Bubbled and in Trouble

“So you got caught in EC-P8R again coming from Torrinos? You nearly died there last time, why didn’t you go around?” Starstepper looked sheepish and admitted that he had underestimated the risk and proceeded to tell Starwalker the full story of getting bubbled and in trouble with a Myrmidon.

Long after Starstepper had left Starwalker considered the new information. He had assumed that the bubbles would work against ships without warp core stabilisers but now he also knew they worked against stabilized ships as well. Starstepper had four warp core stabilisers fitted but could not jump immediately after entering the bubble, nor could his pod jump and that too had been destroyed.

Kaeda Maxwell had also shown Starwalker that bubbles are usually placed on the line between gates either just before the destination gate or behind it.  Of course, they could be anywhere but were typically placed to catch any traffic between gates. In the demonstration, it was 100km behind the gate and when Starwalker warped to zero on that gate he was pulled into the bubble.

But it only worked based on the alignment between start point (typically a gate), end point (typically a gate) and bubble (up to 100km from gate). So if the warp to zero was from a different gate or via a celestial object then it was likely to not catch anything.

When moving around in null-sec, especially to gates in entry point systems it would pay to be very cautious and not warp gate to gate if someone else was in system.  Jumping into a bubble from the gate like from Torrinos to EC-P8R can not be avoided as you cannot see or scan the other side of the gate. This leaves only two options: burn to safety if possible or go around.

Starwalker had told Starstepper to try again and go via Saranen rather than Torrinos. It was a low-sec route but was much less likely to be camped. Starwalker also noted that the route planner could set Torrinos as a system to avoid. Nice feature and would be used in future.

First Null-Sec Roam Ends Badly

Kaeda Maxwell (Jaguar) and Starwalker (Hookbill) set off to roam around and see what trouble they could get into. They started in Pure Blind but were soon into Cloud Ring and then the Outer Ring.

A Rifter appeared briefly on gate and Kaeda instructed Starwalker to jump through the gate and potentially catch the Rifter on the other side. The Rifter duly came through but Starwalker had not de-cloaked yet and the targeting failed. Starwalker tried to de-cloak but it was too late, the Rifter was gone.

The roam continued and Kaeda decided that they would head to the End of the Universe – A2V6-6. It seemed like the entire pipe, that was apparently popular with ratters and those improving their security status, was largely empty. Although, strangely, there was an abandoned Velator near the YVA-F0 gate – so they ended its existence with a couple of bursts of rocket fire. Starwalker went to jump through the gate but the aggression timer was active and so they waited for the timer to expire.

Heading back down the pipe, they went into Fountain and flirted with the odd potential target like a Tengu but it amounted to nothing. It looked like they would get no action and so they headed back to Pure Blind. Then a few jumps from the end a Cynabal landed with Starwalker on the gate. The targeting failed as it simply jumped through but Kaeda was on the other side.

Starwalker jumped through and Kaeda commanded: “Burn back to the gate and hold”. The Cynabal decided it was going to fight as it targeted Starwalker’s Hookbill and opened fire. Kaeda engaged it with the Jaguar and a Hurricane and Tornado jumped through. The situation had just changed and Starwalker asked: “Shall we jump?” Kaeda understood it as warp away and noted “…I am pointed” but Starwalker had meant jump through the gate. First mistake, he had forgotten gate mechanics.

In the confusion, Starwalker thought he had heard “yes… I am pointed” or effectively get away, I will follow you or try to warp away. So Starwalker jumped. Second mistake, he did not independently assess the situation, just waited for a command.

As soon as Starwalker jumped he realized that Kaeda could not jump through the gate because of the aggression timer. And almost simultaneously, that the three ships on the other side meant that Kaeda’s Jaguar would not escape. Starwalker was on the wrong side of the gate - “Shall I jump back?” But Kaeda was too busy trying to burn down the Cynabal to respond and so Starwalker burnt back to the gate and jumped. Third mistake, it was too late to fight now.

No Jaguar, no fight, just the Cynabal, Hurricane and Tornado. It was over. Starwalker warped to the next gate. He was disappointed in himself for having left a Rebel to fight alone and that he had jumped. It didn’t matter whether he thought Kaeda was telling him to escape - he should have stayed. Fortunately, Kaeda was disappointed but philosophical about the Jaguar loss.

The reason Starwalker should have stayed was because he agreed with Kaeda’s assessment. There was a chance to take down the Cynabal, even with the two battlecruisers present. The Jaguar alone could not take down the Cynabal but the Jaguar and Hookbill had a real chance. Of course, they would die in the process but it would be a good exchange and worth trying to kill the Cynabal.

