Weekend Break - End

Logging back on later in the day in Asakai, I made my way towards Ishomilken. The path forward was clear and no time at all I was in my destination system. I could immediately see a few members of Python and Fla5hy Red in local, but they appeared to be docked and AFK.

Using the time to send my alt to the nearest trade hub to pick up a Crusader in case I needed something a little quicker, I docked my main up in one of the several stations in system. Once my alt returned, he noticed a neutral Drake on the high security gate just sitting there. Warping my main there at range, I started investigating. It was clear however that he wouldn't engage me, even when I closed range. Pondering on what to do, another neutral Drake jumped in.

Figuring I might actually get a fight, I moved in even closer to them, practically hugging the stargate. A Fla5hy Red Hurricane landed 20km off me and started firing on me. Burning off, I warped off and then warped back in at range to witness a Drake firing on the Hurricane.

A few seconds after I landed, the rest of the Hurricane's gang warped in, a Macheriel and a Megathron whilst a Python Pilgrim simultaneously decloaked. Shortly afterwards, the Drake was dead whilst I opened up on the Pilgrim. The other Drake by this point had jumped out. Unfortunately for me, the Pilgrim put his Tracking Disruptor(s) on me and I was unable to hit him.

As agile as a HAC, as much firepower as a Battleship, the Macheriel

 As the Drake popped, the pirate gang opened on me, with the Macheriel attempting to catch me. Warping off in low shields, I finally had a look at local.

[2010.11.23 17:41:33 ] pilot1975 > privet
[ 2010.11.23 17:41:44 ] Jarek Kalensa > hedge
[ 2010.11.23 17:41:46 ] pilot1975 > )
[ 2010.11.23 17:45:18 ] pilot1975 > nice
[ 2010.11.23 17:46:27 ] pilot1975 > to by continued =)
[ 2010.11.23 17:46:56 ] Piscis > get out my system
[ 2010.11.23 17:46:58 ] Piscis > fukheadf
[ 2010.11.23 17:47:09 ] pilot1975 > :))))))))
[ 2010.11.23 17:47:29 ] pilot1975 > сршлуты
[ 2010.11.23 17:47:43 ] pilot1975 > chikens
[ 2010.11.23 17:48:05 ] pilot1975 > nice ship :)))
[ 2010.11.23 17:48:50 ] Hattori Yasunaga > im 35 today and that was my first kill since returning
[ 2010.11.23 17:51:11 ] pilot1975 > see you
[ 2010.11.23 17:51:24 ] Jarek Kalensa > au revoir
[ 2010.11.23 17:54:19 ] Helicity Boson > suleiman, did you get the drake KM
[ 2010.11.23 17:54:24 ] Jarek Kalensa > lol
[ 2010.11.23 17:54:26 ] Jarek Kalensa > such a little ninja
[ 2010.11.23 17:54:36 ] Suleiman Shouaa > Nope, was aiming for you.
[ 2010.11.23 17:54:58 ] Jarek Kalensa > :)
[ 2010.11.23 17:55:01 ] Jarek Kalensa > yer so mean!
[ 2010.11.23 17:56:22 ] Helicity Boson > you have no idea how close i was to you earlier >:)
[ 2010.11.23 17:57:31 ] Suleiman Shouaa > Cool
[ 2010.11.23 17:57:48 ] Helicity Boson > but i wasnt keen on tanking harby + 2 drakes
[ 2010.11.23 17:58:17 ] Suleiman Shouaa > They weren't together.

Docking up in a different station this time, I finally figured out which station Fla5hy Red and Python are based out of. Undocking, a Abaddon and a Hyperion followed me. Pulling some range and opening up on the Hyperion, it was clear that I was barely able to break his active tank, even with the help of station guns, whilst it was also clear that the Abaddon's lasers were hitting me too hard. Warping off, I found the Fla5hy Red Hurricane still on scan but at a safe near the stargate the last fight had occured on. After a delightful game of us hunting each other at the same time, I waited at a moon. Not one to disappoint, he followed very quickly.

As he closed in on me, it was clear he was not merely shield tanked, but he was considerably faster than a normal nano shield Hurricane, hitting over 2km/s with ease, easily outpacing myself even with my MWD overheated. Considering for a moment, I swapped over to my alt and noticed that he had backup sitting on the station, two Battleships. Deciding that it was too much for me to handle, I warped off. Local erupted.

