UNDOCK! KILL ALL THINGS!

UNDOCK! KILL ALL THINGS
This is my first post. I've started many blogs and never got past the first post; this is a good start. So what has motivated to make this leap forward from an apathetic state? Why do I suddenly feel that others might care what I type with this keyboard? The answer is.....that today was such an amazing day in New Eden that I just want to reflect on it, and make it last a little bit longer; I care not whether anyone else feels the same, or whether my use of semi colons and comas will destroy the English language. Normally I am too busy killing shit in Eve or playing SC2 to write.

Not today.

[20:30 ish] Dark Ochestra Corp. Blue Ballz Us
I logged into the game today and a few wankers are online; Arasul, Masty, Firebolt, and Craftycroc. I think they are all Australians? Targets have already been scouted. People are undocking in Bosena with the smell of blood already in the water...errr space. A Dark Orchestra gang is scouted in Oddelulf system one jump away on the High-Security gate of Gelfiven. A couple of Machariels, my Sleipnir, and my blackbird alt are now sitting on the Oddelulf gate in Bosena waiting for the Dark Orchestra gang of Battle Cruisers to engage our Hyperion bait. Some pointed discussion is made by CraftyCroc over whether a blackbird is necesary, and then I inform him that I promise only to save my Sleipnir when something bad happens and pilots are crying that their Machariels are tackled on the High-Security gate. As if multiple nano Machariels aren't overkill for a kitchen-sink scrub gang of BCs. After minutes of the bait being scoffed at like trout ignoring the hundred men in waders per 50 feet of bank during the height of the Yellowstone tourist season, our bait pilot calls out that the enemy has engaged on the hisec gate. We all jump in (Blackbird staying in Bosena, as was the plan) and warp to our Hyperion in time to see the enemy escaping to Jesus-land where the likes of us are leery of following. The warp to the target was not a short distance and some discussion was had over whether the enemy actually aggressed or if they did, how were they able to jump in less than a minute, or whether a minute had indeed passed. Grumbling ensues. The gang heads back to Bosena station.

[20:35 ish] Interstellar Money Makers vs Gunpoint Diplomacy Round 1
New targets are scouted. A gang of Tier-1 (T1) cruisers and frigates from Interstellar Money Makers has entered system and warped to the Heild gate. They aggressed our Ferox (?) on the Heild gate with most of the fleet docked up. I undock my Sleipnir and warp to the Heild gate at 30k and begin eliminating targets quite quickly. The rest of the gang lands and within seconds the brave little T1 gang has been destroyed. Gf's (good fights) are exchanged in local. Wrecks are....sort of looted, there isn't much worth taking. Some discussion is had over our over-response to this gang; two Machariel, a domi, Drake, Sleipnir and Rupture; I shrug as it is hard to avoid such things in your home system. Try telling people that there are kills moments away but that they shouldn't undock...good luck. Furthermore it's not always feasible to undock a fleet that is roughly in the same class as the targets since most targets don't want to be targets and pass through the system quickly and because most of the corp does not have cruisers readily available. I comment that I probably could have solo'd the gang, and Arasul confirms. One of the defeated pilots (Interstellar Moneymakers) states in local that this was this was a test attempt at pvp and adds another gf. I immediately send a mail to that pilot encouraging his gang to reship and keep losing cheap gangs; trains FCs not to be afraid to lose ships, target calling practice, and FUN for all.

If I get a single lonely comments on this post, don't let it be "You are not awesome for killings noobs in t1 ships" This was a good fight in the sense that both sides stood their ground, no one had to be forced into oblivion, there was no boring chase where you maybe catch one and the rest escape, there was no bad manners in local chat. There is little doubt however that this fight, and its subsequent round 2 were not over before they started.

