Solo PvP & Me

So in my bid to get better at solo PvP & just get better in general, I have decided to fit up a few ships that I can go forth & splode things with. I wanted ships that I would find it easier to get a fight in that normal so for instance I have selected the Cyclone & Myrmidon as two of these ships, I feel that they get underestimated a lot & will have more pilots willing to engage them. I have also fit up a HML Nano Drake for a passive fit I have never been a fan of passive fits for solo work but I shall see if I like this as we all know the drake is a passive brick.

So yeah on to the fits, there isn't anything that remarkable here they are all very standard fits.


[Drake, Nano Drake]

7x Heavy Missile Launcher II (Scourge Fury Heavy Missile)
5W Infectious Power System Malfunction

Y-T8 Overcharged Hydrocarbon Microwarpdrive
Large Shield Extender II
2x Invulnerability Field II
X5 Prototype Engine Enervator
Warp Disruptor II

2x Ballistic Control System II
Nanofiber Internal Structure II
Damage Control II

Medium Anti-EM Screen Reinforcer I
2x Medium Core Defence Field Extender I

5x Warrior II

So with the nano drake I am undecided whether or not that I want to go with 2 x BCS or 2 x Nano. Currently my missile skills aren't the greatest so I am going with the 2 x BCS for maximum damage. Stasis web & small neut to help kill tackle that will undoubtedly catch me. I never used to bother with module placement for over heating but after reading this Over Heating Guide that has all changed. While EVE HQ condenses the placement for easier reading. The above are the modules I have fit but not in what order I have them fit. For example my highs are 3 HML small neut 4 HML This will ensure that I can overheat my HML's slightly longer which could be the difference between winning a fight & losing a fight.

[Myrmidon, Dual Rep Gyro]

6x 220mm Vulcan AutoCannon II (Hail M)

Y-T8 Overcharged Hydrocarbon Microwarpdrive

2x Medium Electrochemical Capacitor Booster I (Cap Booster 800)

Warp Disruptor II

Stasis Webifier II

2x Energized Adaptive Nano Membrane II

2x Medium Armor Repairer II

Gyrostabilizer II

Damage Control II

2x Medium Auxiliary Nano Pump I

Medium Anti-Explosive Pump I

5x Warrior II

5x Valkyrie II

5x Hornet EC-300

5x Vespa II

So this is the Myrm I have decided to go with dual rep dual cap injector autocannons in the highs for lack of hybrid skills & drones. Not a unusual fit tbh I was struggling between putting a armor explosive hardener in place of the gyro & putting  a projectile rig in instead of the anti-ex pump. Fitting it this way gives me 40 more dps as oppsed to fitting it the other way for 40 more tank but I'm a DPS whore so Gank > Tank for me. I hope that by using the Myrm I will be able to get more fights in a 1v1 situation as I think many pilot's would fancy their chances in another BC.


[Cyclone, LSB]

5x 220mm Vulcan AutoCannon II (Hail M)
2x 50W Infectious Power System Malfunction
E50 Prototype Energy Vampire

Invulnerability Field II
Medium Electrochemical Capacitor Booster I (Cap Booster 800)
Warp Disruptor II
Y-T8 Overcharged Hydrocarbon Microwarpdrive
Large Shield Booster II

2x Gyrostabilizer II
Power Diagnostic System II
Damage Control II

Medium Anti-EM Screen Reinforcer I
Medium Anti-Thermal Screen Reinforcer I
Medium Projectile Burst Aerator I

5x Warrior II
3x Hornet EC-300

This is another pretty standard fit that I feel many pilots will engage solo. I think that a lot of pilots even if they were in cruisers would engage the Cyclone in a 1v1 situation. Purely for the fact that it doesn't get used thanks to the Hurricane being OP but that's another post all together. This cyclone is very cap intensive with the large shield booster but I'm hoping that it will be able to soak up the damage long enough for me to kill the other dude.

The main problem I have when I solo PvP is that I get too excited & forget to do vital things like overheat, check the overview for range info, hit the dscan to check for back ups coming in. Essentially all the important stuff to do during a fight, I think that once I can control myself a bit better in these situations I will be a lot better at PvP in general & probably not explode as much as a result. I have been watching a lot of solo vids trying to see what they do that I don't & it is incredibly obvious that they keep there cool while I end up flapping like a beheaded chicken. I have also been watching Kil2's solo commentary fights which I shall link in a minute basically he records solo fights of his & then talks them through & breaks down what he does & what he is thinking.

Kil2's Solo Commentary Vids

I have learned quite a bit just by watching these vids & I hope that you do to or if not at least take some enjoyment from them as there is a few really good fights in the vids. Anyway I digress so basically my plan is to go forth & blow shit up then try to keep my cool when doing so.

Null Sec - Move

So I decided that high sec was no longer for me & that I needed to either go to low sec or null sec. As you can probably guess from the title I chose the latter or rather the latter just kind of happened. I went to the in game recruitment channel & posted what I was & the kind of corp I was looking for. I spoke to a few people but the only corp that looked remotely interesting was U-208, they were a member of Rote Kapelle Alliance who are better known for their pilot skill over gang size mentality. As I was looking for small to medium size gang PvP, I  had no hesitations in joining their ranks.

