What an odd, odd week.
To begin this weirdness let me tell you about a small roam that turned into a once in a life time opportunity. A corp mate and myself decided to take the static C3 WH and follow it 'down' the pipe as far as we could go. Now I am normally not a big fan of roaming, and I am even less of a fan when it comes to roaming worm hole space. Now if you may or may not no- worm hole space can at times be pretty dead. According to all of the stats that CCP has ever released in regards to worm hole space, only 4% of players call worm hole space home, or frequently pass through. Basically what this means is that on your average day of 47,000 active players only 1,880 of them are inside worm hole. Whats worse is- there are 2500 worm holes in eve. Basically what this means is that there is a measly .75 people in each worm hole system.
As you can see- the numbers do not look good :( Indeed searching through worm hole space is akin to finding a needle in a haystack at times. That is why when you are roaming, you need to use as many metal detectors as you can to try and expedite the process. In our case our metal detectors started to beep when we jumped into a worm hole that had 8 jumps within the last half hour.... and this worm hole did not have a high sec exit.
This was our clue- or hint to that some one was obviously moving material up and down a worm hole pipe. We seem to have stumbled into the middle of the route, so we decided to find one of the end destinations and wait for our prey to arrive. As we slowly scanned down the K162 worm holes, we would check them against our worm hole mapping tools. Eventually we found a worm hole that was dead ended- and conveniently we found a POS on the far planet as well, that seemed to have been recently on lined and created. So we decided to settle in on the worm hole and see what would come through the pipe.
We did not have long to wait- as soon enough the hole began to shimmer. Amazingly enough he waiting out his session timer, and after 30 seconds- out popped a pod. Me and my guys held our guns.... and waited. Not a seconds later the worm hole shimmered again and out popped a mammoth! Sadly this indy pilot was smart... and while he didn't wait out his session time for the full 30 seconds- he did wait long enough. Me and my corp mate were both 20K off the hole at this time, and we opened up the tubes. As per usual I was being a cocky retard- and didn't overheat my torps. The mammoth was going down very quickly anyway- and I thought that for sure it would pop. To my dismay he jumped back through the hole in about 17% armor.
Now here comes incompetence part two.... I was 20K away from the hole, and immediately recognizing my mistake slammed my MWD on to try and jump through and catch the mammoth on the other side. (See this part just pisses me off because normally I orbit the hole at 7K. I do so becuase if we attack some one and they jump through the worm hole to the other side- I can simply 'chase' them by jumping in right behind them.) Why I was not doing that right now... I will never know. As i jumped through the other side of the worm hole, I was crossing my fingers that I would have a chance engage on the other side. Sadly I was again wrong- and by the time I jumped through I just caught the mammoth warping off, and caught the tail end of his escape on my over view. Damn.
So that sucked- I was going to call it a night when- the mammoth pilot decides to convo me. Now I was expecting him to gloat about his escape or something to that effect.... But i was more surprised when he was like- DUDE! NO WAY! i was seriously alt tabbed out, reading YOUR LATEST BLOG POST. You have got to be kidding me... of the .75 people that are in every worm hole system- I find the one that reads my blog? How crazy- and even more crazy that he was reading my blog while I decided to take a few shots at him. It's a small world after all. We exchanged pleasantries, and he went on to tell me that him and a number of corp members were inspired by me. (I felt honored) He went on to tell me that his worm hole corp and himself had just went out and bought a ton of bombers in the hops of emulating my good work. In a fatherly way I was proud, so very very proud. I wish them all the best of luck, and I hope that the eve gods smile upon them with many many bears to shoot.
So you would think that the weirdness of this week would end with the mammoth. But no, ohh no. Now normally me and my corp are far far away from all of the craziness that is empire and known space. As of known all of the madness that Incarna has brought has not spilled into worm hole space. All of the holies and myself have been quietly watching the riots and the forum madness from afar. While I am not going to waste time talking about incarna or CCP as this subject has been beat to death. Instead I will simply say that EvE is going in a very sad direction, and CCP has lost most if not all of my respect with the ways the are handling this situation. I have lost a few corp members over this P2W and vanity stuff, and I will say that if EvE ever becomes like maple story (Korean based MMO where you basically need to spend 1000$ of dollars to be competitive) I will not hesitate in leaving. But as along as I can still have my nomadic worm hole lifestyle and pew pew- CCP will keep my business for now.
The reason why I bring this up is becuase of a situation that I ran into inside worm hole space. I was rather deep inside of a C5 worm hole chain, and I was far far away from Known space. I had not seen a living soul for quite some time- so I was a bit surprised when I noticed some sister core probes on my D scan. I decided to stick around in this C5 and wait out our scanner, and hope that he would begin running a site. After some time the probes disappears- and suddenly I was someone speaking in local. Now i am not sure if you are all aware- but speaking in local inside of worm hole space is considered a grave sin. (Well it is to me at least). You NEVER want people to know who or what you are.
The message was very simple: Hey anyone, I am lost- and I need to find an exit to high sec. Is anyone willing to help me?
Now this just screamed trap to me- who the heck has 5 sisters core probes, and cannot find a worm hole? I was extremely confused, but decided to reveal myself- so I convoed the pilot and told him for 100mil I could get him the exit to known space. You can imagine my surprise when the pilot agreed, and I was quickly 100mil richer than before (monocle here I come). So i dropped a jetcan with all of my book marks at a random moon, and after moving a short distance away- told the pilot where it was, and what to warp to. I didn't have long to wait because shortly after I had given the word- a helios appeared on my overview.
Now I am sorry but what the fuck? How can you be in a scanning covops ship with sister probes and not get out of worm hole space? Why in the world would you pay some random guy in worm hole space 100mil and then warp uncloak and pick up a jet can filled with book marks? I was so curious that I just had to ask- are you new? To which the pilot replied that no- he was not new. He simply started his account back up after the Incarna release, as he wanted to check out how awesome this expansion was.
I thought that this would be the end of my lovely experience with this man, until a short while later he convos me and is pretty pissed off. I ask why, and apparently on his way out of the worm holes, he randomly decided to warp to the sun.... at zero. Here he said that he was still waiting for his cloak to come on ?????? when a ship came and killed him. I asked him for the kill mail, and sure enough some rapier pilot decided to eat his poor scanning frig for lunch. I could barely stop from laughing- EvE can be a real ball kicker at times. So I ended the conversation with: Sorry to hear that, welcome and I hope you enjoy your say in the new and improved EvE.
Well I cannot leave my readers with out leaving at least one kill mail- so here I am squeezing it in on the end. It was your normal day withing the worm hole. Sadly it had been a pretty slow day, and I was more than exited to watch a buzzard come through the hole and start scanning down some sites. Now I could have killed the buzzard- but the hallmark of a good bomber pilot is patience. So instead of blowing the covops frig to a P2W future- I waited. After a half hour my patient was rewarded! He finally drew back his scanning probes, and jumped back through the hole. I didn't have long to wait before my guest returned- as shortly afterwards a tengu and proteus jumped through, and began running sites.
I watched them blitz down two missions, and then they split up. The tengu moved onto a third site, and the proteus headed back to the worm hole. As I kept on eye on the tengu's progress, the hole shimmered again- and out popped a salvaging catalyst. He warped to the first site, and began the hard work of cleaning up after the tengu. I positioned myself by the last wreck, farthest away from the destroyer, and waited- again. The destroyer cleaned all of the sites up, and slowly moved to within 15K of me, and salvaged the last wreck. Again- I waited, and didn't shoot the destroyer. I knew that there was another site, ad the third one the Tengu was working on. Patience is a virtue.
I did the same for the second site- and I positioned myself on the last wreck, and simply let the destroyer come to me. While I was waiting I had to debate if I should strike now, instead of waiting for that tengu to finish the third site. I was weighing the options in my mind. If i strike now I have almost a 100% chance of killing and looting the wreck before help arrives. While if I let the catalyst finish here and move on, I run the risk of having to deal with the tengu on the third site.
I decided to play it safe, and once the catalyst began to slow boat at me- I decided to engage. Now i had done my planning well, as the destroyer was moving right at me- and through my path. All I had to do was wait until he moved within 22K and I pounced. I quickly uncloaked, targeted, overheated my torps and let fly with torps. The first volley struck him and wiped his shields, and the second took armor- the third was the last thing he ever saw. This pilot was clearly not ready, and was totally comfortable. During this quick fight I had made sure to set my D scan to 3 AU and was expectantly waiting for his tengu friend to come burning onto the field the second I opened up. But i guess he ran- after the kill I no longer found the tengu on scan, and he never returned to finish up his site.
Who knew that a single frig could be so scary, and even T3 ships run in fear?
Anyway That's it for me this week, I hope that you enjoyed! Remember fly dangerously!
The Chronicles of a lone stealth bomber pilot.
Monday, June 27, 2011
Tuesday, June 21, 2011
I Want to do Bad Things to You
What a week.... I enjoy target rich environments as much as the next guy- but sometimes I just end up scratching my head. Something must possess worm hole players to do things that no other EvE player would think about. For example: If you are walking out of a building and the person if front of you is killed by a sniper- would you
A. Keep walking Forward and forget about it
B. Run back into the building and hide
C. Stop and don't move
Well I am sure that some of you smart people are thinking obviously B. Sadly you would be wrong. Because as me and my corpies found out earlier this week- it seems that A is the preferred method of the worm hole bears. I should stop myself now and fill you in on the insanity.
The day started like any other: I was chilling out in my frig cloaked up in a safe, running a D scan ever so often- and shooting the shit with some of my corp members. We were just joking about your typical 'mom jokes' when I noticed a sleiph on scan. This spiked my interest- so I ran a quick ship scan and narrowed him down to a near by combat site. The sleiph was making short work of the sleepers, and finished the site quite quickly. He moved on to another, and another! For a total of three sites. He never touched the wrecks and seemed to be content just to blitz through the mindless sleeper drones. After the third site he took off to a K162 that had opened in my C2.
I waited for him to come back in the hole, and sure enough the hole shimmered and out popped a noctis. I followed him to the first site- which he quickly cleaned up, and then to the second, and finally the third. I must admit that this player was very quick and had a MWD fit noctis to expedite the process. Sadly for him, MWD's give that large indy a big sig boost. Couple that with my overheated faction torps, and you have a recipe for success :) What a nice paycheck. Sadly I was .0000000000000000001 seconds away from grabbing and ransoming his pod- and he escaped. This incident has finally been the push for me to max out my targeting skills >.> don't tell anyone. (No i have no idea why it was still at 4 either)
So i thought that would be the end of my activity from that K162 for the day. Thankfully for me- I was wrong. Dead wrong. Badgers are fun- but undefended badgers in a fleet are even funner :) Logging back online later that night, some of my corpies were telling me that they had witnessed 2 badgers, and a bestower move from the K162 worm hole (the same where the sleiph / noctis had come from.) So I took up the watch on the high sec hole with the rest of my corpies and waited for some fireworks.
