn't take up too many resources, and I would find a suitable system with a multitude of players and asteroid fields. There I would mine ore into a can and wait for someone to flip it, and lo and behold, the "mining ship" would suddenly open fire and hopefully take them by surprise. It was foolproof, or so I hoped. With that tactic in mind, I could pick my targets, even as they picked me, choosing one of a suitable difficulty level without any risk. If it worked out, then I would continue to do it.

The time came, and I initiated the plan. After jumping around aimlessly, checking the starmap for suitable systems, I finally found a high-security system, chocked full of asteroid fields and with no lack of players meandering about their business. I picked the first asteroid field I saw and warped out to it. Miners, everywhere - the place was mostly stripped. A second field almost proved suitable - only two miners present, but spread out just enough to reach from one end of the field to the other with their mining lasers. I was looking for a field where I could seclude myself - to present a juicier, defenseless target.

The third jump found me precisely what I wanted. A miner or two were active off to one side of the field, but the other side was completely untouched and barren of anyone. I burned my way over to a space rock, jetted the ore I had brought with me, and turned on my mining laser. A few cycles passed, with not much going on. One of the miners on the other side of the field had taken aggro from some computer-controlled pirates, so I sent my four T2 hobgoblins to help them out - giggling to myself as I called them back - they'd be a nasty surprise.

A few more cycles found a new ship entering the overview. It's name was "Stabber", and it appeared to be heading right for me - slowly. A cruiser. I wasn't really sure how to proceed as he approached. Should I really take the risk, or should I wait for something more along the lines of a frigate? I was assaulted with indecision as I watched him crawl across the kilometers between us and enter a makeshift orbit. He sat there, orbiting me, judging and weighing me - he left the can untouched for what seemed like hours, but was only seconds. My heart was beating like the bass of a homosexual nightclub, I could hear and feel it reverberating within my chest.

And then, the can was gone.

A burst of primal instinct flared up as a red square invaded the overview. Without even thinking, I already found myself locking onto it and looking to my modules. Missile launchers, nosferatu, webifier, warp scrambler, damage control - and last but not least, my drones swarmed out like a hive of angry wasps. My weapons and drones wailed on his shields and within an instant his too were set loose upon me. I watched as his cruiser altered its course, trying to gain some distance, or perhaps orbit me. But he soon realized the folly and simply stopped in place.

The battle dragged on - our shields dropping almost as if synchronized. To my alarm, my shields appeared to drop faster before screeching to near halt at about 20%. His however stopped closer to 10%, his armor getting scratched and lightly scuffed by the damage slowly getting through. My heart was still pounding, and my burst of wild instinct had drained and was replaced with panic as I watched my shields once more drop and reach armor. I recalled my drones with the intention of escaping, forgetting to realize that he too had thought to warp scramble me in case of just such an occasion - I had honestly hoped he would forget to do it.

With nothing left to me but imminent destruction, I set my drones upon him once more and did what damage I could - watching my armor retreat into structure, and structure retreat into the emptiness of space. As I stared out into the starry expanse with nothing but the shell of a pod between me and endless blackness, I briefly wondered where I had gone wrong. What could I have done differently with my life here in Eve? Had I actively pursued the life of a pirate hunter even after my first defeat, would I have lost that encounter? Would my path have been much different? With another heavy loss on my shoulders, my pod warped off to a nearby station to pick up a shuttle and head home. I tallied up another victory for the pirates.

I contacted the pirate afterward. I congratulated him on his victory, and found out that he had been just as scared shitless as I had been about his own defeat, and rewarded me by telling me how much the drones had surprised him. We laughed a bit and parted ways, I off to my corporation's headquarters, and he presumably to flip his next can. I suddenly didn't feel so bad about my loss. Perhaps pirates aren't so bad after all.

Then I yelled a curse really loud when I realized I had forgotten to fit the rigs I had bought.

Another mistake made, another lesson learned.

