Sunday 29 August 2010

From an Honest Beginning...

I've seen a few other pilots do this themselves and I think it's a nice thing to add to my blog, partly for my own happiness to have it archived here for as long as I need it and also to allow you guys to see what kind of applications evil pirates like me put up. Yes, I was a kiss ass. I have a rather hilarious audio file to add to this, recorded by our very own ex-Tuskers Don Pellegrino, although I am an internet n00b and thus have not figured out how to get the audio file on my blog yet. As soon as I do, it will be attached to a random post of my choosing!

1. Your real-life age and country of residence (include timezone).

19 years of age, university student studying English Literature. Currently residing in the United Kingdom (GMT+0)

2. Why do you want to join the Tuskers?

After initially joining Eve and putting it down after a month or so of play, I came back to the game sometime late September, determined to give it my all before making a final decision. I quickly joined up to a player corporation, who whilst full of wonderful guys who helped me learn the ways of New Eden, they were unfortunately part of a NRDS alliance. Initially it wasn't a bother but the more I flew as one of them, the restrictive nature of NRDS took it's toll upon me, forcing my leave.

After some soul searching I decided to teach myself how to fight before concreting myself in another player corp. I stumbled upon Wensley's Rifter guide and began to learn the finer art of pvp over the coming months. I've often sat and chatted with you all in your public channel, I've been killed and tried to kill many of your members and I genuinely know that I could fit in perfectly. Now finally beginning to feel like I might be of use within the corp, I am applying as a means to find myself a new home. I admire the way you all conduct yourselves and would love nothing more than to share my love of piracy with other like-minded individuals. 

3.Tell us about your previous EVE and other MMORPG experience, if any, including any leadership roles you may have held.
Whilst this may be slightly off-centre for what you are looking for, I played Final Fantasy XI for an extended period of time before coming to Eve. The reason I am telling you this, is due to the nature of that game itself. The necessity placed upon teamwork is insurmountable, and playing a white mage as I did, I learned the value of staying alive and working in an efficient way towards a common goal, all the while looking after those I am fighting alongside. After my long time there, I moved to Eve.

Within Eve, I've had the majority of my experience revolve around pvp. I flew in low security and 0.0 very often with my old alliance REAL, learning the ways of interceptor craft and scouting. I have ample experience at avoiding harm whilst travelling and am confident in my scouting abilities and hope they may be of help. I also gained some experience in FCing during my time in the alliance, though it was only in small 4-5 pilot squads. Whilst FCing I really got to grips with quick on the fly decision making when I was placed with the lives of others in my care, knowing when to fight and when to run is a valuable asset, something that I feel I have put to good use when flying solo. After leaving, I have honed my skills as a solo pilot, flying frigates for the most part. I value the men in my fleet more than anything and actively enjoy working as a team in achieving the impossible.

4. Declare your willingness to abide by the Tusker Code. (Please don't let's call ourselves "honorable;" that's a term that means different things to different people.)

I understand and will abide by the Tusker Code.

5. You must have a minimum of 5 million skillpoints.

I currently have around 6,500,00SP, I have less SP than my character's lifespan would suggest, due to the absence I took from initially getting into the game, to the time that I got completely engrossed in Eve around September.

6. Successful PvP is more about pilot attitude than SP; skillpoints provide a measure of flexibility to a pilot’s tactics. The Tuskers require recruits to document five solo kills (link to the kills at a killboard such as BattleClinic), including two kills above the candidate’s ship class. We don’t care if you’re a grizzled PvP veteran, a reformed carebear who’s accumulated your kills over time, or if you’re a young pilot just able to fly T1 frigates. (Rookie pilots can read this thread for suggestions on how to rack up the required solo kills, and visit Tusker Academy for more help.) Please be sure you can point us to all five of these kills before posting your application.