Victory (7-0) Battle Report (All of these Battle Reports are FUBAR)

[21:20ish] Interstellar Money Makers vs Gunpoint Diplomacy Round 2
Again, the Interstellar Money Makers T1 Cruiser/Frig gang enters Bosena again and warps to Odelulf gate. I immediately undock my Sleipnir and warp to 30 of the gate. Boosted by skirmish links (lol) I start pointing and killing ships nearly as fast as I can cycle my point to a new target; all the while I am grinning uncontrollably. Rarely do find a group of pilots or an FC so willing to engage in consensual fights against pretty hopeless odds. I love it. The first corp my character (Titus Veridius) joined was a pvp corp called Firetech that flew mainly t1 frigate/cruiser gangs in Geminate so I was feeling a sense a weird sense of reverse deja vu. We finished creating all the wrecks and tallied a more or less similar result as the first engagement.

Victory 7-0 Battle Report

[21:30] Skirmish with Black Rebel Rifter Club (R1FTA)
Arasul and Krole are scouting the frigate plex in Heild for targets and are engaged by R1FTA frigates/assault frigates. I jump Heild and warp to the frigate plex in time to evaporate a wolf with my Sleipnir. Overkill? Yes, but targets are appearing before we all have time to ship down.

Minor Victory 2-0 Battle Report

[21:35] Titus Veridius vs White Noise
Frigates in Heild are dealt with and the Dark Orchestra gang are spotted entering Bosena. I warp my Sleipnir to the Bosena gate in Heild. There is a lone Hurricane on the gate. I do not check its corp ticker, and have no looked at Heild local for awhile. I have not hit directional scan in....awhile. The Hurricane engages my Sleipnir at 0-meters on the gate. I stupidly assume it's one of the aformentioned Black Orchestra bc's and began to nano off the gate before engaging the lone Hurricane. I engage the Hurricane at 15km with MWD burning (no links at this time) and suddenly have several frigates/inties/T3 Battlecruisers and a Cynabal on my ass melting through my now overheated shield booster. Once the rest of the gang placed their damage on me it only took about 15-20 seconds to melt me down to scrap. I immediately say "GF" in local and add "that was a good kill" for as they were about to find out that Sleipnir was about a 750m-800m isk vessel (Eve-Kill several exaggerates its value) I immediately do what anyone else would do and then feel bad about and post "bad intel" on the loss mail as I am docking my pod in Bosena. Since I can't rightly say whether they jumped through from Bosena or were already in system or had just jumped in and warped to the gate from Aedald, it was certainly unfair of me to say such a thing. I've gotten used to the feel of losing semi-expensive ships recently, will make a seperate most on the matter. However the feeling at the time was that the ships had come from Bosena, and the multiple corpmates in system had failed to call out what should have been a noticeable gang entering system and sitting on the Heild gate. This was more or less the extent of my e-rage as I quickly reshipped TO KILL ALL THE THINGS.

Notes: I think Arasul was being somewhat kind, and didn't say much more about the bad intel comment.

CRUSHING DEFEAT 0-1 Battle Report

[21:50 ish] Dark Orchestra vs Gunpoint Diplomacy
Some of us had just warped back to station and began docking while others were mulling around system when new intel was reported. The Black Orchestra gang was jumping into Bosena from the High-Security system of Teonusude No one undocks right away. Several gang mates had just logged off team-speak. Some indecision is heard on coms over how to engage them. I pipe up that we should just undock nano-canes and run a train on them. CraftyCroc pipes in "Don't we like need battleships and stuff? You wan't to engage them with BCs on the gate?" Craftycroc is ignored and Firebolt agrees to FC the nano antics that would ensue.

Firebolt warps to gate in a Drake and starts pulling the Dark Orchestra gang of 6-7 BCs and a Curse off the high-sec gate. The target gang burns for Firebolt perhaps 20 or 30k off the gate and engage him. Firebolt gives the order for those docked to embark, and those already aligned to warp to him. In 20-30 seconds our four battle cruisers and Crafty's Machariel have entered the fight. Firebolt calls the closest ship primary, a Drake, and we all engage while attempting to stay out of scram range of the enemy gang. Firebolt changes primary to the Curse, which has dipped back into Drake bout of artillery range. I advise that we kill the Hurricane that I have pointed, that it is much closer than the Curse which is at 65km (Drake FCs lol). Firebolt gets jammed and asks me to start calling primaries. We finish the first hurricane off, switch to the second hurricane, and then kill the Harbinger.