A series of unfortunate events.

nospam@example.com (faedenwulf) — Tue, 02 Feb 2010 11:54:00 +0100

So this is my first entry on eve-pirate and one of my first few times
at pirating. Forgive me if this is badly written or not too awfully
interesting, hopefully with time and a little more experience in both
areas it will get better .....

Our story begins in Horkkisen, a dead end system right beside Eitu and
Erila. Horkkisen is a low sec system (.4) so most of the time if we
pirate we do it in the belts or at the plex gate for fear of being
ripped to shreds by sentry guns, that is unless someone decides to
aggress us first on gate. Anyhow, a few friends of mine finally found
the time to meet and play between work, which in our case is just
short of a miracle. We had devised what we thought would be a pretty
good pirating plan, scan someone down, warp in, point, and kill until
we could ask for a ransom. (I am going to use real names in this story
as i don't think there were any hard feelings between any of us) Robhe
was flying his newly acquired vengeance, an Amarrian assualt frig,
which is great for tank and tackle but not so hot on dps. I was also
flying an Amarr AF, the retribution which is an absolutely amazing
tank and dps dealer but sadly is gimped with only one mid slot so
basically robhe tackled and i (kalebhuff) dealt dps. We also had a
third memeber of our party, Laroqu, who was a fair nooblet still
within his 14 day free trial. We had him in a punisher and he was set
up to basically, as much as i hated to say it, be our "bait." He would
sit in a belt, pretend he was ratting and when someone aggressed he
would throw down a point and hopefully we could make it in before he
got popped . As soon as we landed in horkk I popped open the scanner
and had a quick look, we had a brutix and caracal on scan. First we
split up. I would check the plex gate and robhe and laroqu would start
on opposite ends of the belts and work their way inward. As fate would
have it laroqu found both the caracal and brutix working together
ratting in one of the last belts...muahahahahahah!!! I got ready, and
warped in on laroqu, robhe and I landed at about the same time.
Immediately the brutix set in on me and unleashed his drones (tech 1 hammerheads i believe..shoulda had t2).
He honestly wasnt doing too much damage because we were speed tanking and repping just fine, even laroqu in his t1 punisher.
After about 5 minutes he went pop...WOOOO! Our first kill! Then we moved onto the caracal, for some reason he hadn't warped off, call it loyalty or just not thinking, he was there. So we sent laroqu after him to pin him down. Here is where the story takes an interesting turn...after we had him pinned, one of my corp mates Kardea, warped in to give us a little back up. However he didnt realize that laroqu was friendly and had not been invited into the corp yet. He finished of the caracal in a matter of seconds, and then...proceeded to aggress laroqu. Immediately i start slamming the private chat we had been in "LAROQU IS FRIENDLY! STOP SHOOTING HIM!" It took Kardea about 5 seconds to pop laroqu and then he preceeded to traget his pod. Again I slam private chat, then slam local "LAROQU FRIENDLY!!!!!" All the while laroqu remains silent on coms, quietly accepting his fate. After he was killed Kardea apologized and laroqu wasnt upset, as his setup was easily replaceable. I am actually going to include a text message sent to my wife from his mom quoting laroqu while the whole thing went down, it was actually pretty funny to see how non gaming women view the game....

(Laroqu (Andy's) mom to my wife) So Andy is sitting over here going
"We've got someone in the system!!!!!
we've got someone in the system!!! Oh cardao is helping us.
I think Cardao is killing me.
Cardao is about to pop me
he already blew my ship up.
I got potted..."

Arbitrary Judgement

nospam@example.com (Blacknova) — Sun, 31 Jan 2010 11:54:00 +0100

Due to the encouragement received (thank you Kissa for your comment on my last post!) I am going to tell you all a tale of a slightly better battle than last time! Huzzah!

