Expectations are met

My last post was about my move to NOMEX and what my expectations were.  I had hoped for a low-class WH PvP-centric corporation with minimal (asymptotically approaching zero) drama and lots of lots pew-pew.  I am delighted to report that all my expectations were met.  Just a look at yesterday’s killboard and you get a feeling that this is a corporation that’s going out and shoots “all the things”.

There was (still is) a time of adjustment.  I am just used to do things a certain way, having flown with my old crew for so many years, there is a form of muscle memory that I have developed.  When in wormholes, I feel most comfortable in a cloaked Proteus backed up by my Alt watching my rear exit.  I am really not used to be “one of the scouts”.  Other changes are the ship types.  In real life and in game, I am anything but a hoarder.  I don’t have many ships, I really don’t.  At most I would have 20 across both of my toons in a given hole, this includes Epithals, Viators etc..  1 ratting ship, fleet support boats like Recons and the rest either DPS or maybe another cloaky ship.  I don’t even have a stash of ships in K-space, I just don’t need them.  But this frugal mentality will have to change.  Yesterday, within short notice, FC calls for Shield fleet, shield kiting fleet, armor fleet, guardians and DPS for both shield and armor.  Of course, I can fly everything (subcap) but I don’t own the sheer variety of boats that this crew needs.

Lots of ships need lots of ISK and for the first time in my EVE career I find myself slightly impoverished.  My play time is limited and I don’t really enjoy running PvE content, don’t know anything about industry and market trading and generally relied on PI income for ISK making.  PI is nice, passive but  capped ultimately by the number of planets one can own and run.  So, in desperation, I set up PI again on my alt crew in High Sec, hoping to eek out a little bit of money.  I also consolidated my carebear stuff and am starting to sell it.  Who needs 100 data cores?  I had them stockpiled if I ever go into industry, not happening: Sold.  However, I can already tell that this is not enough money to stock up on doctrine ships and replace the losses.  Until recently, I had a few Plex salted away but donated all of it to the recent charity drive.  Maybe I can sell those skins?

But back to PvP.  Last night, I log in and see my fleet moving around the map, asking for armor DPS.  I don’t yet have any DPS at all in the hole and opt to take an Arazu out – Damps are always welcome, right?  Well, maybe.  Hostiles jump in, our fleet engages and I focus my range damps on the hostile Logistics cruisers.  Skirmish is a draw, FC asks for “shield” and everyone reships.  Except me, I don’t have shield.  I stay in my Arazu for Round-2 and while my fleet maneuvers swiftly around the battlefield, I try to be clever, damping hostile Logi.  It sort of works, until hostiles are aware of my existence and en masse drop their drones on me.  I had screwed up, I drifted too close to the hostile fleet, I was too focused on getting into optimal range of the hostile logistics.  When I get yellowboxed, I am maybe 25km away from the nearest hostile Vexor Navy Issue and I am not aligned properly to warp off (I had done the warp-off maneuver before and it had worked).  Also, since I am not used to having friendly Logistics nearby, I simply forgot to call for reps, would have not helped much anyway since I am the one guy in a armor ship inside a shield fleet.  So, bad ship choice, dumb flying and generally not a good show from my side cost me my boat and dented my reputation.

The fight continues, I am literally out of ships now but I can’t just pack it in.  Instead, I am spooling up my Alt and get the Falcon going. This time, I am much more careful picking targets and am successfully jamming both hostile Logi and the FC-designated primary.  With drone boats, ECM isn’t all that useful but I felt that I needed to hone my skill in Recon flying after my Arazu had been toasted.

The fight peters out, my crew rolls the hole and I am licking my wounds. I feel thoroughly stupid after this unnecessary and totally self-inflicted loss but nobody openly blames me for killboard efficiency etc.  A new hole is found and eager to be useful, I do what I do best, jump into my Proteus and start scouting.

I am one of three or four experienced scouts and we quickly create a massive and meandering map of connections when find evidence of activity, various small PvP boats and probes on D-scan.  Normally, I’d take my time finding out what the story is but inside a 20 man fleet, I abandon caution and just scan the place down, finding the hole where activity happened.  I am not quite sure where my own guys are when hostile battleships start landing on and jumping through the hole I am watching.  At this point it is just me and another scout in our Proteus cloakies.  FC call for tackle on “all the things” and we do.  My scout buddy gets neuted nearly instantly and I get volleyed by something deep into Armor.  Since the T3C re-balance, Proteus Strategic cruisers are not the heavy tackle they used to be and while my DPS is decent, I am am no match against three battleships. I am bleeding deep armor and am literally out of cap, resigned to lose my second boat this night when all of a sudden my armor is restored and my cap is full.  My fleet arrived with Guardians saving my ass.  I surge forward with MWD overheated and grab the hostile ships again, close orbit and keep holding with scram and web until my fleet mates end them.  My crew had dispatched more ships on the other side of the hole, making this engagement a complete success for our team.  Nobody says anything, but I feel my pride is a little bit restored.  In the meantime, other scouts report activity elsewhere and the fleet races to new adventures.  I would have loved to stay but real life intervenes and I really need to log off so I bid my farewell to my crew and shut down for the night.

Lesson learned:

1. Bring many more ships to the hole, don’t improvise, even with FC’s “consent”.
2. Fly what is asked for or don’t fly.
3. Do what I am good at, scouting, tackling, bulldog-style.
4. Fly far more Recons since its fun and I feel I can become good at it.  Get ready to lose many.

Am loving it.