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Crime & Punishment

 
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Zappity's Adventures

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Zappity
New Eden Tank Testing Services
#61 - 2013-09-28 23:27:42 UTC
Blasty Comet vs Kestrel + Merlin = ??? What do you think? I didn’t have a clue but warped in anyway of course.

[Federation Navy Comet, Blasty Comet]
Magnetic Field Stabilizer II
200mm Reinforced Rolled Tungsten Plates I
Small Ancillary Armor Repairer, Nanite Repair Paste
Damage Control II

1MN Afterburner II
Initiated Harmonic Warp Scrambler I
X5 Prototype Engine Enervator

Light Neutron Blaster II, Caldari Navy Antimatter Charge S
Light Neutron Blaster II, Caldari Navy Antimatter Charge S
[empty high slot]

Small Hybrid Burst Aerator I
Small Hybrid Collision Accelerator I
[empty rig slot]

Hobgoblin II x3

I jumped into the system and saw a couple of plexes out of d-scan range. As I warped to my central safe I leisurely looked up the two other capsuleers in the system. Same corp, one top ranked. Hmm… Kestrel in the Novice, Merlin in the Small.

I warped into the Merlin who scarpered as soon as I landed. Fair enough, I thought. But I suspected they would bite at a 2v1 so I immediately warped to the Small plex.

Video: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=yqnBCAX8QCA

Sure enough, just as the acceleration gate shot me off into the plex I saw the Merlin appear on short-scan. OK, I have about 20 seconds with the Kestrel before company arrives!

I lock him up, approach, orbit at 500 and waste the mandatory 10 seconds before remembering my drones. I really have to stop flying Gallente. The Kestrel’s shields disappear and I volley through his armour and hull just as the Merlin lands and starts burning towards me. Wow, he really went down fast after the shield.

At this point, I am under about 40% armour and half the nanite charges left in my AAR (and yes, I remembered to turn off auto-reload this time). I charge in behind my drones, quickly eating up the 5km between us with an overheated afterburner and am watching his shields drop when I hear a most alarming noise. Structure! And no nanite charges left in the repper! And no drugs!

Well bugger it, I’m not backing out now. I watch desperately as my hull is rapidly eaten away and his shields never seem to end. I hit half structure just as he hits armour and I am not at all confident about being able to wait out the armor and hull…and then I blap him out in a single cycle!

The fight ends. Two frigates down and 25% structure to go. Fantastic! Could have taken on a third! Well, almost. :)

This fight made me think about the different racial tanking styles. It is deeper than just shield vs armour with the hull on Gallente ships actually being a pretty decent tank. I think my Comet has 900-something HP in the hull alone.

Zappity's Adventures for a taste of lowsec and nullsec.
Zappity
New Eden Tank Testing Services
#62 - 2013-09-29 11:10:42 UTC
I lost a Blasty Comet today. I made a bad decision (I think) but perhaps there wasn’t much I could have done - I’ll let you be the judge.

Comet loss: http://eve.battleclinic.com/killboard/killmail.php?id=20651940

Video: http://youtu.be/msrnbmatb1g

I jumped into the system and spotted a Comet plus two Executioners in a plex. Hmm, that could be difficult since all three are in the same militia. And yet I find myself in warp to the plex and, sure enough, am soon landing on grid with Null loaded.

The Comet is 10km away, one Executioner is right next to me and the other is somewhere in between. I quickly break the closest ship down despite leaving the heat on my afterburner before switching drones and damage (such as it was at that range) to the Comet. I double-clicked away from the remaining two ships in an attempt to split them. I think that was my mistake.

The Comet was pounding me pretty hard from 8km and this should have told me that he was fit with rails. Rail ships are usually pretty quick since they tend to scram kite. I was not able to burn out of range before he killed me. It was a very fast fight!

I had started on his armour at the end of the fight. If I had burned into him immediately after killing the Executioner perhaps I would have beaten him down in time. Another interesting thing was that the Executioner I killed was fit with a remote armor repper. Sneaky Amarr. I assume the other was fit the same way - would have been interesting to see what happened.

So many questions, so few answers. I’ll try again if I see them next time.

Zappity's Adventures for a taste of lowsec and nullsec.
Zappity
New Eden Tank Testing Services
#63 - 2013-10-03 10:55:58 UTC  |  Edited by: Zappity
The Wolf that got away. Sigh.

I was tootling through lowsec in an Incursus scaring the cloaky farmers in their plexes: Merlin, Merlin, Executioner, Atron, Merlin (this is getting ridiculous), Incursus, Condor. Why doesn't anyone want to fight me? And then a Wolf in a Small plex.