Many players believe that in combat, having a bigger ship means you win. This, as I am about to demonstrate through the incontrovertible truth of "Me saying it", is not the case. I have recently begun to grow a little tired of my can-flipping activities - miners are a spirited bunch, but aren't always equipped to provide a stimulating battle - and so have found a new way to curb my blood-lust. I need only three things: A scan ship with probes, a cruiser, and the ability to stop myself hitting the "Warp" button when I enter structure. The last of those was absolutely vital in this encounter...

My weapon of choice - the Amarr arbitrator. I am a drone specialist, and so probably should have trained for Gallente, but the Amarr vessels looked so pretty and shiny, how could I resist? Anyway, enough of my rambling - on to the method! Firstly, I use the scan-ship to scan down a mission runner in one of the major level 4 mission hubs (But which one? Ah, you shall never know! Unless I tell you later). I then proceed to it at warp in my arbitrator, appraise myself of my target, judge his viability for pew-pew, and then...steal his "ultra-valuable" mission loot. It's usually something like a cap booster 800.

At this point, the following thoughts tend to cross the mind of the target. Either 1) Hey, that guy's in a cruiser stealing from a battleship? Something's going on here...I'm not rising to it. This, ladies and gentlemen, is the sensible option, which I implore you all to take if I ever show up in your mission. Alternatively, the mark could think 2) Hey, what does this guy think he's doing, stealing my cap boosters? I shall show him my 1337 pew-pew skillz! I must be able to win easily, because I'm in a battleship!

Unfortunately for my victim in this story, they thought 2) was the best answer to their problem. I had scanned myself down an Abaddon! I like Amarr battleships - because I armor tank, I have pretty nice EM resistances, and that's pretty much all lasers do. This particular Abaddon was fighting Guristas - so naturally, I gave them every chance by taking Explosive drones that they were weak to. Aren't I lovely?

As soon as I went flashy red, I saw myself being targeted. Wonderful...now let's see if that plate holds up. I almost forgot to turn on my damage control II, but was rather glad I did...the first volley cut my armor down to 40%! At this point, I seriously considered running like a frightened child. I then weighed up the options: 1) 2 more shots like that and I'm toast. 2) I'm 15km away from this guy. Most likely using beams. Probably inside multifrequency optimal. 3) My afterburner means I can close rather quickly... 4) Oooh, I have tracking disruptors! *pokes activation button*.

Unfortunately, that wasn't quite enough...another shot slammed into my hull, setting alarms off across the ship. Tactical readouts showed my armor vanish, and my hull plummet to 14%! My ship was on fire, and the metaphorical space-rats were abandoning ship. Oh dear...well, no time to align and warp now!

I hit the warp disruptor and the armor repper, waiting for the next shot. After the cycle time of about 9.2 seconds, it came. White-hot energy lanced out of the Abaddon's guns, scything towards my stricken cruiser, and...missed. My tracking disruptors had done their work, and I was now within 2km of the ship. There was nothing it could do to hit me!

I surveyed my arsenal - now I had all the time in the world. There were no members of my victims corps in channel, so I could do this calmly. With 14% hull, I couldn't make any mistakes...especially not with my orbital velocity. It was then that I noticed a cloud of drones spewing forth from the Abaddon...the Hornet I's of imminent doom! Launching my own light drones (tech 2), I made short work of them and the vespa I's that followed. Now I had truly eliminated all threats, and I recalled my light drones and threw my medium drones upon the battleship.

Slowly, my drones pecked away at the armor of the mighty vessel. After 15 minutes, there were still none of the pilot's corpies in local - and now they couldn't touch me anyway, as the aggression timer was over. Yay. Still, I had about half of this guy's armor to go. It was at this point that I remembered that I had neuts fitted.

Feeling like an idiot, I threw my tech 2 neuts onto the ship as well. The armor started dropping rapidly now - obviously his repper couldn't function without cap. My capacitor needed careful management too, but I had the advantage of a Nosferatu as well.

