A Day in the Life of a Tusker.

        I'm a little over a day old now within the Tusker corporation and I have one thought that keeps reverberating in my mind, it is thus; pirating is awesome. Having only been in the corp for 24 hours I was hardly expecting to achieve much whilst I stumble around in an unfamiliar place, nor did I expect everyone in the corp to believe in my abilities as they appear to, it really is a wonderful place to be!

        By trust, I am referring to their open attitudes, friendly and welcoming atmosphere which I have entered into and on top of that the knowledge in them making me a true member of the team; I scout upon request, tackle, I've even got a good few killmails so far. I think this is a product of one main thing, that being the Tusker application process. 5 kills may not seem like much on paper, but for an isk starved upstart pirate like me, it genuinely was a difficult challenge. To rush in achieving the kills meant to make mistakes and lose isk, to take too long felt like my goal was slipping out of reach. Fortunately I found a balance and am jubilated that I haven't slunk away at the prospect of being branded an outlaw.

        I've already experience tons of combat, claimed many kills and even done what I feel is perhaps the most pirate-like thing a pilot can do in Eve; forcefully commandeer a battleship. My security status has indeed taken a pretty massive hit, now at -2.97 (and still dropping like a ton of bricks,) yet in honesty, I am beginning to relish the day when I finally become an outlaw, I think then I will truly feel at home in the Tuskers; a true pirate.


        I'll be writing up a combat log of our endeavours soon, so stay tuned! For now though, I am going to catch some sleep, wake up tomorrow and get back out there.

        On a further note, my Punisher Guide is coming along nicely, though I am unsure when it will reach completion. Hopefully I'll find the time to give it the love required.

        Till next time, fly smart.

A Little Long in the... Tusk?

        Big news! As of today, I am officially a proud member of the Tuskers. I'd say I was a proud pirate, but until I'm flashing redder than a traffic light at every Tom, Dick and Harry, calling myself a pirate just wouldn't be right.

        I'm hoping that my new life here will be great, everyone is really friendly and helpful, generally just a great bunch of pirates! The life of piracy is something that I've contemplated for a long time, finally I shall experience it first hand and I am genuinely massively excited for the journey ahead and cannot wait to start claiming loot and isk in the name of the Tuskers!


        It's almost a guarantee that there will be some combat logs to follow soon, so sit tight and hopefully some good things will come this way. Fly Smart.

A Maiden, What a Catch!

        Oh how New Eden always draws me back, whether it's the feeling of my heart pulsing as I lay everything on the line in combat or the coy smile I never manage to hold back upon seeing a wallet filling with isk. A dark and dangerous place, yet equally full of opportunity and fortune. My first flight in my already beloved Jaguar (about damn time) has been eventful beyond all belief!

        After fitting up and checking nothing was out of place, cargo hold full of ammunition and a full capacitor charge, I left off from my home in Dammalin towards my usual hunting ground around the Heimatar region. Barely 5 minutes into my journey and whilst taking a quick scan around Siseide I spotted a lone Caracal idling in a nearby belt. Eager to test out the fabled powerhouse Assault Frigate, I immediately set course and slamed my warp drive into overdrive, hurtling towards the target belt. As I landed and glared at my prey a little over 20km away, the pilot freaks and warps away too fast for me to properly track him. 'Damn...' I thought to myself at the time. Quickly I flip up my directional scanner and start sweeping the surrounding asteroid belts frantically looking and hoping that the Caracal will still be nearby. Then the unexpected happened...

        The unexpected? A Belliocse. 'Haha, a lowly miner lost in space. Time for a quick and easy kill...' I immediately burned towards him, catching him in my warp scrambler and establishing a safe orbit. He seemed to sit somewhat idly for a moment, which worried me at the time; a bait? I began checking the local information hub within the system, cross referencing the corporations, alliances and security status of the current dwellers within the system. Nothing. All the while my guns had been pounding away at his shields, making what admittedly was a rather unimpressive dent... Suddenly I notice a hatch on the enemy craft open, with swarms of dreaded Warrior II drones pouring out and surrounding me. I disengage my cannons and begin to pick them off one by one, foolishly wasting large amounts of ammo due to tracking issues.


        The fight continued for a good while, drones emerging and assaulting me, dropping one by one as his shields charge back up, only to be once more assaulted by my weaponry. Now rather confident in my victory I open up a conversation, hoping for a quick isk payout. '20 mil or your ship goes bye.' I chimed down the intercom. The remainder of the conversation escapes me, as I watch my guns stop firing and not reload with Phased Plasma S. 'Crap... Out of ammo.' Fortunately I had a stock of Barrage S left in there, but I knew full well I wouldn't break the rather incredible shield tank my opponent was sporting. We had a short conversation, both bluffing our hearts out; he that he would merely self destruct and deny me a kill, myself that friendly pilots were inbound to blow him up. The funny thing? It nearly worked.