A look at the killboard suggests she is autocannon fit so I am not too keen to go in with a blasty Incursus against that T2 tank. But Eszur is only a couple of jumps away so I hop over and jump into a rail Comet.

[Federation Navy Comet, Rails]
Magnetic Field Stabilizer II
200mm Reinforced Rolled Tungsten Plates I
Small Ancillary Armor Repairer, Nanite Repair Paste
Damage Control II

1MN Afterburner II
Faint Warp Disruptor I
Fleeting Propulsion Inhibitor I

125mm Railgun II, Caldari Navy Antimatter Charge S (yes, my fitting skills are not the greatest)
125mm Railgun II, Caldari Navy Antimatter Charge S
[empty high slot]

Small Hybrid Burst Aerator I
Small Auxiliary Nano Pump I
Small Auxiliary Nano Pump I

Hobgoblin II x3

The Wolf is still there when I get back and is waiting on the beacon when I land. I burn away and start plinking away from 7500m along with my drones. Sure enough, she is auto fit which is good news.

I am taking damage but nothing I can't handle. The Wolf has a large buffer fit but before long she is in low armour. At this point I see that I only have one nanite repair paste left in the repper and quickly right-click to disable the auto-reload (damn AAR auto-reload!)

Unfortunately, at this precise moment of distraction the Wolf must have figured out that the end was nigh and overheated the burner in the opposite direction to break scram. And away she warps. Sigh.

Next time!

Zappity's Adventures for a taste of lowsec and nullsec.
Zappity
New Eden Tank Testing Services
#64 - 2013-10-03 21:44:08 UTC  |  Edited by: Zappity
Incursus kill: http://eve.battleclinic.com/killboard/killmail.php?id=20655096
Kestrel kill: http://eve.battleclinic.com/killboard/killmail.php?id=20654467

There I am, cruising about in a Blasty Comet when I notice a nice, red Incursus on a gate. He jumps through and I follow. He decloaked immediately and re-approached the gate (but didn’t jump) which I took to be an indication that he wanted to fight. I held cloak while looking at his weapons: blasters. I assumed that he had some friends in the system and, sure enough, a quick look at the other people in the system shows a corp mate.

Now I have flown one or two Incursus fits. They are fast and can deal an awful lot of damage. Alternatively, they have a remarkable active tank if dual-rep fit. This is not an ideal ship for me to take on given that there will likely be someone on the way to help him out pretty soon. And I have no idea what he will be in.

But what the hell, let’s have a go. I decloak and we burn toward each other while locking. We aggress at about the same time and I even remember to set my drones on him. Dual-rep fit. Oh boy, he is tanking the damage well but the Blasty Comet does good damage and it is one of those situations where he needs only a slight timing error in his reps to allow my dps to chip away at the hull before he reps up again.

Sure enough, a Kestrel lands and immediately attacks. A little too late for the Incursus, though. I guess that he waited until he had me locked up before calling for assistance. The Incursus breaks and I immediately align to a safe. My armour is about 50% and I don’t have any nanite paste left in my AAR (thankfully I remembered to turn the damn auto-reload off) and I know that the Kestrel shield can be quite thick.

This Kestrel, however, doesn’t want to let me go and I notice from his speed that she must be MWD fit. Uh huh, I guess I’ll stick around then. And, what are those? Sensor damp, times two.

I manage to lock her but don’t aggress as I turn around and burn for the gate, hoping to tank her light missiles until I can jump. Fortunately, though, she comes a little too close so I land a scram on her, shutting the MWD down. Her shields are thin and there is not much left to say apart from ‘gf both!’ in local. GF indeed.

Zappity's Adventures for a taste of lowsec and nullsec.
Taoist Dragon
Okata Syndicate
#65 - 2013-10-04 00:29:28 UTC
Good read Zappity,

One question though. Why a forum thread and not start a blog up?

That is the Way, the Tao.

Balance is everything.
Zappity
New Eden Tank Testing Services
#66 - 2013-10-04 01:06:42 UTC  |  Edited by: Zappity
Taoist Dragon wrote:
Good read Zappity,

One question though. Why a forum thread and not start a blog up?


Effort, commitment, hassle. But effort really.

Also, I was planning to add a couple of posts at the beginning with info to help mission bears make the move to lowsec. I have some long flights next week so might finally get around to it. Maybe even add some enticements down the track.

I might have a look at some blog sites and see how difficult it would be.