A further 2 minutes of this treatment and I had armor down to a tiny sliver. I toyed with the idea of seeing it explode so I could have a nice, shiny, Abaddon killmail to polish, but I remembered my lessons that I learned on EVE - Pirate...Real pirates ransom. Unless its a war target. Opening a conversation, I am treated to a lovely, polite opening line from my victim..."Wtf?". Granted, I have just committed a random act of violence against them and their shiny ship. I start with my customary "Hello sir, you appear to be in a spot of pirate - related difficulty. Shall we agree a price to rectify this situation?". My victim is quite co-operative, and pays me a cool 35 million for the safe release of their ship. Honoring the ransom, I de-activate my scrambler and watch the battleship limp towards the nearest station. Now to get the holes in my damn ship fixed...

I had thought that the end of the story would lie there, but no! My CEO received an EVE-mail from my victim, which he forwarded to me (After he had stopped laughing at my new escapades). Here it is, readers - the message itself. Bear in mind that the character I attacked was 2 months older than my own.

"Being a chick and new to this game I just have to say something. I just want to tell you its really crappy what your corp member did to me. I understand your corp likes pvp and Im a 'carebear' but II havent learned enough in this game so its my choice. Its one thing to pvp its another thing to come into someones mission who is minding there own business almost kll them and ransom them I dont think thats fair play. Personally I think its fucked up. And I am sure this is falling on deaf ears since youzmay condone this action but I feel I had to say my peace. And this is definately not directed to you personally but someday I will get a grasp on this game and get my shit together (as long as people like your mate dont jack me) and what goes around comes around."

No spellcheckers were harmed (or used) in the creation of this EVEmail. By the way, I really look forward to the time they do come after me and "What goes around comes around". I could use a fight!

Until next time I manage to find something interesting in my Inbox, this is me, signing off. Fly safe - but not too safe!

We were carebears....

nospam@example.com (Gunnythok) — Tue, 06 Jan 2009 04:19:00 +0100

War, my favorite activity. War is my business, I enjoy my work. My desire to do this work started a very long time ago in Erila. I was in my second private corporation. I joined Apex Elite Security after my own initial corporation proved impractical for one person to run. Most of our operations were those of the mining variety. All of our other work consisted of security work for Caldari Navy. Inoue was home to all of us, it had everything we needed, but not everything we wanted. It was only a matter of time before our members grew restless and began roaming into Erila and Horkkisen.

There was always the burning curiosity for new pilots to explore the low security systems. We didn't know about the prevalence of piracy in low security, we simply knew that there were "bad" people out there, so it came as something of a surprise when one of our members' brutix was being attacked while hunting guristas. Naturally, we were all enraged, but still timid to the thought of engaging another capsuleer, one who probably knew more about what he was doing than we did. I hopped into my brand new, and poorly fitted Moa, Vlad in his caracal, and Drake in his bellicose; we tore space heading over there, just in time to see the our corpmate's pod approaching the gate back to inoue. We went to the belt where it happened, not knowing what we wanted, but definitely finding out what we didn't.

We arrived to see a rupture floating about, it's pilot, Sinickal, wasted no time in showing us what she was there for and proceeded to lock onto Drake and engage with great fervor, the kind only seen by people who really enjoy what they do (I only experienced this later). Drake, like us, had no idea how to fit a ship effectively for any purpose, we all went for the fabled "MacGuyver" fit that so many new pilots choose to go with; his bellicose didn't last long, all the while we were firing everything we had at this pirate, this person of low moral fiber. Next one on the spit was Vlad, he was the first member of our corp to have a cruiser, it's a pity that it had to go without a single kill under it's belt.