http://eve.battleclinic.com/killboard/k ... id=8886704

http://eve.battleclinic.com/killboard/k ... id=8896227

The two next kills I hope qualify as above hull class kills, these are perhaps my two favourite kills due to the intensity of the fights. 
http://eve.battleclinic.com/killboard/k ... id=8887307

http://eve.battleclinic.com/killboard/k ... id=8966076

This is the kill that has helped me feel ready for the Tuskers. My maiden flight in a Jaguar, a ship I have wished to fly for a long time. 
http://eve.battleclinic.com/killboard/k ... id=9536113

7. Two-way voice communication is essential for successful gang combat. Currently, Ventrilo is working best for the Tuskers, but all our pilots must be willing and able to use Teamspeak or EVE Voice if future circumstances demand. These programs are free to download and install. You will not be admitted to the corporation if you do not have a functional microphone and speakers--please indicate that you have them.

I have a microphone, speakers and both Ventrilo/Teamspeak installed and in fully working order.

8. Candidates must not be alts of other active characters. You may have a trader alt or a mission-runner alt, but they may not be a member of any other player corporation without permission.

I have only one character, namely Kishin Hattori. I have purposefully kept the only character, as I feel that if I want anybody to know who I am within New Eden, it will be as Kishin. I am planning to try and fund my life as a pirate and remain as the one character, but will of course make a transport alt if I cannot maintain the life. Kishin is and will always be who I am within Eve.

9. We need the Full Access API Key (the "strong" rather than "limited" one) and User ID for all accounts you own. This allows us to extract information from your skills and wallet which helps to detect ISK-buyers and unacknowledged alts. Provide us with the name of one character from any additional accounts you may own; once you have posted your application, we will provide you with a URL where you may enter the required API information.

I am prepared to supply my full API Key upon request.


Thank you for your consideration of this application in advance, Take care.




Saturday 28 August 2010

Assault Frigate Tournament

Suleiman Shouaa from the Tuskers is organizing an Assault Frigate Tournament for the 18th September. Anyone who wishes to join us in the fight are welcome and details can be found in full here at Sulei's blog.

I have some other posts in the pipeline and they'll be out shortly, I've not been flying a great deal recently unfortunately but hopefully that will change and I can get back into the life of pirating.

Wednesday 18 August 2010

I Started Something I Couldn't Finish

During my earlier days I would sit in Tusker Ventrilo listening in as my corp mates would bring down gangs twice their size, effortlessly kiting and pulling apart fleets and grabbing the kills before dashing off into the night. The two most prominent figures that stand in my mind when I think about this type of flying would be Proxyyyy and Suleiman Shouaa. Shortly before Proxyyyy actually took a break I decided to discuss this aspect of pvp that seemed an impossibility to me, both limited by my ship type and skill as a pilot. It's been on my mind since then and I think I have finally made my first foray into conquering the notorious blob.

My past week of piracy has been a painfully slow one with barely a kill coming my way most days, I've had a few nice fights here and there but otherwise very little has happened. This has caused me to move out further afield in an effort to antagonize the inhabitants of low sec. Most commonly I've been travelling to Amamake in Rifters as a means of getting some interesting engagements but today I figured that I would take out my Dramiel to see what I could get done. My pilgrimage gathered quite a crowd and before long we were a 5 man strong fleet rag-tagging our way into the heart of the Minmatar Militia's home. One awesome looking Legion (that was sat on a station) later and we arrived in Tararan. Novantco found a Thrasher sat at a planet and we went in for the gank. As we begin it was clear that this was a trap so we took the Thrasher out and awaited what would come. Two Jaguars! We cheered and the fleet went to work in blissful ignorance... Stabber, Caracal, Rifter, Thrasher, Claw. They all dropped simultaneously and we began to panic. This was not an official roam, there was no FC calling the shots. Novantco queried the warp out and Vent went awfully quiet for a second, save for me stuttering as I tried to assess a situation that had changed astronomically in the space of 3 seconds. 'Get out, get out!' I shouted and the majority of us managed to escape. Unfortunately we lost a Thrasher and Rifter in the process.

