Close Encounters of the Fight Kind

The message was short and sweet - new Rifter is ready. Starwalker stepped out to the balcony to be greeted by the beautiful lines of the Rifter floating in the space station dock. The symmetry of the ship design blended seamlessly with the armaments and the autocannons looked ready to spit fire and death. This was a ship that demanded to be flown to the edge, beyond it and back. It was time to take it on its maiden flight.

Old Man Star beckoned and the call was answered. Starwalker’s Rifter jumped into system and darted to an asteroid belt. The directional scanner started listing the ships in system and the usual array of assault frigates and battlecruisers populated the list. Starwalker headed to the next belt, checking the console and sound of the engines everything looked and sounded good. Time to check what this baby could really do, afterburners on and the Rifter accelerated. The speed climbed smoothly to over 1000m/s as the Rifter tore along the line of the belt.

Quick check of d-scan and nothing, hold on a moment – a crow and gaining fast. It was a micro warp drive fit and only 38km away. Starwalker did not hesitate; he immediately banked towards the nearest stargate and hit the warp button. The crow, piloted by Volos, would no doubt be fit for a range fight and Starwalker was fit for in-close combat. He also knew that his dogfighting skills were simply inadequate at the moment to be able to get in close unless he got lucky. But it was too late. The crow had closed the distance in the time it took to realign and had locked incredibly quickly and applied the warp disruptor.

Bloodclaw light missiles slammed into the shields and Starwalker immediately applied the lock and tried to scramble but the crow was around 16km away and out of range, including of the autocannons. Starwalker approached the crow to try and get in close and apply some hurt but the crow was moving away again fast. It was surprising as the Rifter was going to be in trouble but the reason became obvious a Claymore had arrived on the scene. Starwalker aligned and warped before the Claymore could get a lock, even though it landed only 3km away.

A couple of close encounters but the Rifter was still intact. Burn marks and a few dents now adorned the ship but no doubt it would acquire more of those before it too became a fireball and died in a blaze of glory.

Core Ship Skills

In Close but no Kill Starwalker noted that his Drake was barely fit for purpose. This battlecruiser had seen action for mission running and got the job done but against live targets it was only adequate at best. Its tank and gank was simply too low. Similarly, Starwalker noted that the Rifters are much better currently because more of the relevant pilot skills are trained to a higher level and more ships are properly fit for purpose. Last but not least, the frigates are far more expendable than battlecruisers because of the ISK replacement cost.

Starwalker moved to the Neocom console in his Captain’s Quarters and checked his ISK balance, less than 10 million. It would be some time before there was enough ISK to have a fleet of expendable battlecruisers. As Starwalker sat there contemplating the future and sipping some Quafe he decided that waiting a while was not necessarily a bad thing as there were many skills to be acquired too.

Thinking about that further Starwalker listed some of the core ship skills that needed to be maximised to Level 5 and applied to any ship and added them to his training plan:

·         Electronics – 5% bonus to CPU for each level

·         Engineering – 5% bonus to Power Grid for each level

·         Energy Management – 5% bonus to Capacitor Capacity for each level

·         Shield Management – 5% bonus to Shield Capacity for each level

·         Hull Upgrades – 5% bonus to Armour Hitpoints for each level

·         Mechanic – 5% bonus to Structure Hitpoints for each level

·         Navigation – 5% bonus to Speed for each level

·         Evasive Manoeuvring – 5% bonus to Agility for each level

Learning other electronic, engineering, navigation or mechanic skills would be dependent on ship or type of fit and typically add improvements (Repair Systems...) or make something easier to fit (Weapon Upgrades...). Starwalker did a quick calculation and realised that to complete the skill training of even this short list would take around two months. What would be the best way to do this learning and include the other keys skills for gank and tank?

That was a question for another day, it was getting late and looking at this would take some time to come up with an answer.

Encountered a POS

Starwalker wandered through various lowsec systems looking for an inviting target. Old Man Star had the usual array of assault frigates and battlecruisers and so his Rifter jumped through to Ladister in search of prey rather than being the prey.

In Aeschee there was only one other in local, an Iteron Mark IV, which seemed interesting and Starwalker set about finding it with the directional scanner. It was soon obvious that the Iteron Mark IV was not at a celestial. A quick change to a probe allowed the Iteron to be probed down and bookmarked. Now, time to switch back to the Rifter to warp in for the kill. This was looking good and should be an easy kill.

