I've been pillaging and plundering, or attempting to, the skies of New Eden for a little over a year now. The following is a short summary of my first year as a Minmatar pirate.
As previously stated in my first entry in these memoirs, Minmatar pilots have the harshest and most intensive course load. As a result, I've become adept at many many skills and techniques. This includes shield tanking, shield compensation skills, armor tanking, armor compensation skills, manipulating drones, projectile skills, navigation skills, rigging skills, electronics skills, etc. The list of skills that I have trained and that I need to train is long and extensive but I am in fact getting there and becoming a highly proficient Minmatar pilot. I was once told by one of my mentors, it takes about two years for a minmatar pilot to become highly competent whereas other pilots can become very competent in half a year to a year. It seems to me that my mentor may have been correct.
I've limited myself to flying Minmatar frigates, T1 crusiers and battlecruisers thus far so that I could train the aforementioned support skills and weapons skills. In short, I do not have the training to fly interceptors (a very popular ship class), destroyers (the Minmatar Thrasher can be lethal), assault frigates (the Minmatar Jaguar and Wolf are arguably the best assault frigates in New Eden), battleships, heavy assault cruisers, stealh bombers, etc. As a result my choice of ships is limited but I have trained enough to fly the ships in my hangar very well (Hurricanes, Ruptures, Rifters and Stabbers).
I have been priviliged enough to fly with some exceptional pilots, in my opinion. This includes Malicious Wraith and Blotvard, of Dark Side of the Moon, who were the first pirates I flew with. This also includes all members of the Tuskers whom I presently fly with on a day to day basis. I've found flying with the Tusker's to be a great experience in that the corp. places a higher value on competence and personality and a lower value on the mere accumulation of skill points. Furthermore, the corp. consists of some damn good pilots!
In regards to combat, my logs show that I have a total of 97 kills and 21 losses. It's pretty safe to say that I am a risk adverse pilot who only engages on terms that I find desirable. My logs also indicate that I have destroyed isk totaling $3,265,320,003 and loss isk totaling $578,985,276.
As I proceed through my second year of piracy I look forward to much more success, much much more yarr-age and many many more entries in these memoirs as to my search for fortune and glory.
Thursday, December 25, 2008
Monday, December 22, 2008
To catch a Hurricane...
The Hurricane is very easily my preferred piracy ship. It packs a destructive punch. It resembles a Star Destroyer. It is highly versatile in that it can be effectively shield tanked and/or armor tanked. Furthermore, you can equip it with auto-cannons and missiles or auto cannons and neuts / nos. In short, there is no cookie cutter Cane load-out which keeps adversaries on their toes. Lastly, and most importantly, in true Minmatar fashion, the Cane is agile and fast (for a battlecruiser).
The brilliance of the Hurricane lies herein.
My corp. mates and I scanned a Drake class battlecruiser in the Lisbaetanne system. After scanning for several minutes we realized that this Drake was at a safespot. A call went out to one of our cov ops specialist who rapidly joined our foray in Lisbaetanne. The cov ops specialist released a fathom grade probe and shortly thereafter shouted feverishly over communications that he had a visual on the Drake about 70 km away. The cov ops specialist then closed to within 8 kilometers and ordered us to warp to him at 0.
This is the moment I, as a pirate, enjoy most - the anticipation of a kill. I activated the warp drive on my Hurricane and the vessel engines responded affirmatively. While in warp, knowing that the Drake would be within 5 to 10 km/s once I exited warp, I decided to load my preferred ammo, Hail M. Hail M is short range and high damage ammo which is larger than typical Matar ammo. The force of Hail M exiting my Hurricane's cannons is enough to cause a turbulence like effect throughout the Hurricane. As a result, the use of Hail M, unlike most other Matar ammo, requires cap use to stabilize the ship.
As I exited warp, I activated my microwarpdrive and moved within 1000 meters of the Drake. I then activated my autocannons and the mighty Drake - known for its massive shield tank - eventually succumbed to my and my corp. mates fire. As always, I recorded evidence of this engagement in my log book and saluted the Drake pilot.
The Drake pilot, understandably, was not happy about the loss of his ship. Shortly after we popped the Drake two to three Megathron class battleships appeared on our ship scanners. The cov ops specialist reported that the Megas were camping a station. We decided that the Megas did not pose much of a threat and idled at a safe spot while our criminal timers reset. This, we would learn, was a false sense of secuirty.
Within minutes, I was aroused by the sound of several Megathrons attaining a target lock on my Hurricane. With the Mega pilots, in a separate ship, was the Drake pilot whom we just relieved of his battlecruiser. Apparently, the Megas also had a cov op's specialist with them who managed to locate our small fleet due mostly to our complacency. My corp. mates, being more alert than myself and flying ships which were more agile than mine, were able to immediately escape. However, before I could activate my ships engines, my Hurricane was scrambled, webbed, pinned down and apparently about to be blown to bits.