At this point our spirits were dampened and I was rather frustrating with my pathetic performance at saving my fellow wingmates. Why I froze is beyond me, I did and am still contemplating it now. I did however have things perfectly sorted out in my head at that point and decided to get some revenge for the losses incurred...

A wolf had been chasing me away from the fleet as I never actually warped off grid during the chaos, instead I chose to zip around at about 100km from the main fleet. This worked in my favour and I quickly leapt on the Wolf and went to work. Using the tracking disruptor I crushed his optimal and falloff ranges and sat in at about 6km. Whilst I kept a close eye on the fleet as they burned away to get within warp range I had somehow let him out of my grasps and he escaped in structure, my heart sank once more. Not only had I let my corp mates die due to my incompetence but I couldn't even take down a target in revenge.

All was not finished though as I watched them all warp off grid in one direction and a sole Jaguar in another. I chased the Jaguar down and attempted to tackle, only to watch him warp off to a faction warfare static plex. Under no illusions that it would be a trap, I geared myself up for a wild ride and warped in at 70km from the gate. A Stabber and the elusive Wolf sat at 30km whilst the Caracal and Jaguar sat at 0km from the gate respectively, all staring right at me. The rest were unaccounted for but I took the advantage I had been given fighting on an acceleration gate and began working on pulling the ships apart. The Stabber and Wolf began closing in and I decided on assaulting the Stabber as he came in range, I couldn't afford to let him kite me. Drones out, scram, web, tracking disruptor all on him as I began tearing him down. The Wolf closed in and I switched my TD to him as a means to decrease his potential dps. The Stabber fell as the rest of the gang warped off, bar the Wolf. I caught him too and began working through his tank, aware that they would be landing any moment on me.

Our fierce duel had pulled us back closer to the gate, around 40km by now and I saw the bulk of the fleet begin to land. Caracal, Claw, Rifter and Jaguar. Fortunately they must have failed to remember the warp disruption rules of plexes and thus landed at 0km. I had more time and focused back on my target. Kmang Satrow came to the fray in his Vengeance almost simultaneously and landed in the middle of the enemy fleet. I watched helplessly as he fought for his life, taking down a Rifter and forcing a Claw into 1/2 armour before his inevitable demise. The fleet now barrelled down towards me and I engaged the Claw and Jaguar, once more disrupting the secondary target's optimal range (the Jaguar) whilst eating through the already wounded Claw. Suffice to say he didn't last long and I then swapped back over to the Jaguar. We'd burned back to the gate now in the confusion and the enemy Caracal was somehow 40km away, my only understanding was that he was scooping loot in the midst of the battle. A Rifter and finally left in system Teak'li (also in a Rifter) landed as the Jaguar succumbed to the Dramiel's rage...

My modules were on the brink of their thermal threshholds, my ammo was beginning to thin and I knew that my time was coming to an end. My armour repair module was working on overtime as I patched up armour from the many fights I'd been in, I don't think it had much a break during the whole fight. Teak went for the Caracal whilst I murdered a Reaper that landed on top of me (also likely collecting loot).

Before I could finish the Rifter that had me webbed and scrammed off and dash over to the Caracal a second Jaguar landed and caught me, committing me to the rest of the fight. Unfortunately Teak was in low armour and had to bug out, leaving me once more to tear my way out. I utilized the exact same tactic before, disrupting the secondary target's optimal and bringing the primary to the ground. The Rifter too met it's end by my autocannons and I turned on the final Jaguar...

Time to bug out. A final wave of their units landed, a Thrasher, Hyena and the Caracal all landed on me and I knew I couldn't fight my way out of this one. A final overheated cycle of my afterburner and I pulled my ship from the brink of death, armour in the very critical ranges, capacitor all but gone and nearly an empty cargo of ammunition.

The feeling was phenomenal; cathartic beyond belief to have dealt such critical damage to the enemy fleet. They held the field in regards to loot from lost ships but I still felt as though we were victorious. This was by no means a solo effort, at some point during the 25 minute two-pronged engagement my allies had aided me invaluably, whether through distraction, wounding targets beforehand or giving me intel on the fly. Good fights were exchanged after the dust settled and I bucked it back home to Hevrice to catch some R&R.