Zappity's Adventures for a taste of lowsec and nullsec.
Silver Dagger Kondur
Native Freshfood
Minmatar Republic
#67 - 2013-10-08 02:47:05 UTC
thanks for the posts, zappity!
Zappity
New Eden Tank Testing Services
#68 - 2013-10-08 03:11:15 UTC
Taranis kill: http://eve.battleclinic.com/killboard/killmail.php?id=20674616

I’m wandering around in my Blasty Incursus when I see a Tristan. I’m usually wary of Tristans but the killboard of this one is three unfit Tristans + a pod kill for each. Typical AFK farmer profile. I know it’s a waste of time but let’s see if I can get him anyway. Yes, there he is in the Medium plex. He warps off just as I land and although I don’t see the destination d-scan quickly finds him heading toward the Small. The hunt is on so after him!

I am mid-warp when a 30 degree scan picks up a Taranis, clearly heading to the same plex. When I land he is already laying into the Tristan, having caught him on the acceleration gate. I, in turn, scram and web the Taranis and start working on his tank. He doesn’t switch to me, despite the Tristan not having any guns or drones. Big mistake. The Taranis kills the Tristan and finally switches his dps. But far too late - he only has a few seconds left and his nice ship explodes in a most satisfactory manner.

I gave a gf in local but the delicate Goon petal was clearly too upset with his shameful loss to respond.

By the time he pops I have the farmer’s pod locked and immediately switch the scram to it when the Taranis is finished. Blasters send him home a moment later. I wonder why he didn’t warp out? He had a few seconds at least. He probably just wanted the pod express. It was clearly a throwaway alt with under a million SP. Timer rollbacks please, CCP!

I tried a similar trick on a Dramiel today when d-scan showed him warping into a plex after the same Breacher that I was chasing. I waited on the gate, approached and tackled him as soon as he landed and started pouring on the deeps. Unfortunately he was able to pull range on my Incursus fast enough to stop me chewing through the last quarter of his hull. Very close. The Comet would have killed him easily with more damage and speed but you can’t easily predict that sort of engagement. Oh well, next time!

Zappity's Adventures for a taste of lowsec and nullsec.
Zappity
New Eden Tank Testing Services
#69 - 2013-10-10 10:30:10 UTC  |  Edited by: Zappity
I thought I'd briefly outline the Zappity endorsed method of farming faction warfare plexes. You should follow these steps closely:

1. Fit your T1 ship in a manner similar to this:
http://eve.battleclinic.com/killboard/killmail.php?id=20708168
The fitting isn't too tight so don't worry if you are a day one alt.

2. You can either do defensive plexing or kill the faction frigates with your main. Either way, you definitely need to go AFK while the plex is ticking down:
http://eve.battleclinic.com/killboard/killmail.php?id=20708167

3. This is the most important step. If you are popped by an ebil piwate you must NOT learn your lesson. You must rant in local and then be podded again a couple of hours later:

http://eve.battleclinic.com/killboard/killmail.php?id=20710481
http://eve.battleclinic.com/killboard/killmail.php?id=20710480

4. You need to place a bounty on the ebil piwate. This should ideally be 10 digits in size to teach them a good lesson but if you are a tight git it can be less. Just remember, it's the thought that counts.

5. Do NOT forget to make kill rights available to all. These severely limit the play of the ebil piwate who never leaves lowsec.

Zappity's Adventures for a taste of lowsec and nullsec.
Mizhir
Devara Biotech
#70 - 2013-10-10 11:12:21 UTC
What? Is it possible to AFK Plexes in an unfit frig now? Back during the OP farming days it still required a fitted permarep frig to tank it.

❤️️💛💚💙💜
Kristopher Rocancourt
Sebiestor Tribe
Minmatar Republic
#71 - 2013-10-10 11:52:19 UTC
Winthorp wrote:
I remain yet to be entertained, please remedy this.



who the F^%& is this loser?

http://killalliance.co.uk/tears/tears-holeysheet/

Zappity
New Eden Tank Testing Services
#72 - 2013-10-10 21:16:03 UTC
Hehe, Winthorp gave me a like so all is forgiven!

Lowsec kill, Slicer: http://eve.battleclinic.com/killboard/killmail.php?id=20667213

I ran into a Sentinel in my Comet the other day. It had absolutely brutal neuting and reduced me to a powerless wreck in about 30 seconds.

So I have been thinking about how to improve the Comet's survivability against neuting opponents. I don't think the capacitor is adequate for a neut and I don't want to screw either my dps or tank (yes, I want it all!). Enter today's fight...