[2010.11.23 18:10:59 ] Jarek Kalensa > why so keen to run away?
[ 2010.11.23 18:11:35 ] Suleiman Shouaa > Do you solo much?
[ 2010.11.23 18:11:53 ] Jarek Kalensa > yeah, although usually in smaller ships
[ 2010.11.23 18:12:04 ] Jarek Kalensa > and yeah, i see yer point
[ 2010.11.23 18:12:04 ] Jarek Kalensa > :p
[ 2010.11.23 18:12:23 ] Suleiman Shouaa > You have LG/HG Snakes/Loki alt
[ 2010.11.23 18:12:41 ] Jarek Kalensa > nope
[ 2010.11.23 18:12:49 ] Piscis > i and u have swollen tearducts
[ 2010.11.23 18:12:53 ] Jarek Kalensa > only things in my head are plus 3s
[ 2010.11.23 18:13:00 ] Suleiman Shouaa > You preheated mids then?
[ 2010.11.23 18:13:05 ] Jarek Kalensa > ofc
[ 2010.11.23 18:13:26 ] Jarek Kalensa > standard tackling procedure :)

Halfway through, I noticed a Loki on scan. Cracking out the probes, it was clear he was unprobable. Making it even more suspicious, there were no mission rat wrecks on scan. What was he doing? After a brief pondering, it was clear he was running Warfare Links for his gang, boosting, amongst other things, their speed. A simple statement in local confirmed this

[ 2010.11.23 18:25:07 ] Suleiman Shouaa > I see your alt.
[ 2010.11.23 18:25:35 ] Jarek Kalensa > or someones. mine is in jita :p

I decided to head back to Hevrice, having spent enough time in the Mara but also due to reports that Verge Vendor was picking up again and my corpmates needed my assistance. Before I left, the Drake from earlier returned.

The way back was fairly uneventful until I reached Nisuwa, a faction warfare hotspot. Spying multiple Macheriels on scan, as well as Logistics and Recons, I decided to rush through without scouting. As I landed on my outgate, the gang was waiting. As I attempted to warp off, their Arazu pointed me. Jumping through, several Battleships as well as a Loki followed. Burning back to the gate, Artillery started hitting my Harbinger, reducing it to 1/3 shields before I could jump back into Nisuwa. Futily attempting to warp, the Arazu leisurely pointed me as their Battleships acquired a lock, reducing my Harbinger to dust.

Well, at least the route back to Hevrice got a lot simpler! Once there, several interesting targets presented themselves, warranting the need of Rend.

Weekend Break - Round the Block

Logging back on Sunday night, local appeared to be busy, with multiple members of a corporation called Monsters present. Undocking, the only ship I could spot on D-scan was a Maller in top belt.

Amarr Cruiser Maller, possibly the most obvious bait ship in New Eden

Still willing to see what Monsters had, I warped to top belt at 20km, landing 25km off the Maller. Orbitting him at 20km and opening fire, it was clear that he had a rather large armor buffer, a classic sign that he was indeed bait. Despite him using his MWD, it was clear that he was unable to catch me and pin me down due to his lower speed due to the multiple armor plates he had no doubt fitted.

When he finally dropped down to half armor, multiple Battleships warped in - Armageddon, Armageddon, Armageddon, Megathron, Scorpion and a Tempest. Taking potshots at them, it was clear that they had multiple Remote Armor Reps fitted, as their Maller was almost instantly repaired to full armor whilst their Scorpion kept me perma-jammed. Warping off, I complemplated on how to try out and overcome them. The best that I could come up with them was to seperate the Scorpion from the rest, put jamming drones on him and attempt to burn him down before the rest of his gang arrived. Unfortunately, this seemed unlikely and I was considering just moving on.

However, my scouting alt had revealed several members of Python Cartel 1 jump out and heading this way. As they jumped into local, their gang was revealed to be larger than I thought, containing several members of Fla5hy Red also.

As I watched them warping to top belt towards the Monsters gang, I elected to warp in at range and see what I could pick off amongst the chaos. Landing 70km from the furious melee, I attempted to chase down Jarek Kalensa's Rapier which was 50km off me. However, as I moved towards him, he started webbing me, allowing him to pull some extra range on me. Deciding that was going nowhere, I started heading towards Andrea Skye's Nighthawk. Unfortunately, ECM boatsdecided to focus their jams on me, with both the Scorpion and a neutral Falcon successfully jamming me.

In the end, I moved away from the combat and then warped to the asteroid closest to the Python Arazu. As I dropped out of warp 30km off him, he managed to warp off just as I closed to overheated Warp Disruptor range.

Force Recon Arazu, weak tank and slow speed makes it an ideal target for me

At this point, with most of the Monsters' Battleship gang either dead or driven off, I elected to make myself scarce. As I warped off, I realised that I had not actually fired on any ships that had fallen, making it appear as if I was never there! Battle report on the Python side can be found here.

Due to RL issues, I had to log off at this stage, but after finally spotting a Python gang, I was eager to head back to Ishomilken and see what I could get up to.