I may take a retrospective look at what was done to achieve the victory, though I also don't believe that I am in any position to lecture on how to fly frigates and I don't mean to patronize. Regardless, this has been perhaps the most exhilarating engagements to date in my Eve career and I can only look forward to more.

The train is still here by the way (if you didn't already notice) so does anyone have some ideas on what could adorn the back of my blog? Answers on a postcard please.

/endofridiculouslylongpost. BYE! *frantic waves*

Thursday 12 August 2010

Kittens, Cakes and Cuddles

The overhaul is finally underway! I finally had a go at messing about with the new design stuff blogger has came up with this. Basically, I failed hard because I couldn't upload a picture that worked I decided on this awesome TRAIN!

Also my friend made me this epic banner which now adorns the top of my blog. Things are still being altered but I'm overall rather happy with the change so far.

I haven't had much time to really get some piracy in lately as I have been rather busy. Suffice to say I've logged on an hour late for some of the best kills us Tuskies have had in quite a while. Examples here and here. Here's hoping I don't miss the next few!

I should have some more riveting posts to dish out soon, although having people throwing expensive ships to die at me always helps so don't skimp on the top belt Orca's!

P.S. If someone has a better idea for a background than a train do let me know, not sure it is in keeping with the blog...

Thursday 5 August 2010

I'm a Noob, I'm In a Rifter and I'm In Amamake.

This post is inspired by a post by fellow blogger Laedy whose blog I only found recently and am enjoying greatly. If you didn't get enticed by the hyperlinked name click on it and you'll find the specific post I was referring to.

Up to speed now? Good.

So off I went in my classic Rifter cutting cookies all over the shop. 200 plate, repper, holy triad of tackle, I had it all, Amamake didn't know what was coming...

Well things weren't quite as intense as I had hoped although I felt proud to do my bit in keeping the solo scene alive. I mainly found some other lone Rifter pilots looking for a tussle, dispatching them with relative ease. After having such a blast dodging Dramiels and oversized gate camps I extended this ethos to my home life in Verge Vendor and claimed a few more Rifters. Fellow tusker Mal Asha (who's exploits can be read about in Wensley's blog) was awake at some absurd time in his country and tasked me with keeping him awake and I of course obliged, deciding that taking him up to Amamake would be the cure for his sleepy soul. We shipped up, shipped out and made best speed to the Heimatar region with hopes and dreams or piracy and fun all round. Unfortunately things weren't quite as peachy as we hoped and we decided on some whim to ship up to Jaguars (the reason why is beyond me). We claimed a few lives but nothing particularly spectacular.

Mal then took us over to Evati to see the locals and hopefully bag some kills, which we did. That kill right there is why I abhore dual-prop close-range Dramiels, they just can't stand up to Assault Frigates. Bear in mind the fight was largely a solo affair so he was held down by only 1 web and 1 scram for 95% of the fight. I wish I could write an epic post in regards to the fight but it quite literally became a Gallente affair; overheat everything and tear him to pieces.

Time passed, we saw some friendly faces from our public channel and both lost our Jaguars in suicidal manoeuvres, which is all in the name of fun. After a break we returned and I piped up in local to see if anyone would be kind enough to sell me a shuttle for my journey home. Just to my luck a pilot whom I have always been aware of but never had the pleasure of talking to for any length of time stepped in and offered me a ship, the same went for Mal. I docked and a trade window opened with Lady Shaniqua with a fully fit Rifter inside. Epic, the roam continued! I gave what isk I could spare in appreciation and we headed home after a long roam. It was great fun and although I lost more ships than I probably should have on a normal day I also had a better time than I usually do darting from system to system.

So here's to Rifters and Amamake! (I must be honest I hoped to see Laedy around so I could ask for a duel, I had no such luck. Perhaps next time!)