We had barely enough to time to discuss the finer points on quantum mechanics when these rude indy pilots crashed our nice conversation by jumping through the hole. Like usual the hole shimmered, and out popped a badger... Again I have no idea why no one every waits out their session timer. I think that i have explained this again and again.... but waiting those precious 30 seconds is just too long of a time for our busy industrial pilots. So we gave him an instructional lesson. The loot that was dropped was quite nice :) My bomber corp loves getting free manticores :)
We figured that after this little attack, both the badger and bestower would call it a day and cut their losses. Sadly that would make too much sense. Just 15 min later another badger FROM THE SAME CORP came through the hole. Again the badger didn't wait of the session timer, so we blew it up. Along with his pod. To make things even better- we got the bestower and pod as well <3 What a day- my thirst for indy blood was quenched. 1 noctis, 2 badgers, and 1 bestower down- along with 2 pods. I call that a good day :)
Just a few days ago I made a kill that made a me have a small twinge of regret after all of the space debris had settled. I noticed a caracal on my dscan, with a few sleeper wrecks as well. It seemed that his daring cruiser was actually running a combat C2 WH site in a T1 cruiser.... it made matters worse when warping in on his site- I noticed that the pilot was actually quite young. It seems that he was warping in and out of the site when his tank was breaking. I watched him leave the first time, and by the second time I had ascertained his whereabouts. So the next time that he warped, I simply followed him.Now this is why bombers and bomber pilots are just ass holes.... Here he is at his safe away from a combat site that he had been working on for the past 45min. He was sitting here boosting his shield, thinking that he was in relative safety.
Sadly for him this was not the case. I uncloaked about 22K off him once i dropped out of warp, and proceeded to torp him to death. By the time I engaged he was in 50% shield, and only had 75% armor left. I was surprised to see him almost instantly lock me, and begin firing back. (At lest this new pilot was on the ball) Sadly for him it was far to little, and far to late. I killed him before he had my frig down to 25% shield. What happens next makes me feel even worse- I podded him. While I was shooting him- I actually felt a twang of guilt strike my cold black stone that is what's left of my heart. Even though he and his pretty T1 cruiser was dead- I showed him a very valuable lesson: DON'T GO INTO WORM HOLE IF YOUR NEW.
To wrap up this weeks blog I have a more embarrassing story to share with you all. So I saw two hurricanes on my dscan. Narrowing them down I found them to be at the high sec static of my worm hole. So i though hey- no prob I have a warp in point I can get on them and see what I am going to be dealing with. So I warped to the hole. The had just deployed a large bubble- and i was caught obviously. The funny thing is- I landed 800m away from the hole. Obviously I was decloaked- so i started to try and jump. When EvE tells me: Your book mark is still being placed or something- and it would not let me jump through the hole. Well the 2 BC's made short work of me with their auto cannons.... and then I was in my pod. I tried to jump through the hole again to no avail, and was put in my pod :(
I felt kind of betrayed about this, but hey what are you going to do? I sent a petition to CCP- but I doubt that they will end up doing anything over a little frig. Off well- murphys law I guess. You can't have everything go your way all of the time- I just feel bad for the hurricanes that killed me. I didn't drop any look of any significant value :(
The last thing that I would like to do is answer some of the Comments that some readers have been shooting towards me for the past couple of weeks.
The first is by Aktonn who asks:
What about light drones? Don't they eat you alive?
The answer is very simple- Yes and no. The only real light drones that I worry about are T2 warriors. Everything else I can outrun, or does very terrible damage to me in my bomber. Because you bomber is a very agile and very mobile frigate- drones should just be able to drive you off, and never should kill you. If you are getting caught and actually hit hard by drones, then you need to get your navigation skills up- because out running them should be no problem.
So in conclusion-
Fly dangerously, and if you want to become an honorary P.I.R.A.T.E operative, send me a mail, and we will induct you. Also- Peek a Boo is now in the top ranked!!!! Yay! (Hope my spelling is not as atrocious in this blog post)
A. Keep walking Forward and forget about it
B. Run back into the building and hide
C. Stop and don't move
Well I am sure that some of you smart people are thinking obviously B. Sadly you would be wrong. Because as me and my corpies found out earlier this week- it seems that A is the preferred method of the worm hole bears. I should stop myself now and fill you in on the insanity.
The day started like any other: I was chilling out in my frig cloaked up in a safe, running a D scan ever so often- and shooting the shit with some of my corp members. We were just joking about your typical 'mom jokes' when I noticed a sleiph on scan. This spiked my interest- so I ran a quick ship scan and narrowed him down to a near by combat site. The sleiph was making short work of the sleepers, and finished the site quite quickly. He moved on to another, and another! For a total of three sites. He never touched the wrecks and seemed to be content just to blitz through the mindless sleeper drones. After the third site he took off to a K162 that had opened in my C2.
I waited for him to come back in the hole, and sure enough the hole shimmered and out popped a noctis. I followed him to the first site- which he quickly cleaned up, and then to the second, and finally the third. I must admit that this player was very quick and had a MWD fit noctis to expedite the process. Sadly for him, MWD's give that large indy a big sig boost. Couple that with my overheated faction torps, and you have a recipe for success :) What a nice paycheck. Sadly I was .0000000000000000001 seconds away from grabbing and ransoming his pod- and he escaped. This incident has finally been the push for me to max out my targeting skills >.> don't tell anyone. (No i have no idea why it was still at 4 either)
So i thought that would be the end of my activity from that K162 for the day. Thankfully for me- I was wrong. Dead wrong. Badgers are fun- but undefended badgers in a fleet are even funner :) Logging back online later that night, some of my corpies were telling me that they had witnessed 2 badgers, and a bestower move from the K162 worm hole (the same where the sleiph / noctis had come from.) So I took up the watch on the high sec hole with the rest of my corpies and waited for some fireworks.
We had barely enough to time to discuss the finer points on quantum mechanics when these rude indy pilots crashed our nice conversation by jumping through the hole. Like usual the hole shimmered, and out popped a badger... Again I have no idea why no one every waits out their session timer. I think that i have explained this again and again.... but waiting those precious 30 seconds is just too long of a time for our busy industrial pilots. So we gave him an instructional lesson. The loot that was dropped was quite nice :) My bomber corp loves getting free manticores :)
We figured that after this little attack, both the badger and bestower would call it a day and cut their losses. Sadly that would make too much sense. Just 15 min later another badger FROM THE SAME CORP came through the hole. Again the badger didn't wait of the session timer, so we blew it up. Along with his pod. To make things even better- we got the bestower and pod as well <3 What a day- my thirst for indy blood was quenched. 1 noctis, 2 badgers, and 1 bestower down- along with 2 pods. I call that a good day :)
Just a few days ago I made a kill that made a me have a small twinge of regret after all of the space debris had settled. I noticed a caracal on my dscan, with a few sleeper wrecks as well. It seemed that his daring cruiser was actually running a combat C2 WH site in a T1 cruiser.... it made matters worse when warping in on his site- I noticed that the pilot was actually quite young. It seems that he was warping in and out of the site when his tank was breaking. I watched him leave the first time, and by the second time I had ascertained his whereabouts. So the next time that he warped, I simply followed him.Now this is why bombers and bomber pilots are just ass holes.... Here he is at his safe away from a combat site that he had been working on for the past 45min. He was sitting here boosting his shield, thinking that he was in relative safety.
Sadly for him this was not the case. I uncloaked about 22K off him once i dropped out of warp, and proceeded to torp him to death. By the time I engaged he was in 50% shield, and only had 75% armor left. I was surprised to see him almost instantly lock me, and begin firing back. (At lest this new pilot was on the ball) Sadly for him it was far to little, and far to late. I killed him before he had my frig down to 25% shield. What happens next makes me feel even worse- I podded him. While I was shooting him- I actually felt a twang of guilt strike my cold black stone that is what's left of my heart. Even though he and his pretty T1 cruiser was dead- I showed him a very valuable lesson: DON'T GO INTO WORM HOLE IF YOUR NEW.
To wrap up this weeks blog I have a more embarrassing story to share with you all. So I saw two hurricanes on my dscan. Narrowing them down I found them to be at the high sec static of my worm hole. So i though hey- no prob I have a warp in point I can get on them and see what I am going to be dealing with. So I warped to the hole. The had just deployed a large bubble- and i was caught obviously. The funny thing is- I landed 800m away from the hole. Obviously I was decloaked- so i started to try and jump. When EvE tells me: Your book mark is still being placed or something- and it would not let me jump through the hole. Well the 2 BC's made short work of me with their auto cannons.... and then I was in my pod. I tried to jump through the hole again to no avail, and was put in my pod :(
I felt kind of betrayed about this, but hey what are you going to do? I sent a petition to CCP- but I doubt that they will end up doing anything over a little frig. Off well- murphys law I guess. You can't have everything go your way all of the time- I just feel bad for the hurricanes that killed me. I didn't drop any look of any significant value :(
The last thing that I would like to do is answer some of the Comments that some readers have been shooting towards me for the past couple of weeks.
The first is by Aktonn who asks:
What about light drones? Don't they eat you alive?
The answer is very simple- Yes and no. The only real light drones that I worry about are T2 warriors. Everything else I can outrun, or does very terrible damage to me in my bomber. Because you bomber is a very agile and very mobile frigate- drones should just be able to drive you off, and never should kill you. If you are getting caught and actually hit hard by drones, then you need to get your navigation skills up- because out running them should be no problem.
So in conclusion-
Fly dangerously, and if you want to become an honorary P.I.R.A.T.E operative, send me a mail, and we will induct you. Also- Peek a Boo is now in the top ranked!!!! Yay! (Hope my spelling is not as atrocious in this blog post)
Monday, June 13, 2011
Glamour
Sorry about the long hiatus between this post and the last. As usual RL comes first for me, and I have not yet had the time to write. However I now find myself with a little bit of spare time, so I hope you enjoy my new tale.
As usual I hanging out in your average C2 worm hole. Me and my new corp had been camping this hole for some time, and we had started to make a dent into their PI. I was sitting about 20K of a custom station, and was simply waiting for our esteemed gust. He was flying a Bestower. Me and the rest of the corp saw him get into his trust hauler, and in order to try and catch him- each of us took of too a different planet, to lie in wait. The eve gods must have been smiling at me- because he came to my planet first. Once he loaded the grid- I gave the word, uncloaked and let my mjolnir torps fly. with all of my fleet members in warp I thought that this would be a normal run of the mill indy kill. But damn I was wrong.
My first round of torps struck his hull as I began my 20k orbit. His shield dropped instantly, and by my second volley- I was already into armor. Thats when things got weird. My torps suddenly hit a brick wall- it seems that this bestower was a legendary battle bestower and was armor tanked to the gills. Thankfully a few of my corpies landed on grid and began to help out with popping this care bear tank. We were about 50% through very quickly. I thought that things would finally go smoothly- but I was wrong. On my long range Dscan I noticed that a sabre (the SB greatest enemy) was suddenly warping to us. Not wanting to lose a bomber over a battle bestower I called for everyone to warp off, and then warp back in at range.
