Sochicon – Part 1

Note. This is a continuation of my recent post where I described my aimless wanderings across WH space and ended up in an interesting C2.  

Well, so I am back in my C2 – it is interesting because it has more ships on D-scan than my overview holds.  All PvP ships, some Industrials but no T3 and no PvE ships other than a Drake.  Best thing, there is only one owner for all ships and he is online somewhere.  But where?

A quick scan reveals the static High Sec hole, a static C1 and a short stack of signatures and other stuff.  Oh, another C2.  Touring the neighborhood, I find nothing of interest and so I start making preparations for my overnight camp.  Safespots, bookmark directories etc.  Always prepared, the boyscout says after all.

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Of Bubbles and Bookmarks

My game time is reduced this month, RL stuff continues to interfere but while I tried a few other games that work with my changed schedule better (Skyrim, level 15 !) and FarCry 3 (a lot of fun), I keep coming back to EVE. Other games may have as deep and complicated mechanics as EVE, they somehow feel “empty”.  I need MMOs.

So, the other day, I log into our C4 when Studley reports activity in a C5 2 holes over.  Generally, we leave C5s alone, by the sheer nature of wormhole life, C5s are run by larger corporations but that doesn’t mean that they are more active or populated by only hardcore PvP players.  Quite a few of them take in the odd newb, give them a miner and let them farm Ore for ISK in more safety than High Sec – given that C5s have only one static that is easily watched.  Or not watched.

Studley reports a Covetor and an Orca in Ore field, happily pounding on some rocks.  The Covetor is understandable – it has mining lasers, the Orca – not so much.  It serves as a mobile depot and maybe as can-tractor but having an Orca float anywhere in New Eden is asking for trouble.  They are too damn slow to escape anything.

Unfortunately, Studley’s ship doesn’t have a point and I am assuming that the Orca has many.  It doesn’t have to target anything, so its likely that it has warp stabs up the wazoo making it impossible to pin down with my 2 points on the Proteus.  (Note to self, must get faction point).  To boot, Studley’s RL is kicking in and he gives the 10min warning before he encounters, divorce, dismemberment and other capital punishments.  So, we have to do this fast.  An Orca is a tough nut we need dps more than anything – we can’t afford to hang in space and peck on him forever – his team mates will eventually log in and counter blob us. I am swapping into someone’s Onyx (ty, CCP for not introducing personal SMAs!) which has pitiful DPS but at least I won’t have to worry about pointing anything. My alt is about to swap into a Manticore, the idea being that I can hold down the ships and Studely and my alt pound the snot out of them fast.  All this while I still think this is a trap. Orcas don’t float in space like that.

Fortuitously, my jabber ping results in 3 crew mates to log in, Epic, our newest recruit with a stealthbomber, Oreamnos, fearsome leader of our alliance in his signature cloaky Loki supporting Studley in the C5 and Drag, an old pirate hand bringing in an Omen Navy Issue. With this much firepower, my alt stays in his Falcon and nestles up to the C3-C5 hole, he will only see action if something very bad happens.

Studley has to log but leaves bookmarks for each target ship.  Orea takes over scout duty, the decision is that he drops onto the Covetor and I put a bubble onto the Orca.  This should hold everything down for Epic and Drag to pound into dust.

Warp commands are given, timing is near perfect (never realized just how friggin slow a Onyx is) and we land on grid together.  Orea’s warp in was 100% , he lands on top of the Covetor and locks him at 0km range.  Drag and I warped to the Orca bookmark and find it 35 km off where the Orca actually is – not even close to bubble range.  I assume that the BM was perfect but the Orca moved for some reason during the transition between Studley having to log off and Orea taking point as scout.  I have no prop mod on this Onyx, so “burning” is the wrong expression.  I slowly crawl to the Orca, hoping to be able to cross the 17km to catch him with the edge of my bubble. Epic and Drag are already pounding on him, but neither is close enough to pin him either.

The Covetor blows up, his pod is corpsified swiftly, he too was way out of my bubble range but that was expected. I see the Orca aligning and warping off – a sad, sad moment.

So, what could have gone better?  Firstly, never rely on bookmarks. Have the scout tackle the more important ship.  Orea should have been my warp in for the Orca, let Drag drop onto the Covetor and pin him down.  If he manages to warp off, oh well.  In addition, I noticed that my borrowed Onyx had a script in his cargo hold.  When I realized that I will never make it into bubble range, could I have re-scripted and infinity-pointed the Orca at range?  Probably yes, if I had been more experienced.  But instead I focused on executing the plan and wasn’t able to adapt.  That happens but it irks me a little…

The best thing though, fly with friends, stalk and drop on someone get a kill (well, I didn’t but the corp did), then leave the field with all ships intact.  The last one was a bonus and unexpected.

A good night out!

The Sleepover – Part 2

My RL is pretty busy right and now and I don’t get to play / blog much.  Its not that I am taking a real break, its just all a little slower.  All PI is turned off, recruitment is handled very competently by Skip and I enjoy the relative freedom to log in and just hang out, chat with friends and experiment with ships (I bought an Ishkur, great fun!).  But WH stalking is still my favorite pastime and at some point,  “borrowed” our CEO’s bomber (thank you), refitted it to my liking, packed a few hundred torpedoes and went onto an adventure, starting in a C6 that had opened up to us.  I really wanted to see if I could drop a Noctis full of C6 sleeper loot after my last attempt had failed due to the irritating competence of the opposing team…

no love among the pilots

Its late when I log in and my corp has thoroughly cleared the neighborhood of sleepers filling coffers, expending missiles and in the process scanned down our adjacent hole.  All is explored except a single C2 which has a mass critical connection, means any boat that jumps through it may find the wormhole collapse on them and their way home shut.  Of course, I can’t resist to stick my head through, after all, this goes both ways, the hunters don’t like the hole because it closes their way home, the hunted often feel safe behind a mass critical hole for the same reason.  This specific hole even says that collapse is imminent.   My bomber is equipped with a probe launcher so, in I go.  The hole flares and I find myself in D-scan range of two miners and a jet can.  Ohh….

The Heist

Our  Academy is situated in a C2 class space which is often riddled with wormholes like old Swiss cheese.  So, on the weekend, we had a C1 connecting to us via K162 which in turn had a static high security hole.  I don’t know why people want to live in holes like this as they offer maximum risk (constant influx of bloodthirsty day trippers) and very little reward (worthless sleeper sites).  But people do live in it, often in spectacularly defended POS-es to protect themselves against invaders.

Example of a bubbled up POS.