[Federation Navy Comet, Electron vampire]
Magnetic Field Stabilizer II
200mm Reinforced Rolled Tungsten Plates I
Small Ancillary Armor Repairer, Nanite Repair Paste
Damage Control II

1MN Afterburner II
Initiated Harmonic Warp Scrambler I
Fleeting Propulsion Inhibitor I

Light Electron Blaster II, Antimatter Charge S
Light Electron Blaster II, Antimatter Charge S
Small 'Knave' Energy Drain

Small Hybrid Burst Aerator I
Small Hybrid Collision Accelerator I
[empty rig slot]

Hobgoblin II x3

The above fit can probably be classed as 'dubious' but one advantage is that it switches from my usual Neutron fit very easily. So when I saw two Slicers in a plex, probably from the same corp according to local, I docked and switched.

I have often seen Slicers host a neut and a significant armour tank, although a nano MWD fit is also popular. Whatever. Let's go.

I warp into the large plex at 50 km and, sure enough, one of the Slicers runs me down from 35 km (MWD fit) and points me before I can warp out. The Slicer is careful to keep distance and I think that my ability to land a tackle is unlikely.

The second Slicer, though, is less cautious and I catch him with an overheated scram when he comes too close. I web him and set the dps and vampire on him.

The Electron II's have extremely short range but their excellent tracking means that Void works pretty well on frigates. I burn at him and start hitting at about 2 km. And I hit him hard. Even with the dps from both Slicers on me I am still able to destroy him. Huh, he didn’t even have a neut so I might as well have been in my normal fit after all! Of course, I then die in a fire to the kiting Slicer but what the hell, a fair exchange I think.

Zappity's Adventures for a taste of lowsec and nullsec.
Zappity
New Eden Tank Testing Services
#73 - 2013-10-11 01:03:16 UTC
I'm in my Blasty Incursus and I see a Jaguar and Crucifier on scan, likely from the same corp. Hmm. The Jaguar is probably arty fit according to the boards and I wouldn't mind having a crack at him. Crucifier? Well I'll have a crack at him, too.

In fact, I'm happy to have a crack at practically anybody!

But not at the same time. So, let's try to split them up. They chase me into a Medium plex and then back to the Small, sticking together. Good discipline. Let's try gate aggression.

I warp off with both in hot pursuit. I'm a little distracted by my second screen while in warp (updating market orders) and when I pull my attention back we land and I am immediately yellow boxed.

I target back and the Crucifier aggresses and points me. Great! I hit Jump to try and tempt the Jaguar through.

Nothing happens. Bloody EVE client - you always have to hit the command more than once. So I hit it again.

Why the hell aren't I jumping? Oh. Wrong sort of gate. I accidentally warped to a plex instead of the gate (I told you I was distracted). And so I die in short order. What a noob.

Hehe, I guess I can't really blame the client for that one! What they must have thought about me just sitting there like a fool I can only imagine. We all have our moments.

Zappity's Adventures for a taste of lowsec and nullsec.
Zappity
New Eden Tank Testing Services
#74 - 2013-10-11 06:34:12 UTC  |  Edited by: Zappity
Kestrel + Griffin from the same corp in two plexes. We all know how this story goes: you attack the Kestrel and before you can kill him the Griffin warps in and excises you from the fight.

But you never know, so let's go! I warp into the Kestrel's plex but he doesn’t want to fight and runs to the Griffin's plex. I have seen this behaviour before so bounce off a gate out of d-scan range and straight back to the Kestrel's first plex.

Bingo. He has returned just in time and we warp into the plex together. I scram, web, and start to kill him. And, sure enough, here comes the Griffin on short-scan.

http://eve.battleclinic.com/killboard/killmail.php?id=20621313

The Kestrel dies as the Griffin locks me up. I can control the Griffin's damage pretty well so decide to have a go at him. One failed cycle should be pretty much all I need.

And then my AAR starts flashing. Have I mentioned that the AAR auto-reload needs fixing? Now I am in trouble since I won't be able to rep for a full minute.

I toy with the idea of killing the Kestrel's wreck to teach him a lesson but decide to scoop it instead. The Incursus is pretty quick and I slowly pull out of point with overheated afterburner. As I disengage and warp away with 10% structure remaining I wonder why the Griffin wasn't MWD fit. Wouldn't that be more sensible for a dedicated ECM frigate?

But I'm glad he wasn't!

Zappity's Adventures for a taste of lowsec and nullsec.
Zappity
New Eden Tank Testing Services
#75 - 2013-10-14 03:11:08 UTC
A lot of highsec bears get confused about ‘griefing’. They think that only nasty people pod. This post is to explain that being podded does not equate to being griefed. And, in fact, you should thank me for it :)

A noob PvPer! And I mean the real sort that actually fits their ships with modules! I caught him by waiting on a plex acceleration gate. He died and I caught his pod. A good effort but it takes more than a noob Merlin to put one over on Zappity's mighty Blasty Incursus. (Well, unless the Merlin is fit with rails in which case it would be pretty easy to be honest.)

http://eve.battleclinic.com/killboard/killmail.php?id=20713890

"1m for the pod!" Yeah, ransoms are still going cheap. "Uh, can we negotiate?", comes the reply.
OK. Either he is stalling and I am about to be blobbed or he is a real noob. "0.5m, 10 seconds. Are you a noob"? He responds, "Yeah. I don't have implants but I'd like to fly home anyway."