Firebolt takes over target calling. I warp out and back in because my Hurricane is on fire and I've had fucking drones following me the whole fight. The Myrmadon goes down. A hasty call for a point on the lone remaining battlecruiser...a drake....is echoed. I point the Drake and overheat to stay near it. The Drakes missiles and drones burn my Hurricane's structure hit points down even further as someone else lays a warp disruptor on the ship and I can pull range. The Drake goes boom, and my ship survives.

Crushing Victory (6-0) Battle Report

Notes on Angel Creo Frigate Plexes: We all dock up and people log on and off. Long pee breaks and drink refills are had. Arasul/Masty/Krole begin picking on the R1FTA pilots that call Heild home. The common practice is to warp frigates/assault frigates to the Angel Creo Frigate Plex (static plex that only frigates can enter) and wait to surprise someone who warps to it, or wait for an enemy gang to scout you and warp to it. The plex presents interesting conditions for fights since you can only warp to the Plex from 0-100km, you cannot warp to fleet members near the plex, and you can't probe people. If two pilots burn away from the plex to 200km, no one can get to you before the fight is over (in most cases). You can imagine this provides some room to ensure that if a consensual fight occurs at distance, that the fight will consist of those on the field only. Whereas in most other places in space you can be probed out and have a fleet land on top of you at any given time or fleet members can simply click "warp to member" and land right on top of their engaged ally.

[22:35-22:40ish] Gunpoint vs Black Rebel R1FTA Club
At first no success is had. I start a private conversation with R1FTAs main FC and inquire as to the possibility of getting a fight. I let her know what we have, assure her that there isn't a large gang waiting next door. Since we are all in frigates save for Arasul in his Myrmadon, I ask her if it will be necesary to get rid of the Myrmadon for an engagement to occur. ***This is me underestimating Xena Warrior Princess****

A few minutes (22:43) later with most of us sitting at the frigate plex (5 frigates/Myrmadon) a gang of 9-10 R1FTa in Battlecruisers, Interceptors, Frigates, and Assault frigates lands. Some of our numbers are still in warp to the gate when the enemy lands (me) Someone asks if we should warp out and someone else answers "No man, lets fight" obviously knowing we were about to get blown the fuck up. I had to warped to the frigate at 20km, and my Jaguar assault ship landed near Arasul in his Myrmadon. Arasul, being the only BC on the field was taking a pounding like only Myrmadon pilots hope for. Myrmadon pilots always say "I'm tanking it, I'm tanking it" until they suddenly aren't tanking...and die. I pulled apart a rifter that was engaging Arasul, and then burned after the speedy little Stabber that was plinking at him from a safe cozy distance. I had hoped that not being on top of the Myrmadon might save me for awhile. This Stabber had evaded me earlier in the day and he would not evade me again. The stabber was tackled....and was being shot with the wrong ammo. With expectations that the stabber would pop regardless I continued shooting fusion at it, until the rest of the gang piled their dps on me and cap pressure from continuous fearful running of AB and Shield Booster shut most of my systems down. I was soon dead.

Normally when we are on our game and organized R1FTA gangs do not win, and after they take several losses they don't engage us again unless we open ourselves up by throwing the advantage to them, or simply choosing to engage outnumbered. My arrogance in thinking we might have to down-ship the Myrmadon pilot in order to get a frigate fight was highlighted by Dian Lung landing a BC/Cruiser heavy fleet on us. Props to Dian.

Minor Defeat 5-3 Battle Report

(I do use the term "R1FTA FC" loosely. I mean she's the only one that takes organized gangs out or can organize R1FTA corp's rabble of low sec miscreants into a somewhat organized fighting unit, thus I call her "Xena Warrior Princess")