Just as we were leaving the field the sabre showed up, and sit out a bubble. I quickly warped to my safe, and turned around as fast as I could. I knew that the other guys were also coming back in at range. My hope was to hopefully try and finish off the bestower- as it was in dangerously low armor. Once I finally loaded the grid I was surprised to see the bestower slow boating back over to the customs office.... inside the dictor bubble. Now I don't really understand that logic, but becuase our target had decided to point himself for us- we orbited at 55K and well away from the sabre. Our next alpha took down the bestower.
The sabre took off, and to my suprise one of our corp members suddenly decloaked a rook! It seems that he had gotten to close, so I called the rook primary- and opened up on him. Sadly only one of us was withing point range, and the rook quickly jammed the one bomber in point range and took off in about 50% armor. As we were trying to loot the bestower wreck, the corp living in the hole suddenly decided to take an interest, and showed up in a rifter and drake. Sadly trying to kill of the drake was out of the question, but that was not the same of the rifter. The rifter was a new pilot- and it seemed that he was MWD fit :) How perfect.
I warped out and back into the field on range. I positioned myself about 90K away from the drake (and out of targeting range) and then i decloaked. I 'looked' at the rifter and aligned at him. The second I decloaked the rifter immediately turned, and burned at me. With his mwd going strong he was closing the 90K distance quite quickly. Once he got withing 60K i released my electron bomb- and bye bye rifter. Looking back on this fight- it's almost like I had written the script before even engaging. The rifter being a new character was almost 100% garunteed to fall for my trap- and as you know I love killing T1 frigs :) The best part about killing his rifter was that I took his ITTY 5 down a few hours later <3
So in the end it was a pretty fun day. I like working with bombs when I can get them- and killing cocky frigates is something that i take great joy in :) I can just never understand how people think that a bomber cannot be a threat to a frig- but hey no big deal to me. This just means that I have more targets.
Speaking of targets- there is one last thing that I would like to cover- and that would be holies, and the POS. Why is it that so many people spend so much time sitting in their POS doing NOTHING? Why do you log on just to afk, or just or orbit your tower? What is the point? I have seen so many holies do so many weird things..... Like take out all of the ships in their corp hangers, move them around the FF and then put them back. What is the point? Why? Me and many of my corpies have seen many weird occurrences. I am not sure if it is a form of deep space madness.... but if it is- remind me to never become a bear in worm hole space. It just does things to you man!
The other thing that I don't understand is why bears mouth off so much- but whenever I attack their mining barges, no one comes to try and help their poor old friends. Here is a list of ships that me and my corp have sunk all withing the same worm hole, and always when these roid munchers have not been the only ones online.
All of the kills below can be summed up like this: Me and my corps have the grav sites of this worm hole BM'd. So when we see something warp there- we warp to our warp in spot, slow boat within range then decloak, turn on point, fire torps and orbit. All the while we are slamming d scan waiting for reinforcements, that never come :( Listen bears if you see one of your own getting mauled by space wolves- don't go running tail between legs back to your pos. It looks embarrassing :(
Pod 1
Pod 2
Retriever
Sigil - LOL battle sigil
Hulk
I don't understand why the mining arm of a corp kept coming out to mine after the first kill. We gave them our service license, so they knew that we were around.... And the sigil was just icing on the cake. Why in the hell would you put half of those mods on a sigil? And ship can out run that fat indy ship... Good try bears.... good try.
Anyway that about covers our latest exploits. I hope that you enjoyed this blog- fly dangerously!
As usual I hanging out in your average C2 worm hole. Me and my new corp had been camping this hole for some time, and we had started to make a dent into their PI. I was sitting about 20K of a custom station, and was simply waiting for our esteemed gust. He was flying a Bestower. Me and the rest of the corp saw him get into his trust hauler, and in order to try and catch him- each of us took of too a different planet, to lie in wait. The eve gods must have been smiling at me- because he came to my planet first. Once he loaded the grid- I gave the word, uncloaked and let my mjolnir torps fly. with all of my fleet members in warp I thought that this would be a normal run of the mill indy kill. But damn I was wrong.
My first round of torps struck his hull as I began my 20k orbit. His shield dropped instantly, and by my second volley- I was already into armor. Thats when things got weird. My torps suddenly hit a brick wall- it seems that this bestower was a legendary battle bestower and was armor tanked to the gills. Thankfully a few of my corpies landed on grid and began to help out with popping this care bear tank. We were about 50% through very quickly. I thought that things would finally go smoothly- but I was wrong. On my long range Dscan I noticed that a sabre (the SB greatest enemy) was suddenly warping to us. Not wanting to lose a bomber over a battle bestower I called for everyone to warp off, and then warp back in at range.
Just as we were leaving the field the sabre showed up, and sit out a bubble. I quickly warped to my safe, and turned around as fast as I could. I knew that the other guys were also coming back in at range. My hope was to hopefully try and finish off the bestower- as it was in dangerously low armor. Once I finally loaded the grid I was surprised to see the bestower slow boating back over to the customs office.... inside the dictor bubble. Now I don't really understand that logic, but becuase our target had decided to point himself for us- we orbited at 55K and well away from the sabre. Our next alpha took down the bestower.
The sabre took off, and to my suprise one of our corp members suddenly decloaked a rook! It seems that he had gotten to close, so I called the rook primary- and opened up on him. Sadly only one of us was withing point range, and the rook quickly jammed the one bomber in point range and took off in about 50% armor. As we were trying to loot the bestower wreck, the corp living in the hole suddenly decided to take an interest, and showed up in a rifter and drake. Sadly trying to kill of the drake was out of the question, but that was not the same of the rifter. The rifter was a new pilot- and it seemed that he was MWD fit :) How perfect.
I warped out and back into the field on range. I positioned myself about 90K away from the drake (and out of targeting range) and then i decloaked. I 'looked' at the rifter and aligned at him. The second I decloaked the rifter immediately turned, and burned at me. With his mwd going strong he was closing the 90K distance quite quickly. Once he got withing 60K i released my electron bomb- and bye bye rifter. Looking back on this fight- it's almost like I had written the script before even engaging. The rifter being a new character was almost 100% garunteed to fall for my trap- and as you know I love killing T1 frigs :) The best part about killing his rifter was that I took his ITTY 5 down a few hours later <3
So in the end it was a pretty fun day. I like working with bombs when I can get them- and killing cocky frigates is something that i take great joy in :) I can just never understand how people think that a bomber cannot be a threat to a frig- but hey no big deal to me. This just means that I have more targets.
Speaking of targets- there is one last thing that I would like to cover- and that would be holies, and the POS. Why is it that so many people spend so much time sitting in their POS doing NOTHING? Why do you log on just to afk, or just or orbit your tower? What is the point? I have seen so many holies do so many weird things..... Like take out all of the ships in their corp hangers, move them around the FF and then put them back. What is the point? Why? Me and many of my corpies have seen many weird occurrences. I am not sure if it is a form of deep space madness.... but if it is- remind me to never become a bear in worm hole space. It just does things to you man!
The other thing that I don't understand is why bears mouth off so much- but whenever I attack their mining barges, no one comes to try and help their poor old friends. Here is a list of ships that me and my corp have sunk all withing the same worm hole, and always when these roid munchers have not been the only ones online.
All of the kills below can be summed up like this: Me and my corps have the grav sites of this worm hole BM'd. So when we see something warp there- we warp to our warp in spot, slow boat within range then decloak, turn on point, fire torps and orbit. All the while we are slamming d scan waiting for reinforcements, that never come :( Listen bears if you see one of your own getting mauled by space wolves- don't go running tail between legs back to your pos. It looks embarrassing :(
Pod 1
Pod 2
Retriever
Sigil - LOL battle sigil
Hulk
I don't understand why the mining arm of a corp kept coming out to mine after the first kill. We gave them our service license, so they knew that we were around.... And the sigil was just icing on the cake. Why in the hell would you put half of those mods on a sigil? And ship can out run that fat indy ship... Good try bears.... good try.
Anyway that about covers our latest exploits. I hope that you enjoyed this blog- fly dangerously!
Friday, June 3, 2011
In the Trenches: Camping a Worm Hole
Well I left you last week with a rather exciting tale of the creation of Peek a Boo. I am quickly writing to let you know that we are still doing well. recently I have come into the possession of 41 1mn gistii B-type micro warp drives. If you are interested in purchasing one- msg me in game. Now moving on with the meat of today's blog post, and delicious war stories~
So again I find myself surrounded in hostile worm hole space. There are about 4 pos set up in system, and there is a fairly active group of holies that are logging on each day. The C2 worm hole has a high sec static, along with a C3. I was sitting and watching their most active POS, when I noticed that one of their hoarders was finally on the move. It warped to the high sec hole, and I decided to follow. When I dropped out of my warp and was surprised when I noticed that the hoarder was about 17k off the hole, and was slow boating in. I was about 30 off him at the time, so i uncloaked and popped his hauler. My overheated mjolnir torps made short work of him.
I grabbed his pod as well. Once the fireworks were over- I began to look at the hoarder wreck. Interestingly enough the hoarder was carrying 3 giant secure containers (GSC). I looted the wreck and left the containers alone. I decided to sit on the hole and watch and wait to see what would show up. (It is at this point that I curse my lack of understanding of GSC mechanics. Could I have gone out and changed the passwords these now jettisoned containers? To that I am not sure....) Anyway after a minuet or two an incursus.showed up at the hole. I quickly looked at it- and noticed that it did not have a single gun.... I thought this was strange considering that he was of the same corp of the hauler I just popped- so he must know that I was around. Now i knew that the incursus has a mean flight of drones, but being so close to the hole- I know that all I had to do was jump back to the high sec side- if the drones became too much.
With the incursus about 17k off the hole, I opened up on him. My torps were doing lulzy damage, but I was killing him all the same. He immediately came after me, and dropped two nos on me along with a SINGLE hobbie 1 (lol). His single drone didn't do anything to me and he too was quickly space dust. God what an awful fit. Listen carebears- if you are going to be in worm hole space, please realize that it is not your own personal eve server. Once and awhile you might have someone like me that comes and takes a dump on your isk machine. At this point i thought that after I had killed that fail fit t1 frig things might quiet down- and I could figure out what to do with those 3 GSC still sitting 10K off me.
I didn't have much time to ponder- as another member of their corp showed up in a cane, accompanied again by the same guy flying an incursus. Now normally I would not have a problem with engaging an auto fit cane. The simple reason is- an auto fit cane with all max skills cannot really reach out to 22/23K where I orbit. The only thing that was currently stopping me was the incursus. I still wanted to let them know I was around. So I warped out, and warped back in at 70. Once I dropped out of warp I took note of the cane (40k away so no threat) and the incursus which was 44K) I uncloaked and pointed my ship away from the incursus. He saw me immediately and started to burn at me. It was clear that he was MWD fit- and as my first torps collided with him he lost all of his shields. By the second torp impact he was close to 50% armor.