Moving in EVE is always a pain in the arse but moving to null sec is even worse. It is especially difficult when you can't fly a carrier. So after moving all my assets with my freighter alt, I contracted black frog logistics my ships to be taken down & a day or so later had all my stuff where I needed it or rather most of my stuff. I should point out that during the moving of my stuff with the freighter RED.Overlord tried to & failed miserably to kill my freighter better luck next time guys. So as it stands just now in my hangar I have:

• 1 x 650mm Arty Cane 
• 1 x 720mm Arty Cane 
• 2 x Welp Cane 
• 1 x Armour Dual Web Cane
• 1 x Loki 
• 1 x Arty Nado
• 1 x Dramiel
• 1 x Cynabal
• 1 x Vagabond
• 1 x Stiletto 
• 1 x  unfit Wolf 

I still need to add a few ships to this before I feel that I will have a competent hanger & I am planning on getting  Recon & Logistics to 5 so I can add them to my hanger. I am currently training for Interdictors then Heavy Interdictors. Once I am able to competently field all of those ships I think I shall have an optimal hanger for any fleet that is presented to me.

Keep Tanking & Ganking

WatsonMayte

My Alt(s)

So I have a few alt's mostly they where PI slaves but I stopped doing the PI because I'm lazy & I'm making enough ISK through the market to keep me in ships. But recently I begun to train one of the alt's up to help with the market stuff & got her into a freighter. This is a great help to me especially since Watson is at war 99% of the time with only very short breaks in between. So having the freighter alt helps me out greatly as I can now move all of my stuff even during war time.

I think after seeing the benefit that having a specialised alt can bring that I am going to train up some more. There is a few guys in corp who have scout alt's that fly probing ships & scan out WT's when they are hiding or they think it's safe to run missions in their shiny ship, I think this may be the next one I train up. Also I could always train up a logi alt as much as it pains me to use them, they really do bring the tipping balance in a fleet engagement. Now I personally would never use a logi alt when I am out soloing as I feel that solo PvP should be exactly that one person one character, but more about that in another blog post.

Now the other night we were on a bs roam through some Low-Sec near our new temporary home in Amarr space & we had a rough time of it about 30 systems & we didn't find a single target. Until our way back we had a Tempest jump into us. So we proceeded to melt his ass until a Falcon lands & manages to Jam all 5 of our battleships & let the tempest jump out in low armour. Now we were all extremely pissed off at this & had a debate on vent about whether the Falcon was OP, Now I think we can all agree that it does need some work to bring it in to balance but in all honesty I think that he just got lucky. That being said Synsational  made an excellent point "What other ship can make 5 ships obsolete compared to just one of them?" & even though it is the ultimate in douchebaggery I would love a Falcon or even a Kitsune alt for situations like this.

Now I probably won't train for any of the above except maybe the Logi alt for fleet engagements as most of my time is spent in small to medium size fleets. I like to solo PvP & to be fair I am not the greatest at solo PvP but I do it & I take my losses like a man. They are all posted to my personal kill board & to my battle clinic kill board for everyone to see. So I will never use an alt when I am soloing but tbh I struggle enough with just running the one character never mind two. So yeah anyway just thought I'd share my thoughts on my alt's & what to do with them or rather what I could do with them.

If anyone has any other alt that they use for a specific role send me an EVE mail in game to WatsonMayte or leave a comment to let me know what you use them for.

Keep Tanking & Ganking
WatsonMayte

Back Once Again With The Renegade Master

So recently I have been neglecting this blog due to uni work but now that the trimester is coming to a close I can now get back to doing some Pew Pew & some blogging. I have recently joined the Condemned & Convicted again which is great I have been in a lot of corps in my time but none that I have felt as at home as I do in C&C. So over the last 15 days it has been business as usual for us & we have managed to get some pretty tasty kills not all of which I have been on. So with this blog I am going to pick out a few of my favourite kills that I have been on & talk about them with what happened etc etc.

The first kill was a Phobos from the muppet ninja's who are renowned for gate camping the Stacmon gate in Ostingele with a cyno ship. So every now & them we like to go in & bust up the gate camp.

http://condemned-and-convicted.dk/kb/?a=kill_detail&kll_id=1307

Not much to tell with this one we actually caught him just as the gate camp had stood down we also managed to kill an Armageddon that came to help him.

http://condemned-and-convicted.dk/kb/?a=kill_detail&kll_id=1308

Luckily enough for us there hot drop fleet must of stood down at the same time.

The next kill was a very careless WT in a Drake with a Drake BPO in it's hold & T2 rigs yes that's right T2 rigs on a Drake with T1 launchers & not even best named.

http://condemned-and-convicted.dk/kb/?a=kill_detail&kll_id=1281

This kill came upon us by accident we had been told to bring small fast ships but I decided to bring along the cane because you just never know. Anyway we were chasing this other WT in a Crane we couldn't catch him so we were heading back to the gate when frank jumped into us. So we proceeded to grab him kill him & scoop the loots unfortunately  the Drake BPO didn't drop.