But just then a neutral Hawk lands on grid so I pop the pod and warp off to reload my accursed AAR (that thing will be the death of me). I am still in convo with the noob so I ask him if the Hawk was his. Apparently not. He is friendly enough despite his loss and starts asking questions about how I managed to demolish his Merlin so quickly.

I send him a couple of fits, give him a lecture on how to get his pod away and, after the convo, send him 20m iskies to encourage him to come back to lowsec. I like lots of targets. He sent me a thank you mail afterward saying that it was ‘mad big help’. I think that was appreciation but I am disadvantaged by having English as a first language.

See? Don't be afraid of getting podded by Zappity. It can be rather enjoyable.

Zappity's Adventures for a taste of lowsec and nullsec.
Christine Peeveepeeski
Low Sec Concepts
#76 - 2013-10-14 21:21:09 UTC
Loving this thread mate. I keep seeing you about and don't think we've run into each other yet?
Zappity
New Eden Tank Testing Services
#77 - 2013-10-14 22:14:56 UTC
Christine Peeveepeeski wrote:
Loving this thread mate. I keep seeing you about and don't think we've run into each other yet?


Thanks. Yes, I've seen you a few times. Every time I have spotted you in local I have checked what ship you're in. Unfortunately they have been cruisers every time and I have not felt up to the challenge.

Next time!

Zappity's Adventures for a taste of lowsec and nullsec.
Zappity
New Eden Tank Testing Services
#78 - 2013-10-16 02:31:24 UTC  |  Edited by: Zappity
Anyone who looks over my killboard will see that I only tend to post fights that I find interesting in some way. There are many fights where I just warp into a site, blap someone, and warp out. Usually a Rifter or a low skill noob in some other T1 ship. (I wish the Rifter was a bit stronger.)

Similarly, many of my losses are not too interesting either but I don’t want to give anyone thinking of coming to faction warfare regions the wrong idea. You will die. A lot. If this is a problem for you, I suggest an introductory course of twenty cheaply-fit T1 frigates. Go and lose them all. You need to get over the initial shock to be able to disconnect yourself from your ship. And don’t be afraid to warp into a situation that you are really unsure about.

For example, I sometimes make a few brief notes about a fight that I want to write up and then come back later to fill in the gaps. This time I just wrote: “Loss to Cormorant of Rainbow Child. Whelped.” Um, that pretty much summed it up. I had wanted to see how a Comet would do against a hybrid weapon destroyer so I warped in to him at a plex and found out pretty quickly. I landed on him at zero and he just demolished me. Most unceremonious.

And then you have completely stupid moments. The other day I was feeling under the weather but decided to log in anyway. I left the station in my Incursus, warped to a Merlin in a plex and was promptly scram/webbed. I then realised I didn’t have a drone. Or any nanite paste loaded into my repper (that AAR...) You can guess the rest.

Next on the list was a loss to an Atron. I warped into him deliberately, wanting to practice slingshotting him into scram range. It didn’t work. I don’t like Atrons very much. They remind me of Condors.

So I die a lot. Admittedly not as much as I used to but I have come to realise that a long winning streak generally means that you are only using your ship as a hard counter to a very select group of targets. And that just gets boring.

Zappity's Adventures for a taste of lowsec and nullsec.
Taoist Dragon
Okata Syndicate
#79 - 2013-10-16 03:02:36 UTC  |  Edited by: Taoist Dragon
Nice write up there.

As for the blog tbh once you set it up it just as easy as writing it here on the forums.

I'm on 'blogger' or 'blog spot' or whatever it is and was really easy to setup etc.

That is the Way, the Tao.

Balance is everything.
Zappity
New Eden Tank Testing Services
#80 - 2013-10-16 11:44:59 UTC  |  Edited by: Zappity
Taoist Dragon wrote:
Nice write up there.

As for the blog tbh once you set it up it just as easy as writing it here on the forums.

I'm on 'blogger' or 'blog spot' or whatever it is and was really easy to setup etc.


I have made an account with Blogger (I think - whatever the Google one is) and will start copying stuff over when I get time.

I'll keep posting here for those who prefer the forum.

Zappity's Adventures for a taste of lowsec and nullsec.