I was trying to kite him, and was overheating my MWD to stay well ahead of the T1 frig. He realized at this point that there really was no way for him to catch me, and he warped off. So with only the cane left- I started to slowboat back twards him, and possibly drop some torps on him as well- to see if there was any way I could also drive him off. Sadly I only had one torp leaev the tubes when a drake shows up. Again- he was from the same corp- and sadly he was heavy missile fit (damn pve drakes). I was driven off the field- and had to simply watched from a cloaked position- as they had another bestower come and pick up the GSC.
Now I ask you my reader community- could I have anchored / reset the passwords? I didn't know so i really didn't try not like I had much time lol t1 frigs, canes, and drakes everywhere!) Anyway we are jumping forward a bit in time here- but last night I almost fell out of my chair from laughter. again i was watching their most active pos- and noticed a drake outside the force field, along with a punisher and a hawk. The punisher was shooting the drake / testing something.... honestly I have no idea. The hawk was just there lol. (I really wish that i had a bomb becuase one corp mate and I could have dropped two bombs- and had some nice kills.
Here is where it gets interesting- the drake pilot is a member of the alliance of the POS corp- but not a member of the corp. So when he shot 1 volley of missiles at the punisher- all of the pos guns suddenly opened up on him. He tried to run- but was scrammed. So by by drake! Now as soon as the drake popped- a hoarder started to slow boat out of the pos (to clean the wreck i suppose). again I wished that me and my corpmate had a bomb- as the hawk and punisher along with the slow boating hoarder were all sitting withing 15k of the wreck. So i made due- once the hauler was close- I uncloaked and shot the wreck- blowing it up right in front of the haulers eyes :)
that was the perfect end of the night for me :) again and again these carebears struggling to figure out how to defend their worm hole have given me great joy. Their bumbling around is a constant form of entertainment for me and my pack of frigates. I enjoy how outgunned, and out manned- we are still here kicking ass, and pissing them off at every turn. I hope you enjoyed this blog.
Fly Dangerously!
So again I find myself surrounded in hostile worm hole space. There are about 4 pos set up in system, and there is a fairly active group of holies that are logging on each day. The C2 worm hole has a high sec static, along with a C3. I was sitting and watching their most active POS, when I noticed that one of their hoarders was finally on the move. It warped to the high sec hole, and I decided to follow. When I dropped out of my warp and was surprised when I noticed that the hoarder was about 17k off the hole, and was slow boating in. I was about 30 off him at the time, so i uncloaked and popped his hauler. My overheated mjolnir torps made short work of him.
I grabbed his pod as well. Once the fireworks were over- I began to look at the hoarder wreck. Interestingly enough the hoarder was carrying 3 giant secure containers (GSC). I looted the wreck and left the containers alone. I decided to sit on the hole and watch and wait to see what would show up. (It is at this point that I curse my lack of understanding of GSC mechanics. Could I have gone out and changed the passwords these now jettisoned containers? To that I am not sure....) Anyway after a minuet or two an incursus.showed up at the hole. I quickly looked at it- and noticed that it did not have a single gun.... I thought this was strange considering that he was of the same corp of the hauler I just popped- so he must know that I was around. Now i knew that the incursus has a mean flight of drones, but being so close to the hole- I know that all I had to do was jump back to the high sec side- if the drones became too much.
With the incursus about 17k off the hole, I opened up on him. My torps were doing lulzy damage, but I was killing him all the same. He immediately came after me, and dropped two nos on me along with a SINGLE hobbie 1 (lol). His single drone didn't do anything to me and he too was quickly space dust. God what an awful fit. Listen carebears- if you are going to be in worm hole space, please realize that it is not your own personal eve server. Once and awhile you might have someone like me that comes and takes a dump on your isk machine. At this point i thought that after I had killed that fail fit t1 frig things might quiet down- and I could figure out what to do with those 3 GSC still sitting 10K off me.
I didn't have much time to ponder- as another member of their corp showed up in a cane, accompanied again by the same guy flying an incursus. Now normally I would not have a problem with engaging an auto fit cane. The simple reason is- an auto fit cane with all max skills cannot really reach out to 22/23K where I orbit. The only thing that was currently stopping me was the incursus. I still wanted to let them know I was around. So I warped out, and warped back in at 70. Once I dropped out of warp I took note of the cane (40k away so no threat) and the incursus which was 44K) I uncloaked and pointed my ship away from the incursus. He saw me immediately and started to burn at me. It was clear that he was MWD fit- and as my first torps collided with him he lost all of his shields. By the second torp impact he was close to 50% armor.
I was trying to kite him, and was overheating my MWD to stay well ahead of the T1 frig. He realized at this point that there really was no way for him to catch me, and he warped off. So with only the cane left- I started to slowboat back twards him, and possibly drop some torps on him as well- to see if there was any way I could also drive him off. Sadly I only had one torp leaev the tubes when a drake shows up. Again- he was from the same corp- and sadly he was heavy missile fit (damn pve drakes). I was driven off the field- and had to simply watched from a cloaked position- as they had another bestower come and pick up the GSC.
Now I ask you my reader community- could I have anchored / reset the passwords? I didn't know so i really didn't try not like I had much time lol t1 frigs, canes, and drakes everywhere!) Anyway we are jumping forward a bit in time here- but last night I almost fell out of my chair from laughter. again i was watching their most active pos- and noticed a drake outside the force field, along with a punisher and a hawk. The punisher was shooting the drake / testing something.... honestly I have no idea. The hawk was just there lol. (I really wish that i had a bomb becuase one corp mate and I could have dropped two bombs- and had some nice kills.
Here is where it gets interesting- the drake pilot is a member of the alliance of the POS corp- but not a member of the corp. So when he shot 1 volley of missiles at the punisher- all of the pos guns suddenly opened up on him. He tried to run- but was scrammed. So by by drake! Now as soon as the drake popped- a hoarder started to slow boat out of the pos (to clean the wreck i suppose). again I wished that me and my corpmate had a bomb- as the hawk and punisher along with the slow boating hoarder were all sitting withing 15k of the wreck. So i made due- once the hauler was close- I uncloaked and shot the wreck- blowing it up right in front of the haulers eyes :)
that was the perfect end of the night for me :) again and again these carebears struggling to figure out how to defend their worm hole have given me great joy. Their bumbling around is a constant form of entertainment for me and my pack of frigates. I enjoy how outgunned, and out manned- we are still here kicking ass, and pissing them off at every turn. I hope you enjoyed this blog.
Fly Dangerously!
Tuesday, May 31, 2011
Peek-A-Boo Bombers
Well now that my 'blueprints' series is completed- I can finally get back to telling some good ol' war stories about me and my little bomber :) After about a week of a rather long hiatus (I will explain the reasons later on in this blog), I was very excited to jump into a worm hole and find some active players killing sleepers. There was about 3 drakes, 2 canes, and an argour clearing sites in a c2. they were clearing the sites and shockingly THEY SAT AROUND AND WAITED WITH THEIR SALVAGER! I was so happy :) I guess that my blog was really having some kind of effect on the holies, for this I was glad. However- just becuase they are simply waiting for this site- doesn't mean that they wait for every site :)
You see in order to be a successful bomber- you need to have patience, and you need to make due with small windows of opportunity. at times- this can only be seconds- and you need to make sure that you are ready. I watched these guys finish up 3 sites- and followed them through each one. I was their shadow. At the end of each site, they would have a noctis come in clear the site- then warp off to a safe and cloak. They were very disciplined about this- and the noctis was always the first one to warp off- and whats more is they actually stayed near it while it cleaned.
They followed this ridged procedure for 2 sites, and I was hoping that they would get sloppy and have a bit of haste during the last one. The last site was a radar site, and after spreading sleeper wrecks all over the place, they had a buzzard come in and start looting the cans. Now at this point everyone left the field for about 5 min- and I could have taken out the buzzard. However I was after bigger fish- and was simply waiting for the noctis. It seems that the corp was simply offloading members that needed to log or do rl stuff, while the others came back and finished their work. once again the noctis, and 1 drake and a cane came warping on the field. I slow boated up to about 15K off the noctis and followed it where ever it went.
Once there was about 3 wrecks left- the drake and cane did the inevitable 'hey we are tired, we have more important things to do ext ext' and warped off. The noctis had just finished the wrecks and was starting to align. This was my window- the few seconds between align and warp. I uncloaked and over heated my torps. I knew that his friends were in warp speeding away from us, an they would be back here as soon as they could. Sadly for them, BC class ships are slow- and I pop a noctis in 3 torp volleys. The drake was too late.
I was just cleaning up the wreck when a drake showed up about 20K from me- and deciding to give a last teaching method- I popped the wreck as well, as the drake tried to helplessly try and lock me. I was off the field and cloaked before a single scourge fury missile flew out of the tubes.
As I had alluded too earlier in my blog post- I was busy for about a week. these reasons were not for RL, but were in game. it seems that my blog posting has gotten a few people interested in what I do. I have been receiving many many mails about people that want to do what I do, and were wondering how to do it. some of the members even remember when I was speaking about my wish to fly with other like minded bomber pilots. Over the past week I have been talking with many many people, and currently have done something that I thought I never would- start a corporation!
That is why I would like to introduce you all to Peek-A-Boo Bombers! We are a new corp, and you can find our killboards here. Currently We are trying to just grow our fleet, and are getting used to working togeather, and bringing in some new blood to pvp play. Obviusly I have not been keeping you updated on all of our 'war stories' but I plan on sharing the best with you here. If you have any questions about how to join Peek-A-Boo, or if you would like to hire our services, msg me anytime in game.
Lastly I will close this blog out with two PeekaBoo war stories. The first is our first attempt at springing a trap, and the second is simply spitting in your eye- when you are looking right at us.
To lay the setting for the first story: We had been 'camping' this C2 worm hole with a HS static for about one week. The locals knew that we were there, and we had blown up many of their ships. It seems that they were getting rather tired of our cavilier killers, and decided to lay a trap for us :) My day started out normally, Once I logged on- I talked with my two other corp members, and got the intel report. It was pretty cool for our corp that our first 4 members had a 23/7 Timezone coverage. We had one UK pilot, one Ausi, and 2 yanks. becuase of this we were able to have for all intensive purposes at least bomber on at all time.
I was told that our 'fleet' of 3 bombers were looking at an osprey minning with some drones, alone in a belt. Clearly admiral ackbar was driving himself into a frothing madness with traps. TRAPS EVERYWHERE! We warped in on the grav site grid- and sure enough we spotted the osprey. As we were slow boating into position me and the other two bombers were surprised to see a retriever join his mining friend. Looking at our targets- we decided to go for the retriever. I knew that this was going to be a trap- so I had all of the bombers sit at max range, and get ready to overload the torps- and hit that barge.