The last kill & my favourite so far was just a simple Arbitrator but it was the fight that made it excellent. We were out hunting WT's in small ship I was in a Wolf, Synsational was in a punisher & Black Camper was in a Taranis. So me & Syn had went further ahead & managed to catch the Arbitrator on a gate so we engage. He starts to shoot at my wolf but I'm repping the damage easily so he changes his attention to Syn's Punisher. He then launches his drones only 4 at a time so I start to kill them. Then another wave of drones & another & another Syn has to warp out at this point & I am agressed again so I'm repping his damage still as Syn comes back we start to make way with the Arbitrator now & we are 60km off the gate he is going into structure just as Camper comes into system just in time to get on the KM.

http://condemned-and-convicted.dk/kb/?a=kill_detail&kll_id=1321

Now this isn't the greatest kill ever but it was certainly one of the most enjoyable fights I have had in a long time in EVE. So hopefully many more GF's to come

Keep Ganking & Tanking

WatsonMayte

Back Home

So after everything has calmed down at uni I am now back where I belong with The Condemned & Convicted it's great to be back flying with everyone I remember as well as flying with the new members. I have only been back about a day & already we have rf'd a medium POS & killed the stupidest drake pilot ever. This guy has T2 rigs & T1 launchers on his drake but also had a Drake BPO in his cargo transporting it during a war.

http://www.condemned-and-convicted.dk/kb/?a=kill_detail&kll_id=1281

I will let you be the judge of how immensely stupid this guy is


Keep Tanking & Ganking

WatsonMayte

Update

Been a while since I posted anything but that's because it has been a while since I have done anything in EVE. I am currently skill flipping & training for tech 2 cruisers while I decide what I am going to do. I would ultimately like to go into 0.0 but I want to improve my skills some more before I do all shield & armour skills to 4 as well as all missile & gunnery support skills to 4. Once I have them I think I will be ready to go into 0.0 I currently have 17.5 million sp. So hopefully by the time I have 20 million probably a bit more I'll be ready


Keep Tanking & Ganking

WatsonMayte

The Carebear Files - Incursions

As I write this I am sitting in a fleet waiting to finish forming up to run some assualt sites. Incursions are the latest way to generate a lot of ISK quickly in a PvE environment. Many people have said that the Incursions are the closet thing to PvP that is not actually PvP, unless it is a live event & there is a dev controlling the Sansha mothership. Now I have only very recently started to run Incursions & up until this point I have only ran vanguard sites but from what I have experienced they are a lot of fun & a great way to make ISK. (I'll have my Loki & Vindicator very soon) I am currently fufilling the role of sniper in the fleet having set the Machariel up for this role with the following fit:


[Machariel, Sniper]

7x 1400mm 'Scout' Artillery I (Republic Fleet Depleted Uranium L)
Drone Link Augmentor I

Federation Navy Stasis Webifier
2x Sensor Booster II (Targeting Range)
2x Optical Tracking Computer I (Optimal Range)

Damage Control II
2x Imperial Navy Energized Adaptive Nano Membrane
Core C-Type Armor Explosive Hardener
1600mm Reinforced Rolled Tungsten Plates I
2x Republic Fleet Gyrostabilizer

Large Anti-Kinetic Pump I
Large Anti-Thermic Pump I
Large Trimark Armor Pump I

5x Medium Armor Maintenance Bot I
5x Valkyrie II
5x Warrior II

I am currently training for T2 guns & tracking computers but this fit will do until I have them. I'm thinking of just getting two faction tracking computers but I'll see how much ISK I make by the end of tonight. Brb running the sites.

So since I last stopped writing this post I have been in two fleets one for running Assaults & one for running Vanguards. Both where fun & made me some decent ISK for very little work it has to be said just follow the tags lock fire BOOM. The Logistics pilots in both fleets where excellent I had full rom agrro a couple of times & I was lucky if I even went below 85% armour. As I write this section again I am waiting for another Assault fleet to ready up the waiting times to get Assault fleets together is a little longer but the payout is double that of Vangaurds. I think that everyone should try out Incursions at somepoint as they are great fun & the ISK you can make is good too

Keep Tanking & Ganking

WatsonMayte

The Excitement of Battle

Now this post has been written waiting to get published from basically half an hour after  the engagement happened but I was wary of publishing it because  it will provide my enemies with some meta game advantage but I thought that as hardly anyone reads it I would publish  & the fact that I rarely get the chance to FC I think it is safe to do so.

Right so let me set the scene for you Myself, Wraph & Julian where sitting chilling in the Corp office generally just pissing about waiting for the next war to go live. Stupid Yulai convention stopping us from just murdering these grief tards. Anyway as the war went live the comms panel lit up it was one of our intelligence agents(really just a capsuleer with a booster habit to keep up we paid for info) told us that Double Tap alliance where fleeting up. It looked like these ass holes wanted to fight. A twisted dark smile spread across my face as I told the others the good news.

So we had our IA follow them & let us know what was happening, fleet comp, numbers etc etc. He reported back to me that there where 10 of them in total 2 x hurricanes, 2 x Cynabals, 2  x Ishkurs, 1 x Rapier, 1 x Dramiel & 1 x Scimitar. We were heavily outnumbered with just the three of us about the rest of the guys enjoying a well deserved break spending their hard earned ISK on cheap drink, fast women, potent boosters & anything that could be gambled on though not necessarily in that order. Julian came up with the idea of using RR Battleships & I then decided that we would try to ambush them on a gate. Our IA told us that they were two out of Sobaseki where our HQ is just now so I decided that we would get on to the Viesto gate in Soba & surprise them when they jumped in.