I really don't need to put very much detail into the combat because if you're reading this, you can probably imagine more or less what happened. All I need to point out is that at that time, warp core stabilizers had no penalties that would deter even a new pilot like myself from fitting them, and it saved my moa. Saved it so I could warp off, defeated. I felt demoralized, I was a director, we had just recruited a new pilot not more than an hour prior, and we got sent running with our tails between our legs. After the obligatory, "We're going to keep coming back until you're dead" type of conversation that almost always happens when young capsuleers get their first taste of combat was over, we took to decreeing that Erila was off limits for our corp, we even took such a stance as to tell our people that they shouldn't shoot each other because it wasn't good comradery. Eventually, I learned to respect what Sinickal did to us that day; she inspired me to learn more about fighting, that's for certain, but she also made such an impact as to be the first big step to being the pilot I am today. Also, yarr.

Fly Safe kids,
Gun.

Cleared for publication by: Ander

Change of Plans

nospam@example.com (ignemiati) — Sat, 30 Aug 2008 01:29:00 +0200

"We're not going to wait for contact with the locator agent", the Fleet Commander(FC) shouted over the Fleet comms link. Our 9 ship squad was poised in close formation less than 2500m away from the Stargate, that leads to a system that a few war target pilots were reported to have been in; however, our scout has confirmed the contrary. "Bandit Actual, Bandit Actual, this is Birds Nest", came over the comms from headquarters(HQ), "Birds Nest this is Bandit Actual send it", the FC responded. The comms officer at HQ replied, "Bandit Actual we have confirmed 6 reds(enemy pilots) in system, I say again we have confirmed there are 6 reds in system, how copy", "Solid copy Birds Nest, 6 reds in system" barked the FC. "Bandit Actual, what is your current position", the comms officer at HQ asked, "we're currently 10 jumps out from base, Birds Nest", replied the FC. "Roger that Bandit Actual, return to Base and engage red pilots on contact, how copy", asked the comms officer, "Solid copy Birds Nest, Bandit Actual return to Base, Bandit Actual out".

The FC addressed the fleet on Fleet comms and ordered everyone to set destination to Base and align to the next Stargate. The nine-ship squad turned in unison toward the Stargate and headed in its direction. The search for the war targets was put on hold as we all began downloading the reports of what ships the red pilots are in, and where in the system they were last spotted. At the 4 jumps out mark the FC got word from HQ that the red pilots have moved out of the system. "Change of plans gents, looks like HQ wants a blockade at the empire gate(a Stargate in the HQ system that links high-sec to low-sec, our base being on the low-sec side), once in system get re-fitted or change ships if needed, for a blockade setup and form up at the empire gate in 10 mins, how copy", the FC barked over Fleet comms, all of the squad members responded in order confirming their acknowledgment, "Bandit Actual, this is Bandit Five, solid copy", was my response.

When we were 1 jump out from base I ordered my comms officer to make contact with the Dock Officer at HQ. "Sir I have the Dock Officer on link", my Comms Officer informed me, "good, tell him to prep the Caracal Navy Issue(A-1) for a blockade with max damage output", I ordered. After jumping into the HQ system the Intel Officer reported, "zero reds in system sir". "Align to dock, warp when ready", I ordered as my Blackbird(E-4) cruiser came out of jump cloak and aligned to the HQ station. While the ship was moving through the warp corridor towards the HQ, I gave the crew their disembark and re-embark orders and then checked the last reports from HQ on the activities in local the past thirty minutes. The reports were reasonably mild, a few rats got splashed and a dullwatt(idiot) miner got popped in an ice field. This dullwatt somehow did enough research to find an ice field one jump out of high sec, but doesn't do the extra clicks to find out that it is home to a few pirate corps.........dullwatt.

At the HQ the ship change went smoothly, the crew were moving into their stations aboard the A-1 quickly and the officers were reporting 100% systems and stations readiness. "Sir we are ready to undock" the Bridge Officer turned and said to me, "Undock and align to the empire gate", I ordered. Outside the HQ station my corp-mates were testing their resistances and locking speeds on each otherâ€™s ships, once assured they can tank damage as long as they plan to, they warped off toward the gate to get into position. When the A-1 came out of warp at the empire gate, the trap was already set by my fellow corp mates and a few blue(friendly pilots of another corp) pilots in BS's, BC's, and Tech 2 cruisers.