Everything was eerily quite. There was nothing on grid save for that osprey, retriever and a few mining drones. Little did I know that almost 1 dozen cloaky ships were waiting in the wings. Because I had decided to FC this fight- I was spending most of my time ensuring that all of my fleet members remained cloaked, and had firing solutions on the barge- with out de cloaking each other (COUGH COUGH CCP I WISH I COULD SEE CLOAKY FLEET MEMBERS..... NAVIGATION AROUND AND THROUGH ROIDS SUCKS) Once we were finally in set- I took one last deep breath, and gave the count. "Three, Two, One, MARK!" We all de-cloaked and opened up on the barge. Just as my torps were leaving the tubes, all heal broke loose!
a Phobos and Onyx decloaked and instantly the bubbles were up. A nemisis (LOL) and a manticore decloaked along with a rapier and began to target us. Sadly for them, they were a bit out of position when compared to us. We were all sitting at max range, way off the normal warp ins for this particular grav site. The retriever did not handle our first volly of torps, and was down by the second. After the bardge went boom, the osprey took off- and me along with my other fleet members all warped off. I cloaked up- and chuckled. Here was about 7 pilots that tried as hard as they could to catch us.... but catching an organized stealth bomber gang is boarder line impossible. Me and the other guys traded GF's and I was very impressed with our group. Opie in particular did not have any pvp experience before this op, and this was his first kill! (I always love popping care bear pvp cherries)
All in all this fight was after a long week of us taking down names, ships, and pods. The inhabitants were getting tired of us, and this was their best attempt to date at trying. Sadly as you will find out in my next few blog posts- trying to stop stealth bombers becomes very very time consuming and very very difficult.
Second on the chopping block is another stealth bomber outing that me and 2 other bombers took up. We were amazed when in a moment of courage, our resident holies grew some cohones- and actually started to run a sleeper site. We watched as a drake and tengu completed the site. They were doing it at a mind numbingly slow pace- and we had hopped that they would bring out a noctis (we had seen it at a pos). However becuase of the extended time that it took for them to clear this sleeper sites- we decided to take a pot shot at a PI ship. This was of course a huge mistake as It gave away the fact that at least one bomber was online and active.
While this did stop the noctis from coming out- it didn't stop the drake and tengu from finally finishing up this site. After it was completed me and my two other guys waited with baited breath- as the salvage occurred. We were perplexed when a cane warped on the grid- and started to tractor / salvage the sleeper guts. Now we have had run ins with with cane before, and we know that he is auto cannon fitted. Any auto cannon fit cane is not going to be able to touch a bomber- becuase they just don't have the range. So we really were not concered with the BC when we noticed that for the most part it seemed that all of it's high slots were fitted for salvage.
After a few minuets of pondering we decided to primary the cane, with our 3 bombers. There was still a drake on the field (but it was 80K away- and was not prop fit) With the tengu currently at one of the POS- we knew that we could engage with impunity. So again I gave the call once we had one of our pilots in point range- "Three, two, one, MARK!" we all decloaked and our other hound pilot grabbed point. We started to hammer in the cane. we were got through the shields quickly- and by this time the drake turned around, and started to burn at as (at the terrifying speed of 178m/s) It was at this point that we hit the cane armour buff- and we started to chip away a bit slower. I noticed that the tengu had started to move from the pos, so i told everyone to overheat thier toprs. Just as the cane was entering structure (it didn't last much longer)- a manticore showed up and started to target me.
At this point I began to align to my safe, and just as the cane exploded the tengu arrieved on the gird. All three of us took of and cloaked up. I decided to get back on grid, and I popped the wreck- afterwards I stayed at the site simply watching what they would do next. The drake and the tengu warped off- and logged. However that manticore didn't do the same. About 15min later a curious thing started to happen- I noticed that the manticore was going to the remaining sleeper wrecks, and looting them! It seemed to slow bloat (under cloak) into range, get with 2.5k uncloak- loot, and then recloak. I couldn't believe my eyes when I saw this. What idiot would try something like this, when not moments before he witnessed his cane friend get nuked by three bombers?
I decided to teach this fool a lesson. I got in on the last wreck, and sat about 15K off. I had my other two fleet mates warp to me, and we watched as this cheeky little bomber scrounged around for isk scraps. It was almost pathetic... Anyway once he got to the last wreck, he did the usual de-cloak and loot. That is when I uncloaked, pointed, and over heated my torps. My fleet members in the same- and he was gone in seconds. I am not sure if the pilot was suffering from surprise / shock becuase he didn't even get the chance to target us. I am not sure if he was still clutching his chest from the shock- but he also didn't warp his pod. So we popped that too. POP!
Well that about wraps up this blog- me and my fellow boo pilots are still not sure what that manticore pilot was thinking, but it was certainly fun showing him the ropes of cloaky frig pvp. Anyway I hope that you enjoyed this blog, and as usual fly dangerously!
You see in order to be a successful bomber- you need to have patience, and you need to make due with small windows of opportunity. at times- this can only be seconds- and you need to make sure that you are ready. I watched these guys finish up 3 sites- and followed them through each one. I was their shadow. At the end of each site, they would have a noctis come in clear the site- then warp off to a safe and cloak. They were very disciplined about this- and the noctis was always the first one to warp off- and whats more is they actually stayed near it while it cleaned.
They followed this ridged procedure for 2 sites, and I was hoping that they would get sloppy and have a bit of haste during the last one. The last site was a radar site, and after spreading sleeper wrecks all over the place, they had a buzzard come in and start looting the cans. Now at this point everyone left the field for about 5 min- and I could have taken out the buzzard. However I was after bigger fish- and was simply waiting for the noctis. It seems that the corp was simply offloading members that needed to log or do rl stuff, while the others came back and finished their work. once again the noctis, and 1 drake and a cane came warping on the field. I slow boated up to about 15K off the noctis and followed it where ever it went.
Once there was about 3 wrecks left- the drake and cane did the inevitable 'hey we are tired, we have more important things to do ext ext' and warped off. The noctis had just finished the wrecks and was starting to align. This was my window- the few seconds between align and warp. I uncloaked and over heated my torps. I knew that his friends were in warp speeding away from us, an they would be back here as soon as they could. Sadly for them, BC class ships are slow- and I pop a noctis in 3 torp volleys. The drake was too late.
I was just cleaning up the wreck when a drake showed up about 20K from me- and deciding to give a last teaching method- I popped the wreck as well, as the drake tried to helplessly try and lock me. I was off the field and cloaked before a single scourge fury missile flew out of the tubes.
As I had alluded too earlier in my blog post- I was busy for about a week. these reasons were not for RL, but were in game. it seems that my blog posting has gotten a few people interested in what I do. I have been receiving many many mails about people that want to do what I do, and were wondering how to do it. some of the members even remember when I was speaking about my wish to fly with other like minded bomber pilots. Over the past week I have been talking with many many people, and currently have done something that I thought I never would- start a corporation!
That is why I would like to introduce you all to Peek-A-Boo Bombers! We are a new corp, and you can find our killboards here. Currently We are trying to just grow our fleet, and are getting used to working togeather, and bringing in some new blood to pvp play. Obviusly I have not been keeping you updated on all of our 'war stories' but I plan on sharing the best with you here. If you have any questions about how to join Peek-A-Boo, or if you would like to hire our services, msg me anytime in game.
Lastly I will close this blog out with two PeekaBoo war stories. The first is our first attempt at springing a trap, and the second is simply spitting in your eye- when you are looking right at us.
To lay the setting for the first story: We had been 'camping' this C2 worm hole with a HS static for about one week. The locals knew that we were there, and we had blown up many of their ships. It seems that they were getting rather tired of our cavilier killers, and decided to lay a trap for us :) My day started out normally, Once I logged on- I talked with my two other corp members, and got the intel report. It was pretty cool for our corp that our first 4 members had a 23/7 Timezone coverage. We had one UK pilot, one Ausi, and 2 yanks. becuase of this we were able to have for all intensive purposes at least bomber on at all time.
I was told that our 'fleet' of 3 bombers were looking at an osprey minning with some drones, alone in a belt. Clearly admiral ackbar was driving himself into a frothing madness with traps. TRAPS EVERYWHERE! We warped in on the grav site grid- and sure enough we spotted the osprey. As we were slow boating into position me and the other two bombers were surprised to see a retriever join his mining friend. Looking at our targets- we decided to go for the retriever. I knew that this was going to be a trap- so I had all of the bombers sit at max range, and get ready to overload the torps- and hit that barge.
Everything was eerily quite. There was nothing on grid save for that osprey, retriever and a few mining drones. Little did I know that almost 1 dozen cloaky ships were waiting in the wings. Because I had decided to FC this fight- I was spending most of my time ensuring that all of my fleet members remained cloaked, and had firing solutions on the barge- with out de cloaking each other (COUGH COUGH CCP I WISH I COULD SEE CLOAKY FLEET MEMBERS..... NAVIGATION AROUND AND THROUGH ROIDS SUCKS) Once we were finally in set- I took one last deep breath, and gave the count. "Three, Two, One, MARK!" We all de-cloaked and opened up on the barge. Just as my torps were leaving the tubes, all heal broke loose!
a Phobos and Onyx decloaked and instantly the bubbles were up. A nemisis (LOL) and a manticore decloaked along with a rapier and began to target us. Sadly for them, they were a bit out of position when compared to us. We were all sitting at max range, way off the normal warp ins for this particular grav site. The retriever did not handle our first volly of torps, and was down by the second. After the bardge went boom, the osprey took off- and me along with my other fleet members all warped off. I cloaked up- and chuckled. Here was about 7 pilots that tried as hard as they could to catch us.... but catching an organized stealth bomber gang is boarder line impossible. Me and the other guys traded GF's and I was very impressed with our group. Opie in particular did not have any pvp experience before this op, and this was his first kill! (I always love popping care bear pvp cherries)
All in all this fight was after a long week of us taking down names, ships, and pods. The inhabitants were getting tired of us, and this was their best attempt to date at trying. Sadly as you will find out in my next few blog posts- trying to stop stealth bombers becomes very very time consuming and very very difficult.
Second on the chopping block is another stealth bomber outing that me and 2 other bombers took up. We were amazed when in a moment of courage, our resident holies grew some cohones- and actually started to run a sleeper site. We watched as a drake and tengu completed the site. They were doing it at a mind numbingly slow pace- and we had hopped that they would bring out a noctis (we had seen it at a pos). However becuase of the extended time that it took for them to clear this sleeper sites- we decided to take a pot shot at a PI ship. This was of course a huge mistake as It gave away the fact that at least one bomber was online and active.