PAUSE

Right so a little background info about me, my PvP & FC'ing experiences. Basically this would be the first engagement that I would have to FC so saying I was a little nervous is an understatement especially against a bigger & probably more experienced fleet. I had only really started to PvP when I joined The Condemned & Convicted & the only time I had FC'd was the night before on a roam when we caught a loan Interceptor.
Although I knew that Julian & Wraph could both hold their own if I totally fucked up it made it that little bit easier to do.

RESUME


So we landed on the gate & started to orbit at 500m to ensure we had some transversal velocity granted not much in a battle ship but some is better than none. Our IA happily informed us that he was in a Guardian Logistics ship & would be happy to give us some reps for payment. He also managed to wangle up an Oneiros pilot form thin air that we were eternally grateful for. The idea was we were going to spider tank their damage until we could not handle it any more & then get reps so that we could keep the Logistics pilots safe as possible & not use them if that was possible.

We were sat on gate waiting for the enemy to jump in but several minutes passed & nothing happened. So we organised another IA to go in & take a look, just as he got into system all the ships except the Scimitar jumped in. The Rapier was called as primary but soon burned out of range next up was a Hurricane class battle cruiser. We managed to point, web & start to melt it, they had called Jullian primary in his Armageddon class battleship but we were easily spider tanking their damage. Then all of a sudden every single one of them had deployed ECM drones on us & they started to break our locks so the Logistics were called into play.

Thankfully they had not managed to jam all three of us at once & the first Hurricane was kept pointed & it eventually went down.

Hurricane One

By this point all my medium armour maintenance bots had went down so I thought lets play them at their own game & I deployed a wing of ECM-300's. The Dramiel must of been on drone duty as it popped a couple of my ECM drones. After the first Hurricane had went down the only other ship in range was the Hurricane as the rest had pulled range & started to kite us as they should of.

PAUSE

 But this is where I think they made the mistake they started to split their DPS as I was now being attacked by 1 Cynabal, the Hurricane &  1 Ishkur instead of focusing their fire onto one target to kill it they split their DPS which is the worst thing you can do in a fleet engagement especially when the enemy Logistics can rep your whole fleet's DPS no problem.

RESUME


The second Hurricane started to melt a lot faster & you will see why in a minute. This is when the Scimitar jumped in it immediately pulled range from us. Just as the second Hurricane went down.

Hurricane Two

The Rapier, Dramiel, 2 x Cynabal & 2 x Ishkur had tried to get our logistics. I ordered everyone to warp out as the Logistics where not pointed just webbed. So the three battleships start to warp just as one of our Logi pilots calls out he is now pointed. So we warp back in & primary an Ishkur which starts to melt rapidly but just MWD's out of range. The rest of their gang start to scatter to the wind at this point.

PAUSE


Now I was the only one within point range of the Ishkur but with all the excitement of the battle, the fact that I was FC'ing & winning I might add. I got all excited & forgot to activate my point. To be fair though it was 4am here in the UK so I think all things considered I can be forgiven this time

RESUME


So Wraph had the Dramiel pointed but with all our light drones dead & our big battleship guns we could not hit it even after it had been webbed. We let it go as the rest of his gang had peaced out by now & could of been coming back in anything. I warp the fleet to a little safe spot in space that I like to hide out in when the need arises. There were GF's exchanged in local & some light hearted banter between us & them. After our session timer had cooled down I warped us back to station to get out of our pods & back into the Corp HQ to wait for the next set of fools who think that if they outnumber us they out gun us.

So basically that was my first experience of having to FC a small fleet battle but I must say I loved every fucking crazy ass hectic minute of it. Even as I write this I am still shaking with the adrenaline that is being pumped through my body I am absolutely wired. I was going to go to sleep but I don't think I will be able to now. It was a sheer baptism by fire made all the sweeter that we got a victory against the odds of a rather experienced opponent. Now as I am only learning to FC I say learning really I am just watching & listening to the awesome FC's we already have & trying to emulate them as best as possible but so far I think it's working. So I'll wrap this up with a FUCK YEAH & look forward to FC'ing more fleets in the future

Keep Tanking & Ganking
WatsonMayte

Where's Your Head At

So as my birthday is in a few weeks I have decided to treat myself to a full set of Low-Grade Slave implants & a Machariel but more on the ship later. This means that slots one to six are full. But what am I going to put in slots seven to ten? This I will have to think about more carefully. I think that I am going to go with a mixture of implants here some that will improve speed, damage & armour. Below is the list of implants that I think will suit my PvP needs the best.

Slot 1. Low-Grade Slave Alpha
This ocular filter has been modified by Sansha's scientists for use by their elite officers


Primary Effect : +2 bonus to Perception


Secondary Effect : 1% bonus to armour hp


Set Effect : 10% bonus to the strength of all slave implant secondary effects


Slot 2. Low-Grade Slave Beta

This memory augmentation has been modified by Sansha's scientists for use by their elite officers

Primary Effect : +2 bonus to Memory

Secondary Effect : 2% bonus to armour hp

Set Effect : 10% bonus to the strength of all slave implant secondary effects

Slot 3. Low-Grade Slave Gamma

This neural boost has been modified by Sansha's scientists for use by their elite officers

Primary Effect : +2 bonus to Willpower

Secondary Effect : 3% bonus to armour hp

Set Effect : 10% bonus to the strength of all slave implant secondary effects

Slot 4. Low-Grade Slave Delta

This cybernetic subprocessor has been modified by Sansha's scientists for use by their elite officers

Primary Effect : +2 bonus to Intelligence

Secondary Effect : 4% bonus to armour hp

Set Effect : 10% bonus to the strength of all slave implant secondary effects

Slot 5. Low-Grade Slave Epsilon

This social adaption has been modified by Sansha's scientists for use by their elite officers

Primary Effect : +2 bonus to Charisma

Secondary Effect : 5% bonus to armour hp

Set Effect : 10% bonus to the strength of all slave implant secondary effects

Slot 6. Low-Grade Slave Omega
This implant does nothing in and of itself, but when used in conjunction with other Slave implants it will boost their effect. 