The round trip journey seemed very slow and the only concern that dampened the excitement was that the Iteron would simply have moved on. Finally, back in Aeschee, warp to bookmark, now only a few more seconds to go...

Starwalker hoped to find the Iteron Mark IV sitting in a safe spot with the pilot asleep at the controls or similar. Unfortunately the Rifter dropped out of warp to a giant bubble and the POS (Player Owned Structure) was active with online defences. Within seconds the POS guns opened fire and the Rifter had to leave straightaway with the shields already down to 25%.

What an anti-climax and disappointment. Starwalker thought the POS encounter was very unfriendly and not what he wanted to find but then again he had hoped to find the Iteron unattended when he could be unfriendly. So, no real complaint! J

Close but no Kill

The recent war declaration against World Forge Industries resulted in additional activity from R1FTA Rebels to find some targets. World Forge Industries had their own ideas about the war and implemented a strategy to:

·         Provide no easy kills to R1FTA

·         Restrict movement by individual ships

·         Only mine in one system

·         Active security force

The security force was camped in Arant but was largely ineffective as Rebels searched out targets elsewhere and found them. Starwalker, Zodiac Black and Duke Thunderhorse found targets around Uedama and both of them managed to get a kill but Starwalker was disappointed to miss out. He was close by but got no kill, arriving just too late on both occasions. Shame.

It looked like a fight was brewing with the security force in Villore and their leader was in a Machariel battleship. It was decided that a swarm of Rifters would be great fun but might be too slow to get the kill before the arrival of more security force members. So, a few Rebels decided to get into their battlecruisers. Starwalker dusted off his Drake but realised that the damage (per second) dealing was low, only around 250 DPS. However, the Drake was added to the pot with the intent to primary the Machariel and see whether it could be brought down.

Trying to get eyes and a warp in point on the Machariel was problematic and before the problem was solved it docked, leaving its wing man, another Drake, alone. Attention shifted to the Drake and a couple of Rebels warped in for the tackle. Starwalker, feeling the excitement thought the order to engage had been given and arrived on site – too early. The tackle was not properly in place and the war target simply decided to dock and it was all over with no kill. Rebels circled the station menacingly for a while but it was clear that the security force were not intending to come out and engage. Time to dock up and get some shut eye.

Logistics: Hauler Alt

There are a number of guides available for creating a hauler alt. Starwalker now has a Minmatar clone called Starstepper. This decision was based on one of those guides recommending the Mammoth, which only required training to level IV. Gallente ships would offer a larger hauling capacity with the Iteron Mark V but also a longer training time to get there.

Starstepper did a neural remap to emphasise Perception and Willpower – the two key attributes to reduce training time for Industrial IV and completed the training:

·         Minmatar Frigate III, a pre-requisite for Minmatar Industrial

·         Hull Upgrades II, to fit four: Expanded Cargohold II

·         Minmatar Industrial IV, to fly the Mammoth

Starstepper will be able to complete any buying and hauling operations in hisec if Starwalker is restricted to lowsec, at least until battleships need to be purchased and moved.

Another Rifter becomes a Fireball

Starwalker was cruising an asteroid belt looking for trouble and it found him this time. The annoying rattle on the right was still there but maybe it would last one more fight. A Myrmidon battlecruiser had seen Starwalker's little Rifter in the belt and it had gone red but taking on a battlecruiser was a little ambitious in a frigate.

No guts no glory. Starwalker moved into orbit, opened fire and pointed the battlecruiser piloted by DeathScythe3. It started well but the Myrmidon released its flight of Warrior II drones. The warriors rushed in and started to apply the pain. The Myrmidon was starting into armour but even though the warriors missed regularly they also hit regularly and the shields were nearly gone. In a shield Rifter that is not good.

Starwalker decided it was time to leave and hit the warp button – to no effect. Halfway into armour Starwalker hit the warp button again, now desperate to escape but there was no escape and Starwalker's trusty little Rifter became a fireball (http://r1fta.killmail.org/?a=kill_detail&kll_id=10071447). The Myrmidon was clearly also out hunting and had found its prey.

Starwalker warped his pod out and back to base and on the long trip home considered what he had learnt:

·         Check the pilot's killboard before engaging. This would have shown the pilot had lost many ships but also killed a few, so very likely to be setup for PvP. This would probably have been enough information to decide to not attack a battlecruiser in a frigate

·         Once engaged, kill any drones fast. It was the drones that were really applying the pain and Starwalker left it too late to start attacking them.