While this did stop the noctis from coming out- it didn't stop the drake and tengu from finally finishing up this site. After it was completed me and my two other guys waited with baited breath- as the salvage occurred. We were perplexed when a cane warped on the grid- and started to tractor / salvage the sleeper guts. Now we have had run ins with with cane before, and we know that he is auto cannon fitted. Any auto cannon fit cane is not going to be able to touch a bomber- becuase they just don't have the range. So we really were not concered with the BC when we noticed that for the most part it seemed that all of it's high slots were fitted for salvage.
After a few minuets of pondering we decided to primary the cane, with our 3 bombers. There was still a drake on the field (but it was 80K away- and was not prop fit) With the tengu currently at one of the POS- we knew that we could engage with impunity. So again I gave the call once we had one of our pilots in point range- "Three, two, one, MARK!" we all decloaked and our other hound pilot grabbed point. We started to hammer in the cane. we were got through the shields quickly- and by this time the drake turned around, and started to burn at as (at the terrifying speed of 178m/s) It was at this point that we hit the cane armour buff- and we started to chip away a bit slower. I noticed that the tengu had started to move from the pos, so i told everyone to overheat thier toprs. Just as the cane was entering structure (it didn't last much longer)- a manticore showed up and started to target me.
At this point I began to align to my safe, and just as the cane exploded the tengu arrieved on the gird. All three of us took of and cloaked up. I decided to get back on grid, and I popped the wreck- afterwards I stayed at the site simply watching what they would do next. The drake and the tengu warped off- and logged. However that manticore didn't do the same. About 15min later a curious thing started to happen- I noticed that the manticore was going to the remaining sleeper wrecks, and looting them! It seemed to slow bloat (under cloak) into range, get with 2.5k uncloak- loot, and then recloak. I couldn't believe my eyes when I saw this. What idiot would try something like this, when not moments before he witnessed his cane friend get nuked by three bombers?
I decided to teach this fool a lesson. I got in on the last wreck, and sat about 15K off. I had my other two fleet mates warp to me, and we watched as this cheeky little bomber scrounged around for isk scraps. It was almost pathetic... Anyway once he got to the last wreck, he did the usual de-cloak and loot. That is when I uncloaked, pointed, and over heated my torps. My fleet members in the same- and he was gone in seconds. I am not sure if the pilot was suffering from surprise / shock becuase he didn't even get the chance to target us. I am not sure if he was still clutching his chest from the shock- but he also didn't warp his pod. So we popped that too. POP!
Well that about wraps up this blog- me and my fellow boo pilots are still not sure what that manticore pilot was thinking, but it was certainly fun showing him the ropes of cloaky frig pvp. Anyway I hope that you enjoyed this blog, and as usual fly dangerously!
Friday, May 27, 2011
The Blueprint to Success (Part Three)
Hey all this will be the last of my blueprint series :) After this we will be getting back to the war stories :) I have a lot to tell- because a lot has happened, big things too! Like the creation of Peek-A-Boo Bombers, but that is for another blog and another time. Now I am going to be telling you good folks about how to properly scan out systems, scan down targets- and of course how to hunt in worm hole space.
First lets talk worm hole systems.
the first thing that you want to do when you jump into a wormhole, is of course book mark the exit- then you want to get your web browser out, and using your fav worm hole site, see what kind of activity the hole has. If it is an active hole, and you might be in luck- as this could be your base of operations for some time. At this point you want to hit your D scan, and see what is going on in the hole. If there are sleeper wrecks you should go on high alert. never warp to anything on zero, and for god sakes never warp to the sun. Now if you have some sleeper wrecks on scan, the first thing that you should do is hit your ship scanner the second you drop out of warp. This will bring up all of the sleeper combat sites, if you open up your F10 solar system map.
What you have to do next is use your D scanner while you are in your F10 map mode. Set your angle to 15 degrees, and make sure that your scan distance is as long as possible. Remember that you D scan has a range of only 14.4AU- anything beyond that and you will not pick it up. OK so far you have used your Dscan determined that there are sleeper wrecks, and now you have used your ship scanner. While you are in your map mode- all of the combat sites are green arrows. What you have to do now is line up the 'you are here' arrow with those green points. When you have your D scan set to 15 degrees, your scan will be very focused- and you will simply see that site. Once you narrow them down to a site- warp in at 100K
Now that is the 'best possible' case of finding pilots. During the entire 'scanning' time you are passive and never have to decloak! that way the enemy has no idea that you are there, and there is nothing they can do to find you- so you have 100% surprise. The other way that you will most likely find targets is when they are not in a combat site. You will find most of your miners, and gas harvesters inside of Grav and Ladar sites- and sometimes you may even catch people running mag or radar sites. For these cases, you have to go 'active' in your scanning- and need to reveal your presence. Now there is a right and a wrong way to probe. I am going to cover the right way below-
Because you cannot find them on a point in the map browser, you want to take your D scan again and set it to 360 degrees. Start at 1 AU (150,000,000 k) And scan. If you don't see anything set to 2 AU (300,000,000) and scan. Continue to do this until you find the 'distance' they are from you. Ideally you want to get them as close as possible, so getting the targets down within 1-4 AU is ideal. Once you know about 'how far' away they are from your celestial- you are ready to drop probes.
The first thing that you want to try and do when you know that you are going to have to drop probes, is try and create a safe that cannot be found on D scan. that means that you have to be 14.4AU away from ANY celestial body in the system. If you can create one- do it! This is a huge plus, becuase then people can not pick you up on D scan (so they don't know what ship you are flying) and they cannot see you first setting up your probes. Now in some cases this is not possible, and no matter what you are going to be seen somewhere on D scan. If this is the case- try and get off your 'targets' D scan by moving at least 14.4 AU away from them, and preferably- away from any POS or active player ships in the system. Once you have arrived at your probe safe, quickly uncloak and drop your 5 core probes. Re-cloak and warp to your last point. (You last point being where you had 'narrowed' down their position to within 1-4AU of you.)
Once you are there set your probes for the distance you had D scanned them at. If your D scan hit them a 2AU set your probes for 2 AU with the 'middle' probe on top of your ship point. If you found them at 4AU then set the probes for 4. Realize that the second you move your probes over there your targets can potentially see your 'active' scan and warp away. That is why speed is of the essence. Remember your scanning shortcuts, Shift and ALT. That is going to cut down your scanning time by a lot. Once you set up your probes and hit scan- get ready with your D scanner. Make sure that you ahve it to 15 degrees and get ready. The second your probes are done- align the 'you are here' arrow up with each of the red 'sigs.' scan down each sig until you find your targets again- and then narrow your probes down on that sig A sap.
The second you clicked 'scan' on your probes- your targets could potentially know that you are there. Scan fast- and focus in on that point as quickly as you can. Once you get it to 100% recall your probes immediately! and warp to 100K If they didn't Dscan your probes in time- congrats! you have evaded their efforts to protect themselves, and have kept your element of surprise :) Now once you land on gird in any situation- the first thing that you should do is to make sure that you are not de cloaked, and that you have an overview setting showing EVERYTHING pulled up. That way you know 100% that you are not going to magically de-cloak right when you don't want too.
Ideally as a new bomber pilot you should be shooting for the ships like salvaging vessels, mining barges, indys and the like. Patience is a bombers best friend :) I cannot tell you how many times I have followed around a group of players running combat sites- when on the last site they get lazy and leave their hauler. With good skills, you can take down a noctis in 3 shots. That is less than 30 seconds- so the window you need to strike is extremely small. Practice makes perfect - and choosing targets, and getting kills all comes down to experience (in and our of game), skills (in and out of game) and of course how many bombers you are flying with (the more the merrier :) )
In closing- I just cannot stress patience enough! If you see that all of the PVE ships are sitting around while the salvager is doing it's work- get close to the salvage and wait. Sometimes once there is only like 2-3 sleeper wrecks left the others might get hasty and warp off. These few split seconds are where you come in with the finishing blow, and scoop up your kill, and their hard work. Once you get more comfortable you can start going after ships that are being 'guarded'. I have done it many times, and let me tell you - it is a great joy to kill a ship that thinks its 'protected'.
Anyway for next week- get ready for the cold hearten cereal killer stories- becuase ohh I have quite a few that are going to make your day :) Till then-
Fly dangerously!
First lets talk worm hole systems.
the first thing that you want to do when you jump into a wormhole, is of course book mark the exit- then you want to get your web browser out, and using your fav worm hole site, see what kind of activity the hole has. If it is an active hole, and you might be in luck- as this could be your base of operations for some time. At this point you want to hit your D scan, and see what is going on in the hole. If there are sleeper wrecks you should go on high alert. never warp to anything on zero, and for god sakes never warp to the sun. Now if you have some sleeper wrecks on scan, the first thing that you should do is hit your ship scanner the second you drop out of warp. This will bring up all of the sleeper combat sites, if you open up your F10 solar system map.
What you have to do next is use your D scanner while you are in your F10 map mode. Set your angle to 15 degrees, and make sure that your scan distance is as long as possible. Remember that you D scan has a range of only 14.4AU- anything beyond that and you will not pick it up. OK so far you have used your Dscan determined that there are sleeper wrecks, and now you have used your ship scanner. While you are in your map mode- all of the combat sites are green arrows. What you have to do now is line up the 'you are here' arrow with those green points. When you have your D scan set to 15 degrees, your scan will be very focused- and you will simply see that site. Once you narrow them down to a site- warp in at 100K
Now that is the 'best possible' case of finding pilots. During the entire 'scanning' time you are passive and never have to decloak! that way the enemy has no idea that you are there, and there is nothing they can do to find you- so you have 100% surprise. The other way that you will most likely find targets is when they are not in a combat site. You will find most of your miners, and gas harvesters inside of Grav and Ladar sites- and sometimes you may even catch people running mag or radar sites. For these cases, you have to go 'active' in your scanning- and need to reveal your presence. Now there is a right and a wrong way to probe. I am going to cover the right way below-
Because you cannot find them on a point in the map browser, you want to take your D scan again and set it to 360 degrees. Start at 1 AU (150,000,000 k) And scan. If you don't see anything set to 2 AU (300,000,000) and scan. Continue to do this until you find the 'distance' they are from you. Ideally you want to get them as close as possible, so getting the targets down within 1-4 AU is ideal. Once you know about 'how far' away they are from your celestial- you are ready to drop probes.
The first thing that you want to try and do when you know that you are going to have to drop probes, is try and create a safe that cannot be found on D scan. that means that you have to be 14.4AU away from ANY celestial body in the system. If you can create one- do it! This is a huge plus, becuase then people can not pick you up on D scan (so they don't know what ship you are flying) and they cannot see you first setting up your probes. Now in some cases this is not possible, and no matter what you are going to be seen somewhere on D scan. If this is the case- try and get off your 'targets' D scan by moving at least 14.4 AU away from them, and preferably- away from any POS or active player ships in the system. Once you have arrived at your probe safe, quickly uncloak and drop your 5 core probes. Re-cloak and warp to your last point. (You last point being where you had 'narrowed' down their position to within 1-4AU of you.)