Primary Effect: 25% bonus to the strength of all Slave implant secondary effects


Slot 7. Zor's Custom Navigation Link
A neural Interface upgrade that boost the pilots skill in a specific area. This Navigation Link was created for a ruthless pirate commander, referred to as 'Zor'.

Primary Effect : 10% bonus to afterburner duration


Slot 8. Zor's Custom Navigation Hyper-Link
A neural Interface upgrade that boost the pilots skill in a specific area. This Navigation Hyper- Link was created for a ruthless pirate commander, referred to as 'Zor'


Primary Effect : 5% bonus to after burner & micro-warpdrive speed-boost

Slot 9. Hardwiring - Eifyr and Co. 'Gunslinger' CX-1
A Eifyr & Co. gunnery hardwiring designed to enhance skill with all turrets.

Primary Effect : Grants 3% bonus to all turret damages

Slot 10. Hardwiring - Inherent Implants 'Noble' ZET500
A neural Interface upgrade that boost the pilots skill at maintaining his ship's midlevel defences.

Primary Effect : 3% Bonus to armour hit points.

So that's how my combat clone is going to be implanted. Slots 1-6 are a no brainer really as I fly in almost exclusively armour gangs. Slot's 7 & 8 I am using them because I like to fly ships like the Dramiel, Cynabal, Stilleto etc etc Small fast ships. Slot 9 just because I am now a turret whore after being converted from missiles <3 turrets lol. Slot 10 is to purely compliment the Low-Grade Slaves I mean who doesn't want MOAR armour.

Keep Tanking & Ganking
WatsonMayte

The beauty of EVE

As I was ratting last night I realised as beautiful as EVE is I very rarely look at it. Now I hear you saying how can you not look at it how do you play it then? Which is a fair question I grant you but when you think about the amount of data you need to process during a PvP engagement it's not as daft as it first sounds. You need amount of hostile's, ship types, ship speed, ship distance & that is just for starters. Thankfully EVE provide's us with the tools we need such as the overview, fleet window, watch list, local chat(agree with it or not local chat is used as a tactical tool in PvP), D-Scan.

As you can see it appears to be extremely cluttered but this set up gives me the optimal amount of info I need & allows me to control my ship in the most efficient manner. As you can see this does not leave much screen space & with the Tactical Overview on I don't really get a chance to look at the beauty of EVE.

EVE online undoubtedly has the best graphics available in any MMO that is around today. Though to effectively get all the information you need for combat you have to have that many windows open that you rarely get to see EVE in all it's beauty. Although this is the case for when you are engaged in mortal combat when you actually have time just stop & take a look around & just look at EVE in all it's graphical beauty.

Ship Inventory

As I was cleared for docking into Caldari Navy Logistic Support station in Sobaseki my neo com flashed. It was that inbred pompous twat of a hanger manager wanting to see me about my ship inventory. Some garbage about me having to sign it off as correct. All seemed a bit fishy to me& being a merc there is a lot of guys who wouldn't mind setting me up if you know what I mean. So I get docked up & out of the pod the only thing I want to do is get a shower but this jobs worth is desperate for me to sign this off. He thrusts a data pad into my hands so I start to scan down it I realise I have a lot of ships just waiting to get into some Pew Pew with. All the ships were colour coded to do with T1, T2 & Faction ships as if I didn't know what my ships where.

To/ WatsonMayte here is a list of your ship types in our hangers as per required by Article 3 sub-section C of our docking rights.

[Frigate Class Hulls] 

Rifter x 3

Imicus

Kitsune

Buzzard

Manticore x 2

Hyena

Stiletto

Dramiel

Zephyr

[Cruiser Class Hulls]

Rupture x 2

Stabber x 2

Stabber Fleet Issue

Cynabal

[Battlecruiser Class Hulls]

Hurricane x 2

Ferox

Drake (ratting fit)

[Battleship Class Hulls]

Typhoon

Tempest

This guy doesn't seem to be going away & he has this look like he is desperate to ask something. So I say to him "do you need ot want something?" He looks startled by how brash I am but I really don't care I can't be arsed with him today. He says he was just wondering about the pirate ships that I have as they are frowned upon by such good stations such as the Cal Navy provide simpletons like myself. I just told him that I have pirate contacts & we were to leave it at that.

So basically I am going to talk about these ships & what I use them for & how I fit them & how some of my corp mates fit & fly them in up coming blog posts hopefully with a small story like the one above.

P.S The stories may suck to begin with but I'll stick with them unless people really hate them so let me know what you think.