Starwalker's final thought – no need to worry about the rattle on the Rifter's right anymore

Celestis Cruiser Kill

The Rifter banked smoothly around the asteroid belt and shot forward as the warp drive kicked in. A strange rattling noise emanated from the right side and Starwalker looked at the control panel for any sign of fault. Nothing showed but then again it seemed like only half the controls were working at all. A mental note was made to actually pay for real repairs and replace some of the duct tape with real nano welded plates.

The Rifter dropped out of warp to find a Celestis cruiser dealing with some pirates and Starwalker decided to help... himself to the loot. After all, the pilot – Kevin Bois – was too busy shooting pirates and collecting the loot would save him the trouble. The first two wrecks gave up some trinkets and Starwalker decided to say “Hello” by targeting and orbiting the Celestis at 600m. The Celestis targeted the Rifter – hello! So Starwalker waited expectantly for the Celestis to open fire. Nothing happened. Starwalker waited longer but still nothing, perhaps the Rifter was too close?

The last wreck was some 20km away so Starwalker decided to tempt the Celestis by getting further away and so headed to the wreck to collect the remaining loot. The Celestis opened fire just as the loot was taken and so it turned red – the fight was on. Starwalker checked the damage report and noticed that the excellent hit had done virtually nothing to the shields, so it was time to move in for the kill. The Rifter sped back towards the Celestis, manually piloted to just one side, to have at least some traversal velocity. Quickly the distance closed and Starwalker applied the lock, guns and scramble as the Rifter settled into orbit with the afterburner going.

It was clear very quickly that the Celestis really wasn’t doing any damage and was going to go down. The Rifter circled its victim with guns blazing away and rockets slamming into the cruiser and the little red bars went through shield, armour and structure. The Celestis exploded (http://r1fta.killmail.org/?a=kill_detail&kll_id=10057191). Starwalker looked through the cruiser wreckage and noted the slim pickings, perhaps the repairs would have to be done later.

It was also obvious why the cruiser had done so little damage – the high slots had a railgun, miner, salvager and missile launcher. This ship fit was a classic case of trying to create a general purpose fit that is consequently no good at anything. Starwalker made a mental note to not repeat that mistake and always to fit for a specific purpose.

Party in Poinen

The Prey in Poinen had given a good fight and the Rebels chatted in local still warm from the glow of victory. Tomba came on in chat very disappointed that he had missed the fun through real life commitments, especially as he was one of the first to see Pain in Poinen. He was eager to rejoin the fleet just in case there was any more action. He got lucky - it wasn’t over.

A Maller cruiser suddenly appeared at the stargate and Starwalker was so surprised that he accidently hit the jumped through the gate rather than approaching the Maller. That mistake was quickly rectified and the battle was on as lock, scramble and guns were applied. The call went to other rebels that the Maller, piloted by Doktor Farlig, was pointed. Surely Doktor Farlig was running out of ships lose?

As Rebels arrived on the scene so did two Ravens piloted by Imperial Damnation and uneX86. These same guys were back again for round two – they really were gluttons for punishment! It wasn’t long before the Maller exploded (http://r1fta.killmail.org/?a=kill_detail&kll_id=10045425). Starwalker was 50km from the two Ravens and started to burn towards them, quickly closing the distance. Lock, fire and scramble.

The Rebels focused fire on uneX86 and before long his Raven was history (http://r1fta.killmail.org/?a=kill_detail&kll_id=10045424). (The sweet detail on that was Starwalker’s Rifter got the killing blow – a frigate downs a battleship!) Rebel attention turned to the second Raven piloted by Imperial Damnation and it was clear that it would not have much longer in this life. It sent out a desperate distress signal and... it was answered. Doktor Farlig was back in the fight again in yet another ship, this time a harbinger. Some people just don’t know when to give up! J

Despite the arrival of the Harbinger the end of the Raven was inevitable and it duly obliged with another set of fireworks (http://r1fta.killmail.org/?a=kill_detail&kll_id=10045423) lighting up the sky. The harbinger couldn’t possibly survive the onslaught alone and it too succumbed (http://r1fta.killmail.org/?a=kill_detail&kll_id=10045422).