Once you are there set your probes for the distance you had D scanned them at. If your D scan hit them a 2AU set your probes for 2 AU with the 'middle' probe on top of your ship point. If you found them at 4AU then set the probes for 4. Realize that the second you move your probes over there your targets can potentially see your 'active' scan and warp away. That is why speed is of the essence. Remember your scanning shortcuts, Shift and ALT. That is going to cut down your scanning time by a lot. Once you set up your probes and hit scan- get ready with your D scanner. Make sure that you ahve it to 15 degrees and get ready. The second your probes are done- align the 'you are here' arrow up with each of the red 'sigs.' scan down each sig until you find your targets again- and then narrow your probes down on that sig A sap.
The second you clicked 'scan' on your probes- your targets could potentially know that you are there. Scan fast- and focus in on that point as quickly as you can. Once you get it to 100% recall your probes immediately! and warp to 100K If they didn't Dscan your probes in time- congrats! you have evaded their efforts to protect themselves, and have kept your element of surprise :) Now once you land on gird in any situation- the first thing that you should do is to make sure that you are not de cloaked, and that you have an overview setting showing EVERYTHING pulled up. That way you know 100% that you are not going to magically de-cloak right when you don't want too.
Ideally as a new bomber pilot you should be shooting for the ships like salvaging vessels, mining barges, indys and the like. Patience is a bombers best friend :) I cannot tell you how many times I have followed around a group of players running combat sites- when on the last site they get lazy and leave their hauler. With good skills, you can take down a noctis in 3 shots. That is less than 30 seconds- so the window you need to strike is extremely small. Practice makes perfect - and choosing targets, and getting kills all comes down to experience (in and our of game), skills (in and out of game) and of course how many bombers you are flying with (the more the merrier :) )
In closing- I just cannot stress patience enough! If you see that all of the PVE ships are sitting around while the salvager is doing it's work- get close to the salvage and wait. Sometimes once there is only like 2-3 sleeper wrecks left the others might get hasty and warp off. These few split seconds are where you come in with the finishing blow, and scoop up your kill, and their hard work. Once you get more comfortable you can start going after ships that are being 'guarded'. I have done it many times, and let me tell you - it is a great joy to kill a ship that thinks its 'protected'.
Anyway for next week- get ready for the cold hearten cereal killer stories- becuase ohh I have quite a few that are going to make your day :) Till then-
Fly dangerously!
Monday, May 23, 2011
The Blueprint to Success (Part Two)
Alright Guys this is part 2 of my blueprints series. in this blog post I will finally be giving my opinion of all of the stealth bombers, and some of the fits that I use and find effective. To begin with- in my mind there are really only 3 stealth bombers. I don't count the nemesis- becuase of fitting issues, it just sucks. And if you are looking for a 4 mid slot bomber, the manticore blows it out of the water in every shape and form. So with that out of the way, you are left with three bombers.
The first of the bombers I will be speaking about is the Manticore. The manticore is the caldari take on the stealth bomber hull- and In my opinion, they have created the last word in fleet work, and gang work with this platform. While the manticore exceeds at group and fleet work, it has a massive short coming in solo work. I would never fly a manticore solo. a few reasons are the slot layout. The manticore has 5/4/2. while providing great variety in the mid slots, it is lacking that third low slot- effectively stopping this bomber from speed tanking. Even with 1 nano in the low, it is still far and away the slowest and least agile of the bombers. Because of this- trying to fly the manticore solo is akin to trying to shove a square peg into a round hole.
Now on to the manticore fits:
Really with the manticore you are limited to two options. Range or Increased DPS at the expense of range. The first fit I will speak about is the 'shorter range' less skill intensive option for any aspiring manticore pilots. Frankly I feel that it is far better than the 'other' fit I will show you.
Highs:
3X Arbalest siege missile launchers- Caldari Jugg Torps
1X Covert Ops cloaking device
1X Utility high (because I work in worm hole core probe launcher here is ideal)
Meds:
1MN Afterburner 2
Balmer Series Tracking Disruptor (Optimal range script)
Phased Muon Sensor Damp (Targeting range script)
Utility Med (here you can pack a target painter, another TD, or another damp I will explain this choice in the next paragraph)
Lows:
2X Ballistic Control System 2
Rigs:
2X Small rocket fuel cache partition 1
LV 5 stats:
Range: 77K
DPS: 498
Speed: 732m/s
Align: 7.13s
This option that I have outlined above is the bomber that sacrifices greater range for dps potential. With this setup you should be able to damp down any target that attempts to target you, and you can provide some ewar support for your gang members tackling with the TD equipped. The Sensor damp is simply there to stop ships that can actually strike you at 77K. This is simply your defense, as you ship does not go nearly fast enough to speed tank, and has the agility of a drunken obese whale.
Your role in your gang / Fleet Is to simply provide DPS support. With this setup you can almost give yourself a sense of immunity with the use of your sensor damp. As for your 'utility mid' you can choose which ewar module will best suit you and your gang. If you are working with many bombers a TP might be a good idea, as it is always a good idea to increase the sig radius of your target. However if you are not working with bombers- then perhaps give some thought to another TD. If you have another TD you can almost guarantee that any ship holding point against another turret based ship can stay withing point range forever with out fear of being hit.
Lastly you could opt to find yet another sensor damp. This will simply allow you to 'tank' two 'snipers' that may be out to try and pop you. Again this is simply up to your choice, and really you cant go wrong with any choice. Realize that your bomber is a nice juicy target, and you are by no means fast. Watch out for any sniping ships. Ideally your ewar and your range is your tank- don't forget this. Warp in and stay at range.
The second manticore fit is really only viable if you have trained stealth bombers very seriously, and can use t2 siege launchers. The fit is identical to the first- with one simple change. In place of the arbalest siege launchers, place T2. This fit is primarily used only with fleet battles, or larger gang. Because of CPU constraints you are limited to 2 sensor damps.
High:
3X Siege Missile Launcher 2 (Javelin Jugg Torps)
1X Covert Ops Cloaking Device
Empty
Med:
1mn Afterburner 2
Sensor Booster 2
2X Phased Muon Sensor Damp (Targeting range script)
Low:
1x Ballistic Control System 2
1x CALDARI NAVY BALLISTIC CONTROL SYSTEM 2 (Yes we need some faction gear to make this cpu hoar fit)
Rigs:
Hydraulic Bay Thruster 1
Rocket Fuel Cache Partition 1
With level 5
DPS: 443
Range: 115K
Speed: 648
As you can see is all of this worth the effort to get 35K more range? I have no idea. Frankly I don't think so- but for large fleet work that range and your sensor dampners might be enough to save your life. This fit is pretty crazy with the Caldari BCU- and 1% CPU implant you are going to need to make it all fit. But this is the longest range torp sniper in the game. (For the cheapest price I could make it.) You really can't fly this thing in worm hole- hence why I feel that the other fit is far Superior and more realistic.
Now the other two bombers that we have left have the last word in solo work. These bombers share the slot layout of 5/3/3 which is ideal for solo work. These bombers namely the (hound and purifier) have a bit more versatility than the manticore and can arguably be fit one of three ways. In all three of the setups the high slots and low slots are the same for both bombers, along with their rig slots.
The high slots are: 3X arbalest torp launchers, 1covop cloak, 1 core probe launcher.
The low slots are: 2 Nanofiber internal structure 2 and 1 Ballistic control system.
The rigs are: Polycarbon engine housing 1 and Loading Bay accelerators / warhead calce rigs (your choice)
It is the mid slots that are going to change depending on what fit you plan on running, and what targets you are trying to hunt. The first is the setup that I run most often becuase I feel that it is the most versatile.
Versatile (Cap booster and MWD fit)
Warp disruptor 2
Cap booster 2 (cap booster 75's)
1mn MWD 2
This is going to allow your bomber to reach speeds of 2.4k in a purifier and a bit more in your hound. You are basically cap stable indefinitely with this setup, and even if you are under heavy neut- you can stick around for some time. You can outrun all but light drones, and battleships cannot hit you. Another great part about this setup is- if you are engaging a salvage destroyer and it has an MWD, you can easily keep point, and surpass it in speed. This setup allows you to take down small and faster targets, becuase now they really cannot run out of your point range. That is the good parts about this setup. However there are some short comings. The first is that you will have a harder time against missile ships, as you cannot turn on your prop becuase of the sig bloom. This provides less staying power than a bomber running the MSE AB fit (covered below) don't forget that if you jump into a hostile worm hole and are bubbled- doing the MWD and cloak trick is a great way to live (I have saved myself many times doing this trick)
Because drakes are the most popular ship in eve- this can sometimes be a problem.
Other than missile ships- this is my preferred way of flying becuase of the versatility and range control that the MWD offers me. Being Cap stable is also a great benefit :)
Second on the list is the super gank Pure DPS bomber:
Warp Disruptor 2
2X Target Painter 2 (or extron meta 4 TP if you like) (This setup is cap stable for around 1min 30sec)
Conversely:
Warp Disruptor 2
1MN MWD / 1MN AB (With MWD you are cap stable for 40s, and with AB 2min 30 sec)
Target Painter
This 'gank' fit forgoes the cap stability of the first, and instead loads on the TP. This will help to increase your damage potential, and certainly makes killing the smaller boats easier. I feel that this setup is deal for taking down Indys, Miners, and Salvagers. The reason why I say this is becuase your bomber can really throw out the DPS- but becuase of the Cap issues, doesn't have the staying power to engage any combat oriented ship. You can forget taking out BC, BS ships in this- unless you have some friends joining you. Other than that- this is a very viable gank fit. And perfect for sniping defenseless bears- as the fight will probably be over before your cap is.
The last fit is the Medium Shield Extender and afterburner Setup:
Med slots:
MSE
1mn AB
Warp disruptor 2
This setup is my second favorite of the three fits becuase it is cap stable yay! This fit is great for taking down missile boats as you have way more staying power. with level 5 skills your purifiers speed with the AB is 933 m/s and the Hound is moving at 981 m/s. The purifier can fit this no problem, but with the hound you are probably going to want a 'regolith' shield induction- and even then you are going to be 1% above your power output- so you are going to need to grab a power implant of some sort. This fit is very nice for tackling missile based boats. Because drakes are so common in worm hole space this is a very valid set up. The only flaw to this setup is of course taking down turret based ships, drones because now all drone types can catch you, and of course smaller targets. If a salvaging destroyer has an MWD he may be able to escape your point range. This goes for any covops ship as well. So those are the slight downfalls to this setup.
As for differentiating between the hound and purifier- both of them do great damage type. The purifier is of course the better choice for melting down shield tanked ships, while the hound can handle armor tankers quite effectively. Both of these boats are extremely good- and really the trade off between one or the other is really not that big of a deal. The hound of course is faster, and has a higher agility than the purifier- but the purifier makes up for this by having a larger cargo bay. that larger cargo bay is nice if you are flying some long worm hole stints, or need some more room to put your capboosters / loot / torps / and in some cases bombs.