Logging on later in the day, my corpmates just happened to be on a roam nearby. Their fleet consisted of a Drake, a Rupture, a Claw and finally a trusty Rifter. Spotting some mission runners in Reitsato, my alt provided the warpin and we warped in. My Harbinger was first on the scene along with the two frigates. Catching the Armageddon and Raven and quickly dispatching them, we were pleasantly suprised when a Hurricane also landed, from the same corporation as the Battleships. He also fell.

Waiting out GCC, a Drake was spotted on scan towards Planet 1. Obvious bait being obvious, we did what Tuskers are famous for - we went for it. As we secured tackle on the Drake, local spiked and the rest of his gang arrived - Blackbird, Brutix, Brutix, Drake and Punisher. Due to the Blackbird jamming our entire gang on his first try, the original Drake managed to warp away. Our own Drake got tackled and killed, whilst in the meantime we immediately dispatched their Punisher.

With our frigates perma-jammed, our gang with the exception of me warped off. I wanted to try and see if I could kill one of their Brutixes. Kiting their gang quite nicely, I managed to pull their Battlecruisers well away from their Blackbird. Unfortunately, just as one of their Brutixes entered low armor, the Blackbird burnt away from his gang and warped back ontop of them once he was 150km clear, effectively keeping me perma-jammed. At this point, I decided to give up on their gang due to their ECM keeping me locked down. Warping off, the following dialogue in local occurred.

[2010.11.22 23:05:14 ] ItsmeHcK1 > gf
[ 2010.11.22 23:05:17 ] Angor Mau > gf
[ 2010.11.22 23:05:21 ] Rabuso > gf
[ 2010.11.22 23:06:03 ] art4art > eh disconect inet0
[ 2010.11.22 23:06:53 ] Suleiman Shouaa > gf
[ 2010.11.22 23:07:17 ] art4art > not gf=)
[ 2010.11.22 23:07:35 ] art4art > you are nubs=)
[ 2010.11.22 23:07:46 ] Suleiman Shouaa > :)
[ 2010.11.22 23:07:47 ] Taek'li > gf!
[ 2010.11.22 23:07:51 ] Angor Mau > :P
[ 2010.11.22 23:08:03 ] Asar unNefer > yeahh noobs that kill u
[ 2010.11.22 23:08:03 ] Suleiman Shouaa > You are funny :)
[ 2010.11.22 23:08:07 ] Asar unNefer > u too
[ 2010.11.22 23:08:09 ] Asar unNefer > hehe

After GCC ended, the rest of the gang elected to head back to Hevrice, whilst I remained behind, looking for some more pewpew. Moving around through various systems, I ended up in Ikoskio. Judging by local count, the gang from earlier appeared to bepresent. Warping to the high security gate at range, I found them - 2 Brutixes and 2 Drakes. Moving closer to them in the hope they would aggress me so I wouldn't tank gateguns (they were neutral), I was tempted to warp back to the stargate at 0, wait until they aggressed me then jump through, warp off and warp back to the low security gate. Luckily, after several minutes they finally gathered the courage to open fire on me. Kiting their Battlecruisers off the gate, I took one Drake to low shields before 2 flights of Hornet EC-300 drones managed to jam me and he warped off.

Multiple times they tried to catch me by jumping back into high security, waiting a while then jumping back into low security, often times appearing within 10km of me. Every time however, my ship was already facing empty space and I kept burning off. After half an hour of this, I had lost enough drones and accumulated enough heat damage that I had to dock up, repair and pick up new drones. Luckily, two jumps out was a stockpile of drones I had left from an earlier roam. Grabbing them and heading back, this time I warped to an FW Plex and waited 50km off the acceleration gate. Announcing my location in local, I waited for them to come in.

After 15 minutes or so, they landed - a single Drake. Unfortunately this Drake had a rather high tank, forcing me to warp off before I could break him as his gang landed. Complimenting his tank in local, I contemplated my next move. Deciding to split their gang up, I warped to a low security gate and jumped. After playing around with their gang of Brutix, Brutix, Curse, Drake and Drake, I had managed to bring the Brutix down to half hull before I was forced to warp off as the Curse jumped through.

Combat Recon Curse, bane of the Shield Harbinger

Again, a Python and Fla5hy Red gang appeared in local in Asakai. As they started engaging the neutral gang on the gate, I landed. Immediately judging that Python was winning, I lent my firepower to the neutral gang I was playing with earlier, opening fire on the Fla5hy Red Rapier who exploded. It seemed that the neutral gang did not appreciate my efforts and their Curse started neutting me. Moving clear of him, I warped off as it was apparent my help was not needed, despite Python winning in the end.

Docking in system, I had a friendly chat in local with Fla5hy Red and Python before logging. The evening would bring more pewpew.