It was finally over and much respect to Space Jumpers who brought the fight to the Rebels and kept coming back for more, although it was not the most intelligent decision! J

Prey in Poinen

Starwalker and Zodiac Black were joined by Miura Bull, Drago Issier and ArkReaper in Nomaa. The only contact so far had been with a Ferox but it was suspected that the pilots of Space Jumpers would elect for battlecruisers or similar sized ships. So Miura Bull transferred to a Myrmidon, Drago came in a Megathron and ArkReaper in a Hurricane.

Starwalker and Drago entered Poinen to look around and Starwalker found two pilots (uneX86 and Imperial Damnation) in dock. Suddenly as Starwalker undocked there was a call that a fight was breaking out on the gate to Nomaa and he raced to the scene. It was chaos with Rebels and Space Jumpers firing at each other furiously.

The nearest target was a Prophecy battlecruiser piloted by Doktor Farlig and the Rifter sped into action with autocannons blazing away and scramble applied. Imperial Damnation had also undocked and was flying in a Raven battleship, which targeted Starwalker with his HammerHead II drones. The drones were not very effective but the Prophecy was going down very slowly and the Rifter’s shields started to drop as the drones continued to attack. Eventually, after what seemed an age the prophecy exploded (http://r1fta.killmail.org/?a=kill_detail&kll_id=10045283) and Starwalker wasted no time - locking and scrambling uneX86’s Ferox battlecruiser.

Starwalker’s Rifter was now taking serious damage as Hornet II and Valkrie drones also tried to apply some hurt. The Ferox had already taken a lot of damage so the Rifter carried on firing away as the shields dropped further waiting to see the Ferox go down. But it was starting to get close, the shields had nearly gone. The Ferox gave a last gasp and then burst into flames (http://r1fta.killmail.org/?a=kill_detail&kll_id=10045269) and Starwalker warped away with just a sliver of shield remaining, to let the shields regenerate before re-engaging.

Starwalker waited for what seemed an age as the fight continued and the shields slowly, very slowly regenerated. When the shields were up to 75% he could wait no longer and warped back in to the battle. Space Jumpers still had two Ravens and a Drake battlecruiser engaging the rebels. Starwalker moved in for the kill, locking, scrambling and firing on the Drake, piloted by... uneX86. He had lost the Ferox and had now come back in another ship! He must be a glutton for punishment.

Starwalker’s Rifter was soon taking damage again from the drones and but he wanted to see the kill, to see the Drake become a fireball. The shields soon dropped again to 5% and the Rifter’s armour and structure would offer no real resistance, he had to leave now. But the Drake was also getting close, maybe just a little longer, just another few seconds. No, the Rifter had to go the armour was already 25% gone so warp was engaged. But, just as the Rifter started to warp away, the Drake lit up the heavens like a firework (http://r1fta.killmail.org/?a=kill_detail&kll_id=10045272) and a nearby Raven joined the Drake in providing the light show for the locals. The last Raven decided it was time to bug out and the Rebels had emerged victorious.

Pain in Poinen

Starwalker had been stalking the heavens rather unsuccessfully with the Rifter, finding few targets but many heavy assault cruisers and battlecruisers out hunting. Taking on a cruiser would be far too ambitious in lowsec and very dicey in hisec. Whilst out and about another Rebel noted that some war targets were giving him some smack talk in Poinen – time to bring the pain!

Starwalker collected more ammunition and started the trek to Poinen. Intelligence was showing that five targets had gathered in Poinen and so the discussion turned to how to divide and conquer. It was at that moment that Starwalker noticed a single target in Nomaa, just outside Poinen - the101ace was flying a Ferox (Battlecruiser) but he docked up. By now three Rebels were on location all in Rifters and it was agreed to go for the Ferox and to watch each of the three gates: Geras, Saisio and Poinen.

Suddenly Tomba called point and that the101ace had jumped into Poinen. Starwalker and Zodiac Black quickly arrived on scene but Tomba was close to done and was soon destroyed (http://r1fta.killmail.org/?a=kill_detail&kll_id=10044683). The Ferox then turned its 250mm guns on to Starwalker and with the flight of Hobgoblins I the shields were being decimated by all of the fire. So Starwalker decided it was time to leave as soon he would have no ship. Zodiac also disengaged as not only was he outgunned but now only two rebels were sharing a system with six war targets. There was prey in Poinen and they would fight. It was time to call for reinforcements... and the call was answered.