The futility of the gank

Lately I have started to become bored of ganks & killing noobs. Now don't get me wrong it is fun at times but ultimately it leaves me unsatisfied as there is no challenge. We have started to do more low sec roams but that was only due to lack of targets in high sec. Now as a merc corp we don't really get to pick our targets which often leads to wars on miners or mission runners basically people that put up no resistance & get ganked by one of our camps or we catch them doing a mission & the supposed PvP corps we have to decc just stay docked up or play station games. Now I know this can't be helped by anyone as a contract is a contract & if it pays well we  will accept it. From the few wars where we have had some decent fights it always seems we get one fight beat them & then they stay docked up the rest of the war. I don't think there has been anyone that has actually brought the fight to us we always have to go get them even these so called PvP corps. Now I don't mind travelling 20 - 30 jumps for a fight or even to set up a camp but for once I would like someone to bring a decent fight to us as we would be more than willing to oblige.

Now don't get me wrong I am having fun where I am but there is always that underlying feeling of futility what am I actually learning from killing noobs & miners. I have always stated that I wanted to learn how to PvP so that I could move to null sec eventually but I am a long way from doing that as the corp I am in is fantastic, the pilots are cool, I am learning a lot about PvP & FC'ing from the other pilots & I am in no rush to be moving on. But the fact remains the bulk of anyone's PvP knowledge comes from actually getting out & PvP'ing that is why I have stopped can flipping & have taken to low sec roams when there is no targets to hunt. Though 90% of the time this proves unfruitful I either get blobbed or find no one to fight or those who are willing to fight always have logi support or a falcon alt ready to jump in. Apparently their is no such thing as a fair fight in EVE I don't even care if I lose the fight as long as I get a fight I enjoy it there is no greater feeling than an adrenaline rush & this is what I get when I engage in PvP in EVE. This may be sad but I don't care as it is a great feeling to be able to experience such a rush from your computer chair.

I think what I am trying to say is I need more of a challenge & I hope that the next couple of up-coming wars provide this. I am now going to give you a quick update about my training plan, I have set out a 484 days skill que which will train all Caldari & Minmatar sub cap ships along with near perfect armour, shield, gunnery, missile. drone, rigging & support skills that I fell will provide me with a better skill set for PvP. So expect to see me field some shiny new stuff in the near future.

Keep Tanking & Ganking

WatsonMayte

Why EVE is great

So lately there has been a lot of EVE bashing even more so than normal. So thought I would write about about why EVE is great or rather why I think EVE is great. There are many reasons why people play this game I play the game because I enjoy it simple as that of course I will go into more detail but the bottom line of the matter is I love this game I put a lot of time & effort into the game. So when the server crashes for an hour or whatever sure I'm pissed but not at CCP but at the fact I can't play. When the server goes down it is always back up within a decent time frame in my opinion & the few times when it has been down for a serious amount of time CCP handed out free SP. Now I know from personal experience that CCP doesn't have the greatest customer service   as anyone who has filled in a petition knows but what's an hour or two when your skills are still training. Nothing that's what, we EVE players are in the lucky position that as long as we have an active skill queue our characters are getting better at the game as opposed to every other mmo where you have to go kill rats or grind like mad to get anywhere.

A few of the reasons I think EVE is great are:

1. The scope of the game
There is basically hundreds of things to do in this game from carebearing it up in high sec to controlling sov in 0.0 & everything in-between. This means that when you are bored of one thing you can just move onto another skills dependant of course.

2. CCP actually listen to the community
Whether it's through the CSM or the forums there is always player input in the production of the game. Although it may not be what every player wants the fact remains that there is player input.

3. The game is great to play
Now don't get me wrong here there are many bugs & flaws within the game but the fact of the matter is EVE is a fun game & has some of the best PvP online gaming has to offer. I haven't been into the PvP side of EVE very long but the whole time that I have it's been some of the best times I have had within the game.

So in conclusion to the above EVE is great, give the devs a break when there is server proble s after all they are only human & work to resolve the issue as quickly as possible.

Keep Tanking & Ganking
WatsonMayte

PvP, ISK & Spaceships

Firstly I am going to talk about the PvP I have been doing since I last blogged. Then I shall talk about my current financial state & what I am going to do to remedy that. Finally I will talk about the spaceships I am flying just now plus the spaceships I hope to be flying in the not so distant future.

PvP
I have done quite a bit of PvP since the last time I posted most notably there have been several solo encounters most of which I have lost but I have learned something from each one which is a plus. As always we have had Merc work to do thanks tour growing reputation & hard work of our CEO. (Shameless plug but if you are looking for a professional Merc group contact BlackCamper of The Condemned & Convicted mention my blog sent you to him & he may even give you small discount lol) In other breaking news I have been promoted to the rank of FC not because I am the best combat pilot but because I have a good understanding of game mechanics & a willingness to learn also I'm not afraid to make decisions even if they are bad decisions. I was always told that the worst decision anyone could make was no decision at all.So make sure you have your ship insured before we roam as it may not come back in one piece.

Our current war against Armada Ministry Federation could not have went any better we destroyed them in high sec they then retreated into their WH. Which was promptly shown to us by their CEO after he was given a beating in high sec he ran straight for it. All of this happened after he sent a mail to his Corp saying he was restricting access to it as he knew we were actively seeking it. So after we found it we went in & ransacked the place.Destroyed their tower, their ships & ultimately their morale. As of writing this blog I know of at least 28 of AMF have left the alliance although quite a number of them have left & joined the Corp set up by the Alliance CEO's alt BusyDogg Synaptic Recall. Garrdogg is his main & from the moment the war started he has made bad decision after bad decision. He has used his members as a meat shield to scout out his stuff from the WH while ordering others to stay & defend the POS. He left all of his members stuff in the WH but somehow managed to get all his ships & stuff out. He ordered his PvP division to go up against a superior force & waits till they have been beaten many times to call a retreat. Basically what I am trying to say is the man is a coward, he encouraged smack talk before the war,he tried to smack talk us when he managed together his stuff out the WH but now he has been forced to leave the alliance & create a new Corp with his alt he hasn't got much to say. So this is to you GarrDogg Mr Docked Up Local Smack Talker.