At this point, I had two options: 1) try to escape; or 2) try to pop the Drake pilot's ship before I went down. I chose option 1. I aligned towards a stack of planets and asteroid belts, activated the thermodynamics unit controls for my microwarpdrive then activated my microwarpdrive. My plan was, in true Minmatar fashion, to outrun my enemies, get out of web range, get out of scrambler range then warp away to the planets and belts ahead of me.
As my ship accelerated I watched my shields and armor melt away under the heavy firepower of the Megathrons. I then entered structure and at this point was convinced that this particular Hurricane had seen its last days. My ships sensors were in disarray and smoke spewed from every crevice and corner of my ship. As this went on I could hear my corp mates exclaiming: "What's going on?" "Did you get out?" "Did you lose your ship?" I then entered about 25% structure when the Hurricane hit its max speed of about 1800 km/s, damage began to come at a slower rate, and I was finally able to activate my warp drive. The Hurricane battlecrusier, moving faster than the Megathrons that aggressed me, escaped!
I docked the smokey heap at a station and thought to myself that piracy and ship loss typically go hand in hand but not on this day!
The brilliance of the Hurricane lies herein.
My corp. mates and I scanned a Drake class battlecruiser in the Lisbaetanne system. After scanning for several minutes we realized that this Drake was at a safespot. A call went out to one of our cov ops specialist who rapidly joined our foray in Lisbaetanne. The cov ops specialist released a fathom grade probe and shortly thereafter shouted feverishly over communications that he had a visual on the Drake about 70 km away. The cov ops specialist then closed to within 8 kilometers and ordered us to warp to him at 0.
This is the moment I, as a pirate, enjoy most - the anticipation of a kill. I activated the warp drive on my Hurricane and the vessel engines responded affirmatively. While in warp, knowing that the Drake would be within 5 to 10 km/s once I exited warp, I decided to load my preferred ammo, Hail M. Hail M is short range and high damage ammo which is larger than typical Matar ammo. The force of Hail M exiting my Hurricane's cannons is enough to cause a turbulence like effect throughout the Hurricane. As a result, the use of Hail M, unlike most other Matar ammo, requires cap use to stabilize the ship.
As I exited warp, I activated my microwarpdrive and moved within 1000 meters of the Drake. I then activated my autocannons and the mighty Drake - known for its massive shield tank - eventually succumbed to my and my corp. mates fire. As always, I recorded evidence of this engagement in my log book and saluted the Drake pilot.
The Drake pilot, understandably, was not happy about the loss of his ship. Shortly after we popped the Drake two to three Megathron class battleships appeared on our ship scanners. The cov ops specialist reported that the Megas were camping a station. We decided that the Megas did not pose much of a threat and idled at a safe spot while our criminal timers reset. This, we would learn, was a false sense of secuirty.
Within minutes, I was aroused by the sound of several Megathrons attaining a target lock on my Hurricane. With the Mega pilots, in a separate ship, was the Drake pilot whom we just relieved of his battlecruiser. Apparently, the Megas also had a cov op's specialist with them who managed to locate our small fleet due mostly to our complacency. My corp. mates, being more alert than myself and flying ships which were more agile than mine, were able to immediately escape. However, before I could activate my ships engines, my Hurricane was scrambled, webbed, pinned down and apparently about to be blown to bits.
At this point, I had two options: 1) try to escape; or 2) try to pop the Drake pilot's ship before I went down. I chose option 1. I aligned towards a stack of planets and asteroid belts, activated the thermodynamics unit controls for my microwarpdrive then activated my microwarpdrive. My plan was, in true Minmatar fashion, to outrun my enemies, get out of web range, get out of scrambler range then warp away to the planets and belts ahead of me.
As my ship accelerated I watched my shields and armor melt away under the heavy firepower of the Megathrons. I then entered structure and at this point was convinced that this particular Hurricane had seen its last days. My ships sensors were in disarray and smoke spewed from every crevice and corner of my ship. As this went on I could hear my corp mates exclaiming: "What's going on?" "Did you get out?" "Did you lose your ship?" I then entered about 25% structure when the Hurricane hit its max speed of about 1800 km/s, damage began to come at a slower rate, and I was finally able to activate my warp drive. The Hurricane battlecrusier, moving faster than the Megathrons that aggressed me, escaped!
I docked the smokey heap at a station and thought to myself that piracy and ship loss typically go hand in hand but not on this day!
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