"Gate Fire, Gate Fire", exploded over the Fleet comms link, "Ready the launchers", I ordered, "Launchers ready" the Missile Chief barked. Then the overview lit up when the unknown ship came out of jump cloak, "Its a Vagabond" my Intel Officer informed me, "Not blue shoot it, get webs on it fast", the FC shouted over Fleet comms. The sentry guns came alive blasting into my corp-mates who were quick enough to lock and fire first. As soon as my ship's sensors gained lock the missile launchers opened up with a thunderous roar and a bright glow.

The infamous blue hue from a corp mates weber wrapped around the Vagabond as my heavy missiles closed in on it with screaming velocity. The BS's already nullified the Vagabond's shields so my volley of heavy missiles smashed directly into the Vagabond's armor releasing an incredible amount of kinetic energy upon impact. The other ships unleashed a portion of their ordinance payloads into the Vagabond, which commenced its destruction. After the fantastic light display from the large amounts of energy released when the Vagabond erupted disappeared, the dull metallic glare of a pod capsule could be seen. The pilot tried to maneuver her lone pod to align to any object in which she could warp off to relative safety, only to be locked and popped as well. I'd bet that pilot wishes she had a change of plans before she jumped into this system.

Cleared for publication by: Ander

My first solo

nospam@example.com (DexterTripod) — Tue, 22 Jul 2008 00:40:00 +0200

I was cruising through my home system getting used to my new ship. I can't believe I forgot about the station guns.
sigh

"Oh well, gotta learn somehow" I keep telling myself.

The system has been dead most of the night and I'm about to set my nav to the station and call it when I see a blip appear on my scanner. It's one I remember seeing earlier but was too busy tweaking my targetting computer to track it down. I do a quick scan and don't see any 'buddies' hiding in the system so I decide to go take a look.

"Hmmm, a Merlin."

I track him from cluster to cluster, looks like he's ratting.

My hands are shaking from the adrenaline rush. This is my first try at this with no corp backup.

I punch in the coordinates for the cluster's planet and scan each belt.

"Got him!"

He's sitting in a belt face to face with one of the local rats...I'm not sure he even saw me warp in behind him. I quickly throw the nose of my ship toward him and punch the MWD on full. Gotta close this distance fast.

My targetting computer screams as positive lock is established and I scramble his computer.

"No where to run now my friend"

I feel the slight shudder of my ship as my weapons toss their deadly payload toward him. Explosions all around him as his shields and armor melt away. It all happens much faster than I expected as the void of space explodes in a brilliant light in front of me. I lock down the pod and send the pilot on a quick trip back to the cloning facility.

Quickly securing the leftovers from the wreck, I zip off to a safespot to wait out the timer...those station guns are cruel mistresses.

I constantly watch my scanner for 'friends' to jump in and start hunting me. My heartrate finally slowing down I realize in my haste I had forgotten to turn on my defenses! 'Good thing he went down quick or I would've looked REALLY stupid' I think to myself.

A comm flickers from my CEO:

"Congrats"

I smile to myself, "So this is it...this is what I've been searching for..."

I hear my warp drives powering up as I turn toward home...

"Yarrr"

Cleared for publication by: Ander

Hunt: To Be, or Not To Be.