YOU SIR ARE A TRUE HERO OF EVE
Garrdogg

ISK
Interstellar Kredits & my current lack of them. Right now I have a little over 81 million in my wallet. Though I do have enough ships to sustain Meroe a while providing I don't lose the all within a week of burning glory. The reason I have so little & can only afford to run on account right now is because I had to pay back a loan to a bitter vet friend of mine to the sum of two & a half billion. Basically when I started to PvP I used my second account to generate my ISK but now since that is gone for the time being I shall be pausing the training Que on WatsonMayte & creating to PI/Indy toons on this account. I shall begin these new characters in just over three days when Minmatar frigate 5 finishes training. While I am training up these other characters I will be taking a small break from PvP to run missions to gain enough capital to get my PI up & running. Once I have my second account up & running again I am going to be looking into booster production & creating a second combat character. I also plan to try & get into T2 production & inventing to help supplement my income I may even join an indy Corp as long as they don't find out who my main is I think I should be ok.

Spaceships

Now to the most important part of the blog the toys I use. As it stands I prefer to fly small ships frigates & cruisers mostly but I do not hesitate to jump into something bigger if the situation demands for it. Currently my favourite ships to fly are the Rifter, Rupture, Stabber, Stabber Fleet Issue & the Dramiel. I have used all the ships I just mentioned there on solo Low Sec PvP roams & to my greta surprise the only ship I could get a fight in was the Rifter. I only took the SFI & the Dramiel out to see if I could entice someone into a fight. Maybe I am roaming the wrong areas or maybe I just need to get into some small gangs & see what we can find who knows for sure but the only certainty is that I will keep solo roaming & trying to get into some solo PvP action just because it is fun win lose or draw I enjoy it & thats what matters.

I have been trying different set ups for the Rifter & I have to say the set up I enjoy the most is the Arty Rifter kiting your target at 15+ km while tearing away at their shields & armour is much to my liking. The only problem I find is that I need to pay much more attention to the orbital sling & the target getting out of point range. Next on my hit list are all of the Minmatar T2 frigates most notably the Wolf, Jaguar & Hyena all of which IMO will make excellent solo frigates if flown right. I will be reviewing all three in the coming months.

In the cruiser hulls I am planning on getting a Cynabal as soon as I can afford it then I shall be training for T2 cruisers I have not really spent a great deal of time looking over them but I am sure I will be able to find one or two that take my fancy.

Keep Tanking & Ganking

WatsonMayte

Black Ops & Noob Wars

So a few weeks back we ran a black ops fleet full of stealth bombers. I have to say it was my first time using the Black Ops to jump with & it's probably one of the most fun things to do with a fleet of stealth bombers. We were not alone in this op we had pilots from Starwinders, Narwhales ate my duck, sleeper social club, 4u holdings Inc & SRS so thanks to all those who turned up. We managed to get five kills in total all by using a scout to pick fights & light cynos so that we could jump in. We bagged three drakes, a hurricane & the first drake pilots pod all in all it was a good op much fun & Lols were had by all. One of the drake pilots actually told us he fell off his seat laughing at the sight of twenty four stealth bombers jumping in. All of the kills went the same way our scout Julian who is the coolest man under fire ever would find the fight light the Cyno & allow us to jump in & unleash some unholy justice upon the victim.

In all honesty it was the most fun I have had in EVE in a long time & I hope that we make these black op's hot drops a regular thing within our play time.

So we got a contract to War Deck a mining alliance up in Lonetrek. The alliance was killed PIT Industries Enterprises & they where by far some of the worst EVE players in the world. From bad organisation to fail fit ships they just sucked. Which of course is good for us as it meant lots of kills. We persecuted them without remorse killing everything & anything of theirs that we could & by the end of day Two of the war we had killed fourty two ships. In the end we managed to kill Eighty six ships including:

Pods 37
Frigates 3
Battlecruisers 1
Cruisers 1
Destroyers 10
Exhumers 3
Industrial command ships 1
Mining barges 6
Shuttles 3

PIT Industries Campaign Board

Now this probably wasn't our best fight but by god it has probably been the most satisfying due to the fact that one of their newer members had run his mouth in local & private mail to me from the get go. Purgations Hells I dedicate this blog to you & all nine of your pod kills. Our employer paid ten mil per corpse we returned but I kept one of yours just so I can link it to you every now & then. At first our good friend Purg told us we wouldn't kill him or even catch him. But within minutes of saying so I had caught & lidded him. I got all the usual grief from him which worsened with every time we killed him. After about six or seven pod kills our unlikely hero began to stop speaking to us. One of the corpies made an alt & spoke to him where he provided delicious tears for our entertainment. I will get these tears posted up somewhere for the general public to see.