If the fight was simply lost and there was no chance that the Cynabal would go down THEN it would have been reasonable to escape. Instead, it was an opportunity missed because Starwalker also thought they could kill the Cynabal.

It was for that reason that Starwalker was disappointed and why for him the first Null-Sec roam had ended badly. However, every cloud has a silver lining and a couple of good lessons were learnt:

• Assess the situation and decide whether to fight or not yourself, especially if the situation calls for potentially sacrificing your ship
• Fighting on gates requires knowing gate mechanics, whether you will be fired on or not and when you can use them or not

Stilletto Tackles for Gang on Arzad Gate

Starwalker prepared to set off again for Pure Blind after his previous attempt ended in being podded in 93PI-4. Another new Rifter was pulled into service, the last from this station, and the journey started.

It started uneventful and Starwalker started to read the EVE News as the jumps blurred into one another. Then arriving at a star gate there was a Stilletto, a well-known interceptor ship, providing tackle for a gang. Starwalker jumped through to Arzad and the Stilletto followed, piloted by Wynning Blodtann.

Starwalker waited, holding cloak, as there was nothing else on the other side except for the Stilletto but just maybe the Stilletto was on its way elsewhere. It was not flashy red so Starwalker was not about to attack it. If it was part of a gang then no doubt the gang was inbound.

Starwalker attempted to warp away and the Stilletto engaged, establishing a fast scramble. Starwalker did not hesitate and went for the Stilletto, if he was going down he wanted to take the Stilletto with him.

The Stilletto quickly entered armour and started to burn away looking for escape, the rest of its gang hadn’t arrived yet and was taking longer than expected. Starwalker chased the Stilletto and overheated the mid-slots but the Stilletto was too fast and moved out to around 20km as his friends arrived.

Starwalker started to burn towards the gate as the gang was starting to engage at range. A Thrasher tried to establish a point as the Stilletto came back in and damage was starting to arrive from the Thrasher’s 250mm artillery and jjohnpaul’s CN Scourge heavy missiles. Zenton Karvash’s Tachyon Beam Lasers were missing and that might have made the difference as Starwalker’s Rifter entered deep armour damage.

Starwalker starting firing at the Stilletto again and it entered structured but Starwalker had forgotten to reapply scramble and the Stilletto warped away in deep structure. However, it was the Stilletto that had Starwalker’s Rifter scrambled and as he warped away Starwalker was also able to warp away trailing fire. He had escaped! Starwalker was pleased at how well his “heavy tank” Rifter had performed under fire.

Very soon Starwalker was continuing his journey after applying copious amounts of nanite paste to the badly overheated modules. Fortunately, the rest of the journey was uneventful as Starwalker chose to dock up before entering Pure Blind and then entered cautiously at a quiet time.

Starwalker made his way to the Pure Blind station that had his Caldari Navy Hookbills, delivered by Starstepper. Starstepper had narrowly avoided destruction from gate camps in EC-P8R from Torrinos whilst Starwalker was doing the tourist thing in New Eden.

The Hookbill, a new ship for Starwalker and one that he was looking forward to flying – its sleek black lines would look good in flames.

Impatience and Laziness Leads to Loss

Starwalker was a long way from Pure Blind. He was on his way to meet up with various Rebels but it was a long, long way from the usual haunts. A long trip coupled with his natural inclination towards impatience and laziness was not a good combination. It was almost inevitable that this impatience and laziness would lead to a loss.

It was Starwalker’s first time in null-sec space and he had read about the bubbles that can trap ships like a giant web but now he had a chance to experience it. The impatient “jump” from 93PI-4 to G-M418 started off as normal but as the star gate approached so did the bubble that looked like the force field around a POS.

The Rifter’s speed dropped and Starwalker did what seemed sensible but was probably wrong – burnt towards the gate with the module being overheated. That might have worked given enough time but of course the waiting Daredevil was ready to pounce and quickly closed to around 700m. Starwalker reacted and in the excitement of hitting various commands, like turning on damage control, the shoot command was lost.

Eventually, Starwalker realized he was not shooting and tried to shoot back. The Daredevil shields disappeared quickly but the Rifter was entering structure. Starwalker looked to escape with the pod but was simply too slow. The Rifter burst into a million pieces and before the pod could make an exit it too was caught and Starwalker was back in his clone vat. Strangely, he was now further away from Pure Blind than when the journey started.

It was a painful loss of nearly ISK 80 million in implants but as Starwalker emerged from the clone vat he fitted another set of nearly ISK 80 million implants and upgraded the clone. That was an expensive lesson, however, lesson learnt - patience is important, especially going from gate to gate in null-sec.