nospam@example.com (Ziku) — Mon, 21 Jul 2008 00:40:00 +0200

I have never agreed too much with Gallente ship design, always thought it to be too 'pretty'. The soft lines, a smooth bubbly forms... Put that Engineering effort into making a better Auto Cannon I say. But there is just something about the way that Thorax felt, that rush of power flowing in when all systems came online. I havenâ€™t felt this way since my first Hurricane. Even the tight, swept back form of this vessel appealed to me. I continue to fantasize the killing potential in this craft until the proximity alerts go off.
Single Target in-bound. I had dropped out of warp less than fifteen seconds ago and already a target! Rifter class frigate. Thought spans in all directions, as my ship fires all engines, leans into a tight orbit, slips into partial warp with the Micro Warp Drive, and the concentration shifts to locking the target. All modules stand ready as my sensors pinpoint their target. I can feel my mouth water, I have to force I swallow.
Lock. A brief moment everything dims as all modules light off. Warp Scrambler, Statis Webifier, and Four Nosferatu modules. Almost as quickly, energy surges back in to the capacitors, bleeding the target dry.
The Drones, already armed, spill from their hiding place, blazing towards the target. Their first combined volley tears away the Rifter shields. No big accomplishment there, but when the second and third sear and char their way through the Rifterâ€™s armor and into his hull I giggle. I command a ceasefire to the drones.
I hail my target. Two Hundred Thousand ISK. Short and sweet. I'm nervous at this point, I'd rather not become someone else's kill. This is taking too long. I start counting off over comms.
Five.
Four.
Three.
Two.
... A reply. "1 second"
One Decimal Five.
One and One Third.
One Decimal One.
Another message, begging "I'm a new pilot"
Decimal Nine.
Decimal Five.
Zero.
The drones eagerly jump to life. Their first volley ignore what little shield recharge had occurred in the interval. Pieces of the Rifter go spewing in all direction as that one lucky round ruptures the Fusion Core.
The Escape Pod flies past my Thorax, already initiated into Warp. That's fine. There will be others.
I hit Warp again; I spent too long in that belt. Next time I'll know not to wait so long. After a few belts my mind wanders back to the plasma cloud burning freely from my last target. What beauty is to be found in destruction!
Proximity alert! My warp drive had already aligned to the next belt. Scanners already cleared their cache. What was that?
I stop in this belt and fire up the MWD. I want some distance between me and the opponent. Local comms start to chatter. I'm being hunted! The thrill sparks again. A whole new rush, not of the kill, but of the chase.
I let my eagerness gets the best of me. I allow my position to slip over comms, and within seconds a Rupture class cruiser warps in. With over 243km between us, I realize that I am still in control of this fight. Just then, some Angel Militia Pirate's warp in to investigate. My opponent quickly dispatches them. In fact, so quick that my surprise attack doesn't succeed. I couldn't align that fast.
The same dance begins. Lock. All systems initiate. Drones released. I hear the larger Auto Cannons of my opponent penetrating my shielding, tearing into my armor. Enemy Drones sending their Lasers into my hull, separating steel from structure. I increase orbit and try firing some Smart Bombs that I had fitted to shake the drones, open distance to prevent Auto Cannon damage, but it was too late. Modules and main systems alike were shutting down. Damage controls had failed and most of the ship had de-pressurized. Now I watch from my escape Pod as my Fusion Core erupts. I chuckle, as the odd tingle the Pod has in its warp shudders through me, and I make a clean getaway back home.
Once at a safe distance I pull my attacker up on comms. I thank him, now I know what to be cautious for, I have learned. One more lesson, one more step towards my destiny.

I return to station and browse the markets for my next combat ship. I run a few simulations for Capacitor Efficiency, Shield and Armor Durability, and Weapon Damage Outputs.
But before I have a chance to make any purchases, other pilots from my corporation send me a fleet invite. We have a war target trying to make his way towards Rens.
I ponder a moment. Haste requires a ship already fitted, in hangar, and ready to fly. I put out the alert, scramble my Jaguar for immediate departure!
The Hunt Is On!