Purgations Hells Loss Board

So Purgations Hells aka Mr Docked Up Local Smack Talker this is for you

Keep Tanking & Ganking

WatsonMayte

Life in the merc lane

So I have been a mercenary for a couple of weeks now & I have to say I am loving every minute of it. There have been four wars since I have joined and another in its twenty four hour stasis period before it can start. Two wars have finished so I can discuss them, these wars ended very well for us with a total of 31 kills between the two wars. Initially we got a contract for an alliance so naturally we decked them but one Corp left as a result but no one escapes that easily so we decked them as well. The kills came thick & fast with a particular highlight of catching an alliance freighter pilot (I will link all kills mentioned at bottom of the blog) there was also the orca kill which I was not part of choosing to go do missions instead of roam FAIL.

I will not run through all of the kills only the most notable also I got my first solo kill in my Rifter tonight so I will speak of that also. Firstly the Obelisk kill we had formed a fleet in our staging system and were going to hunt for wt's. As we were on our way to our target system. I jumped into Botane as I came onto grid I saw a wt land right on the gate & jump I reported the target & the fleet rushed to the Botane gate in Vylade I burned back to the gate as quick as I could. By the time I had got back to Vylade Nilf had the Obelisk pointed & we began to destroy her. The whole thing taking less than two minutes the pilot asked to pay a ransom but we never noticed her speaking in local to accept.

http://sixty8.org/convicted/killboard/?a=kill_detail&kll_id=291

The Orca kill which I was not part of due to choosing to go do missions. Well the Corp that left the alliance we had decked must not of known that they had a 24 hour stasis period before the war would be over. As the fleet had a neutral alt in the system that found one of it's members dual a Hulk & Orca in Kobam. Fleet got a warp in point from the alt fleet jumps in warps to the alt points both the Hulk & Orca. The pilot logs of half way through his Orca going into shields, Rage Quit much?

http://sixty8.org/convicted/killboard/?a=kill_detail&kll_id=301

My first solo kill came about as I was can flipping & baiting miners in Aidart. I had placed a can next to a miner & an Incursus warped in flipped my can & ran. But I had seen where he warped to belt 2. So I warp into the belt land right on top of him point him & start to Orbit him at 2 km. I let my 150mm Light Autocannon II rip into him & destroy him in about thirty seconds. It's probably not the best solo kill I will ever get but it is my first.

http://sixty8.org/convicted/killboard/?a=kill_detail&kll_id=339

Keep Tanking & Ganking

WatsonMayte

Games Geeks & Ganks - The Begining

Hey, I decided to write a blog basically because I was bored. I'm finished uni for the summer & I need something constructive to fill my time other than computer games. Although you could argue that computer games aren't constructive but that is another blog all together. I will mainly be writing about the things I love computer games & technology but don't be surprised to see the odd blog about music or sports.

I play games on the Xbox 360 (currently the best console on the Market) & the pc. I mostly spend my time playing FIFA 11 & EVE online for those who don't know EVE online is a space MMO (Massively Multiplayer Online) game. Internet spaceships are serious business. Essentially you can do pretty much anything you want to in EVE it is a sand box game of EPIC proportions. In EVE there are many ways to make ISK (money) but the main ways are to run missions for NPC agents, Mining where you mine asteroids for minerals & ore, Play the markets as EVE has a player driven economy just like the real world which is cool for a game, Piracy oh yes ladies & gentleman even in the future we have pirates they capture ships & pods then ransom the players for there freedom, Mercenaries where players or corps who are unable to defend themselves or don't want to get there pods dirty pay other players & corps to hunt kill & just generally grief people they don't like.

Which leads us to me now I have recently joined the dark side & joined a Merc Corp. The Condemned & Convicted welcomed me into their ranks about 8 days ago now. Now as I have been a care bear all my EVE life except for brief stints in 0.0 & low sec where I spent most of my PvP experience dying. I thought it was time to learn how to PvP & hopefully have a blast doing it so off to the recruitment channel I went. Now if anyone has played an MMO or any online game where there is player run corps, clans or guilds knows the recruitment process generally sucks. This is even more true in EVE as spying, espionage, Corp stealing & griefing are not only allowed it is encouraged to the point where players will spend months or even years infiltrating corps & gaining trust just to steal everything that Corp has. But I digress so I was in the recruitment chat channel & was watching all the usual spam of join us we are the best etc etc. So I put out my own ad so to speak 10mil SP Caldari care bear wants to PvP I got several chat invitations almost right away the first couple were for pirate corps which didn't interest me but I got talking to this guy BC about his Merc Corp. I liked what was being said & was interested so I was invited on to the corps vent server for a talk as it is much easier to gauge a person by speaking to them rather than typing. So basically we talked about the requirnments for the Corp & what would be expected of me etc etc. I also had to provide my limited API key so that background checks could be performed on my character (I know what your thinking. Background check on a computer game character? Yes background checks as I mentioned earlier internet spaceships are serious business). After all this was done I was accepted into the Corp to meet the rest of the pilots I would be flying & dying with for the foreseeable future. Everyone was cool I was accepted in by the other players even as a complete noob to PvP, I was helped out with a skill plan to get where I need to be skills wise, I was helped out on how to fit my ships & any questions I had where answered without mocking no matter how daft or "nooby" they were. So thanks guys for making the transition to the new Corp & profession an easy one.

Keep Tanking & Ganking

WatsonMayte
The Condemned & Convicted