[22:47] Titus Veridius/Arasul vs R1FTA Corp.
Arasuls Myrm and my Jaguar have been destroyed and people are signing off team speak. There is normally a small exodus of enthusiasm after losing a gang, even one that was really meant to, and should have, died. However I believed the enemy would stay on the field in a brief glimmer of overconfidence as they basked in the glory of defeating Gunpoint in such a lopsided fashion; also there were elite frigate wrecks to salvage! So I reshipped into an shield/artillery hurricane, requested skirmish links, and warped back to the frigate plex at 50km. Arasul has landed somewhere in an Ishkur; I wasn't aware he was present at that time until I looked at the killmail. I landed within 20km or so of a R1FTA assault frigate. I point him and light him up with artillery; he's not moving very fast and dies very quickly. I motor around the plex 30km from a R1FTA stabber pilot that was isolated from the main group which still in close proximity to the frigate plex acceleration gate. I engaged a warp disruptor on the stabber who obliged and started approaching me. Arasul put's his drones on the Stabber. I started running in the opposite direction and was able to burn him down before he could get close to me. (same stabber I brawled with in the Jaguar minutes earlier) I skirted aroud the main group at about 50km until I approached its far side where Dian Lung was slightly off the main group in what I estimated to be an autocannon/nano/shield Hurricane.

I move into boosted point range of Dian Lung (FC) and threw a warp disruptor on her. She starts motoring my way and I attempt to stay 20-30k from her. At some point I turn back around to close range at the wrong time and land up in neut range of her AC. We are now brawling between 5-15km and she is in worse shape than me. Arasul warps to the frig plex at range in his Ferox and thankfully lands somewhat near me as a R1FtA Cyclone pilot (the stabber pilot reshipped) is closing in on me. Arasul points the Cyclone and helps me finish off Dian. My ship is still having cap issues from Dian's attack, and the newly engaged Cyclone has two neuts and a nosferatu on me. (neut Cyclone is unexpected) I cannot activate my invulnerability field because of neut pressure or my MWD because of the Cyclone's warp scrambler. I am in low armor and bleeding into structure. Arasul and I both overheat our weapons and manage to melt the Cyclone before he can finish me off. I warp off with my ship on fire to dock and repair.

Somewhere in all of this Firebolt loses a Stabber Fleet Issue and gets on the Wolf killmail. Not entirely sure.......and then dies.

I return to the frig plex where Arasul is faithfully guarding the 9 elite frigate wrecks surrounding the gate. I bring my alternate character in an anathema (later a blackbird) to salvage the wrecks. At some point a R1FTA Jaguar warps at range of the plex for....?......and gets ran down by Arasul in his Ferox. Another Jaguar lands near the plex and Arasul and the reshipped Firebolt vanquish him. Some seconds goes by and a Ferox warps in, and warps out. The Ferox then warps in again at range and I miss tackling him by a second or so. Nine elite frigate wrecks get salvaged for 1 intact armor plate (wtf?).

EPIC Victory 6-1 Battle Report

Conclusions for February 22, 2012:
Gunpoint Diplomacy finishes the day 55-15 (K/D) Our normal efficiency is higher, but rarely do we get so many gfs in such a short span of time. Efforts to draw more people to the region appear to be successful (future post)

1. Arasul is a boss.
2. Skirmish Links are good.
3. Gunpoint can win good fights without Warlord Protagonist present
4. Firebolt sucks with armor ships
5. Curse is always primary unless its 65km away from gang that is 50% arty canes.
6. My ships usually dock on fire (if they dock)
7. Sometimes the fight you want, is not the fight you want
8. After you fill two pages on the killboard in an hour and a half, take a break before undocking faction fit Sleipnir again. More Sleipnir conclusions in next post.
9. CraftyCroc is a cunt
10. Firebolt145 is a Hatchery Corp. spy

I want to thank the folllowing groups and individuals for making today's kill-fest possible:

1. Interstellar Moneymaker Corp for being so willing to engage in care-free consensual massacre. Much thanks.
   
2. Dark Orchestra for changing their minds about running away, and giving us a real good nano fight. Props to them.
3. R1FTA and Dian Lung for coming back day after day
   
4. White Noise for keeping me humble, and striking me down in the midst of my glory
5. Arasul for going ballz-deep without any regard for how much of an asshole I am.
6. Krole, Masty, CraftyCroc, Firebolt and anyone from Gunpoint that was present
7. CEO Sard Caid for providing the best Corp Hangar I've seen in New Eden. Sard Caid streams live roams nearly every evening, tune in here:
   SardCaid @ Twitch.tv