So there you have it! Those are my takes on the bombers, and how I feel that they are best used to their fullest potential. Use the manticore as your DPS and ECM support boat while in gang / fleet work, and have your purifiers / hounds holding point / soloing. Bombers if used correctly can take down a vast variety of ships, you just have to know what you are up against. Before I close this blog post- I want to make a final point about bomb use. Now i realize that I have not covered bombs at all in this entire guide. There is a reason for this- Core probe launcher. Because you are working in worm hole space, going with out a core probe is just not possible. That is why the bomb has to go. Now if you are working in a gang of bomber while in worm hole, every pilot does not need a launcher- so a few can grab bombs.
If you are like me and live out of a giant secure container- you can keep a stash of bombs and a bomb launcher in there. If you are inside of a hole that has a high sec static- a refit is just one jump away into a station. (Or if you are really srs about taking down a system have your cloaked orca alt in system with you :) ) In short dropping a torp launcher is not advisable, becuase it really cuts down on your DPS. While bombs are a great tool- as a solo pilot using them is EXTREMELY situational. That is why for the most part I forgo the bomb use :)
So that about covers it for this blog post, I hope that this gave at least a few of you some insight into bomber fits, and what you should be looking for in your own bombers. Till next time!
Part 3 of my 'blueprints' series will be goving over scanning and hunting tactics
Fly dangerously!
The first of the bombers I will be speaking about is the Manticore. The manticore is the caldari take on the stealth bomber hull- and In my opinion, they have created the last word in fleet work, and gang work with this platform. While the manticore exceeds at group and fleet work, it has a massive short coming in solo work. I would never fly a manticore solo. a few reasons are the slot layout. The manticore has 5/4/2. while providing great variety in the mid slots, it is lacking that third low slot- effectively stopping this bomber from speed tanking. Even with 1 nano in the low, it is still far and away the slowest and least agile of the bombers. Because of this- trying to fly the manticore solo is akin to trying to shove a square peg into a round hole.
Now on to the manticore fits:
Really with the manticore you are limited to two options. Range or Increased DPS at the expense of range. The first fit I will speak about is the 'shorter range' less skill intensive option for any aspiring manticore pilots. Frankly I feel that it is far better than the 'other' fit I will show you.
Highs:
3X Arbalest siege missile launchers- Caldari Jugg Torps
1X Covert Ops cloaking device
1X Utility high (because I work in worm hole core probe launcher here is ideal)
Meds:
1MN Afterburner 2
Balmer Series Tracking Disruptor (Optimal range script)
Phased Muon Sensor Damp (Targeting range script)
Utility Med (here you can pack a target painter, another TD, or another damp I will explain this choice in the next paragraph)
Lows:
2X Ballistic Control System 2
Rigs:
2X Small rocket fuel cache partition 1
LV 5 stats:
Range: 77K
DPS: 498
Speed: 732m/s
Align: 7.13s
This option that I have outlined above is the bomber that sacrifices greater range for dps potential. With this setup you should be able to damp down any target that attempts to target you, and you can provide some ewar support for your gang members tackling with the TD equipped. The Sensor damp is simply there to stop ships that can actually strike you at 77K. This is simply your defense, as you ship does not go nearly fast enough to speed tank, and has the agility of a drunken obese whale.
Your role in your gang / Fleet Is to simply provide DPS support. With this setup you can almost give yourself a sense of immunity with the use of your sensor damp. As for your 'utility mid' you can choose which ewar module will best suit you and your gang. If you are working with many bombers a TP might be a good idea, as it is always a good idea to increase the sig radius of your target. However if you are not working with bombers- then perhaps give some thought to another TD. If you have another TD you can almost guarantee that any ship holding point against another turret based ship can stay withing point range forever with out fear of being hit.
Lastly you could opt to find yet another sensor damp. This will simply allow you to 'tank' two 'snipers' that may be out to try and pop you. Again this is simply up to your choice, and really you cant go wrong with any choice. Realize that your bomber is a nice juicy target, and you are by no means fast. Watch out for any sniping ships. Ideally your ewar and your range is your tank- don't forget this. Warp in and stay at range.
The second manticore fit is really only viable if you have trained stealth bombers very seriously, and can use t2 siege launchers. The fit is identical to the first- with one simple change. In place of the arbalest siege launchers, place T2. This fit is primarily used only with fleet battles, or larger gang. Because of CPU constraints you are limited to 2 sensor damps.
High:
3X Siege Missile Launcher 2 (Javelin Jugg Torps)
1X Covert Ops Cloaking Device
Empty
Med:
1mn Afterburner 2
Sensor Booster 2
2X Phased Muon Sensor Damp (Targeting range script)
Low:
1x Ballistic Control System 2
1x CALDARI NAVY BALLISTIC CONTROL SYSTEM 2 (Yes we need some faction gear to make this cpu hoar fit)
Rigs:
Hydraulic Bay Thruster 1
Rocket Fuel Cache Partition 1
With level 5
DPS: 443
Range: 115K
Speed: 648
As you can see is all of this worth the effort to get 35K more range? I have no idea. Frankly I don't think so- but for large fleet work that range and your sensor dampners might be enough to save your life. This fit is pretty crazy with the Caldari BCU- and 1% CPU implant you are going to need to make it all fit. But this is the longest range torp sniper in the game. (For the cheapest price I could make it.) You really can't fly this thing in worm hole- hence why I feel that the other fit is far Superior and more realistic.
Now the other two bombers that we have left have the last word in solo work. These bombers share the slot layout of 5/3/3 which is ideal for solo work. These bombers namely the (hound and purifier) have a bit more versatility than the manticore and can arguably be fit one of three ways. In all three of the setups the high slots and low slots are the same for both bombers, along with their rig slots.
The high slots are: 3X arbalest torp launchers, 1covop cloak, 1 core probe launcher.
The low slots are: 2 Nanofiber internal structure 2 and 1 Ballistic control system.
The rigs are: Polycarbon engine housing 1 and Loading Bay accelerators / warhead calce rigs (your choice)
It is the mid slots that are going to change depending on what fit you plan on running, and what targets you are trying to hunt. The first is the setup that I run most often becuase I feel that it is the most versatile.
Versatile (Cap booster and MWD fit)
Warp disruptor 2
Cap booster 2 (cap booster 75's)
1mn MWD 2
This is going to allow your bomber to reach speeds of 2.4k in a purifier and a bit more in your hound. You are basically cap stable indefinitely with this setup, and even if you are under heavy neut- you can stick around for some time. You can outrun all but light drones, and battleships cannot hit you. Another great part about this setup is- if you are engaging a salvage destroyer and it has an MWD, you can easily keep point, and surpass it in speed. This setup allows you to take down small and faster targets, becuase now they really cannot run out of your point range. That is the good parts about this setup. However there are some short comings. The first is that you will have a harder time against missile ships, as you cannot turn on your prop becuase of the sig bloom. This provides less staying power than a bomber running the MSE AB fit (covered below) don't forget that if you jump into a hostile worm hole and are bubbled- doing the MWD and cloak trick is a great way to live (I have saved myself many times doing this trick)
Because drakes are the most popular ship in eve- this can sometimes be a problem.
Other than missile ships- this is my preferred way of flying becuase of the versatility and range control that the MWD offers me. Being Cap stable is also a great benefit :)
Second on the list is the super gank Pure DPS bomber:
Warp Disruptor 2
2X Target Painter 2 (or extron meta 4 TP if you like) (This setup is cap stable for around 1min 30sec)
Conversely:
Warp Disruptor 2
1MN MWD / 1MN AB (With MWD you are cap stable for 40s, and with AB 2min 30 sec)
Target Painter
This 'gank' fit forgoes the cap stability of the first, and instead loads on the TP. This will help to increase your damage potential, and certainly makes killing the smaller boats easier. I feel that this setup is deal for taking down Indys, Miners, and Salvagers. The reason why I say this is becuase your bomber can really throw out the DPS- but becuase of the Cap issues, doesn't have the staying power to engage any combat oriented ship. You can forget taking out BC, BS ships in this- unless you have some friends joining you. Other than that- this is a very viable gank fit. And perfect for sniping defenseless bears- as the fight will probably be over before your cap is.
The last fit is the Medium Shield Extender and afterburner Setup:
Med slots:
MSE
1mn AB
Warp disruptor 2
This setup is my second favorite of the three fits becuase it is cap stable yay! This fit is great for taking down missile boats as you have way more staying power. with level 5 skills your purifiers speed with the AB is 933 m/s and the Hound is moving at 981 m/s. The purifier can fit this no problem, but with the hound you are probably going to want a 'regolith' shield induction- and even then you are going to be 1% above your power output- so you are going to need to grab a power implant of some sort. This fit is very nice for tackling missile based boats. Because drakes are so common in worm hole space this is a very valid set up. The only flaw to this setup is of course taking down turret based ships, drones because now all drone types can catch you, and of course smaller targets. If a salvaging destroyer has an MWD he may be able to escape your point range. This goes for any covops ship as well. So those are the slight downfalls to this setup.
As for differentiating between the hound and purifier- both of them do great damage type. The purifier is of course the better choice for melting down shield tanked ships, while the hound can handle armor tankers quite effectively. Both of these boats are extremely good- and really the trade off between one or the other is really not that big of a deal. The hound of course is faster, and has a higher agility than the purifier- but the purifier makes up for this by having a larger cargo bay. that larger cargo bay is nice if you are flying some long worm hole stints, or need some more room to put your capboosters / loot / torps / and in some cases bombs.
So there you have it! Those are my takes on the bombers, and how I feel that they are best used to their fullest potential. Use the manticore as your DPS and ECM support boat while in gang / fleet work, and have your purifiers / hounds holding point / soloing. Bombers if used correctly can take down a vast variety of ships, you just have to know what you are up against. Before I close this blog post- I want to make a final point about bomb use. Now i realize that I have not covered bombs at all in this entire guide. There is a reason for this- Core probe launcher. Because you are working in worm hole space, going with out a core probe is just not possible. That is why the bomb has to go. Now if you are working in a gang of bomber while in worm hole, every pilot does not need a launcher- so a few can grab bombs.
If you are like me and live out of a giant secure container- you can keep a stash of bombs and a bomb launcher in there. If you are inside of a hole that has a high sec static- a refit is just one jump away into a station. (Or if you are really srs about taking down a system have your cloaked orca alt in system with you :) ) In short dropping a torp launcher is not advisable, becuase it really cuts down on your DPS. While bombs are a great tool- as a solo pilot using them is EXTREMELY situational. That is why for the most part I forgo the bomb use :)
So that about covers it for this blog post, I hope that this gave at least a few of you some insight into bomber fits, and what you should be looking for in your own bombers. Till next time!
Part 3 of my 'blueprints' series will be goving over scanning and hunting tactics
Fly dangerously!
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