Cleared for publication by: Ander

Old Dog still learning New Tricks

nospam@example.com (Ziku) — Fri, 20 Jun 2008 09:15:00 +0200

Pator Tech. wasn't my first choice but then again, who ever gets their first choice in life? The day out from academy I used the last bit of isk I had (stolen) to buy a Reaper and a few fitting options. I set my NeoCom to monitor the "Recruitment" channel, where I would prove myself as the fiercest pirate in the galaxy and procure my fortunes and infamy.
I did meet up with a startup pirate corp, and went so far, far away to a system called "Jan" The galaxy was a lot bigger than I had imagined. Here I found out two things. One: T2 fittings and ships beat T1. And Two: I had no way to pay for or fly such things.
So my course was this- I make a fortune and pay for these things, and train constantly as hard as I could until I was the best! I invested in Learning Skills so I could train harder and faster than I supposed any other pilot could, and researched fitting schemes and money making ventures....
... I woke up. A year and a half later, there were foreign objects in the POD fluid, and Iâ€™m still aching from detox. I don't know where I am, no familiar stars are in view. I had been piloting the same ship class I had fantasized about, only it's scatted remains were in orbit with me around an unfamiliar moon. I rebooted my Navigation system and found that I was 44 jumps outside of any CONCORD presence. What I had been doing out here was still baffling me. I checked my comm systems, most of the data there was either encrypted or corrupted. A few sparse messages informed me that I had joined up with an alliance and then had been removed. My assets had been removed from my hangar and I was wanted. Infamy it seemed was not something I enjoyed. I'm not sure how I had escaped the same wrath the debris of my once proud ship had endured. That thought alone got my heart racing. Panic sobered me the rest of the way up and I stressed my ship systems in getting "home". I few close calls but thankfully my brain still knew how to fly this thing better than I ever remembered. I had dozens of "Books" downloaded that I cannot remember fully to this day, but I always seem to come up with the answer.
Lost and confused, I was accepted into a corporation to help with their industry concern. Oddly, I had also been trained in that too, although it bores me to no end.
Another year has passed. I have enjoyed the company of numerous pilots and been hired into a few corporations since. I finally have been accepted back into society and even get jobs from an agent or two from Brutor Tribe. I'm back in my homeland and it feels great...
...Until Yesterday.
The local channel fires up. A Pilot was upset that no one would "take his can" Producing such a challenge was not too smart, someone might take him up on it. I jump into my trusty Rifter. I open his can. Flagged for combat, his friends uncloak and I barely get my pod back into station. He laughs and informs me that if he had lost to a Rifter he would have quit flying.
Anger! Just like in those first long months. I have not felt this way in years. Only today, I have a generous account, the skill to fly ships of any race, and well, and the support of numerous other pilots.
I place a "Buy Order" on the markets for a Thorax. They have a deadly potential, and I have been researching other ships for more capabilities...

I will have my fleet, I will have my revenge.
Cleared for publication by: Ander

Deep Pockets

nospam@example.com (Chelmar) — Wed, 02 Apr 2008 00:26:00 +0200

I like miners. For one thing, they sit around dumping omber and plagiocase into cans all day, just for me to reorganize. For another thing, they fly Retrievers and Covetors and fit Modulated Strip Miner IIs, just for me liberate.

(This story's a little old, as I haven't gotten around to doing anything Eve-related for the past few months. Notice the nerf discussion.)

Cleared for publication by: Ander

Continue reading "Deep Pockets"

How to kill under sentries in a Crow

nospam@example.com (Cheeb Aman) — Tue, 25 Sep 2007 10:02:00 +0200

So there I am checking out a little system I've found looking for a quick kill in my Crow. Now this system just happens to be the home base of a corp I've decided to harass a little for being rude to me in local. Warp to my scan point and see 2 Cruisers and a BC ratting together (safety in numbers) am in a crow so decide against engaging and warp to the jump gate. Lo and behold a Coercer 16km from the gate, a quick look and I see its not moving. Hmm I think what can I do? Don't really want to take sentry aggro at the gate in my crow.

Then is comes to me, I'll see if I can bump it..........

Many many minutes later it is 200km from the closest sentry, less than a minute later its just a floating wreck with an egg and seconds after that its just an empty shell.

Cleared for publication by: Ander
Bit short but it's a slow newsday/week/month..