        As I sat orbiting him, feeling somewhat disappointed at the outcome of the fight. Luck however was on my side. The Caracal, my initial target, jumped back into the system unaware of our engagement, landing 40km away and quickly jumping out. This time though he wasn't so lucky. I automatically bid farewell to the captive Bellicose, loading the remaining ammo in my guns I warped to intercept, landing almost simultaneously with the Caracal. I tore into his shields. A mintue later, the target now in hull, a Thorax drops in the belt and targets me, b-lining for my ship and releasing drones. 'God dammit!' I alligned my ship to a nearby planet, watching the Thorax close in on my position. 30km-25km, I was beginning to worry. At last the Caracal buckled under the weight of my onslaught and I immediately bugged out, giving up the loot to the Thorax to ensure the safety of my Jaguar.

        I sit here now, in Rens, my guns being patched up from thermal damage I dealt out during the fight. I look back at the whirlwind 15 minutes I just experienced and am thankful that my absence from New Eden is at an end. My Jaguar performed admirably, and felt amazing to fly. It had a sense of age to it, more refined than the Rifter, with all the good bits still there when I need them. This beckons a new journey for myself in New Eden, I now feel like I am no longer quite the upstart pilot looking for a fight that I once was. I feel more refined.

        Till next time, fly smart.

Kishin Hattori Never Dies...

        Ok so that was a rather pedantic and poor allusion to Tiger Army, a psycho-billy band I listened to a lot back in the day, but it's message is resolute. Despite my lengthened absences from New Eden in the killing field, my work never stops. I've been training as all of us tirelessly do, building up funds and recovering from the war declaration I found myself thrust into a few weeks ago. The result would be this:

        If any of you get locked by me, this will probably be what I'm packing. It's taken me quite some time to find the right fit for this ship and I finally think I have it. whilst I adore speed and massive damage, being a pilot who flies Amarrian craft also means I do have a soft spott for a good tank. I feel this has a great middle ground of all three. Managing to run at just over the holy grail of 1km/s with a nice damage output of 125 per second, it definitely can deal it out. What I am perhaps most fond of is it's ability to take the damage. With a constant re-gen of just shy of 100 damage per second, with healthy resistances and a fair chunk of shields that beg to be shot at, I really do feel that this is a ship I will do well in. I'm fitting it as we speak and getting ready for it's maiden voyage out into low security with a friend of mine, here's hoping it doesn't disappoint!

        The war declaration ended on a fairly mute point for me in other news, I was not able to get the kill I was hoping for, but after a short but surprisingly pleasant conversation with Duckeye himself I wasn't all too upset. Whether what he told me was truthful or a pack of lies I know not, but I did gain some insight into his reasons and whilst still not justified in my eyes; this is New Eden and my morals mean very little to anyone. Time to move on and get out there for me!

        Fly smart.

The Cheap Eyes of the Beast

        So things have been building themselves up, isk and all, to allow me to get back into my life as a failing 'pirate'. I wouldn't quite say I'm a pirate, mainly because I don't attack miners, only targets who themselves are looking for a fight. Oh and I ransom too, which hasn't worked yet, but first time for everything eh?

        I finally had my precious Jaguar about ready for it's maiden flight and lo and behold, something else rains on my almost tangible parade... A guy called DuckEye. Some may have heard of him, some maybe not, but suffice to say his main love in New Eden is to declare war on corps of low ability and harass the hell out of them, watching the corporation fall apart. Alexia Morgan did an interview with the guy little under a year ago, which might be of interest to some of you; http://alexiamorgan.blogspot.com/2009/02/interview-with-duckeye.html. This unfortunately happened to an academy corporation of a bunch of close friends of mine about 3 days ago if I'm right. As the main corporation had pretty much all of it's combat wing  indisposed fighting up in 0.0 at the time and me still in great debt to their helping me get off the ground within New Eden (no pun intended,) I decided that I'd drop into the academy and take this guy on, see how well I fare with all my solo piloting experience under my belt. Turns out, not too badly considering the circumstances.

        The guy flies a Pilgrim, fully kitted out; tier 2 drones of every kind, cloaks, strong tank, the works (oh and a Typhoon for when things aren't quite in his favour). I however on the other hand can't even fly a cruiser with any great amount of sufficiency (my adoration of frigates has indeed shot my training plan in the foot a few too many times.) Combine that with about four years of flight experience next to my three months, and well over ten times the amount of skill points as mine, I would say I'm well and truly beat. Fortunately not, as he hasn't actually managed to kill me yet, though I can't say I have killed him yet either.

        He has admittedly claimed a few lives of the corporation, but people are learning and are becoming cautious to his acts. Kills are slowing down and have actually been stopped dead according to his killboard today (Woop!) so with any luck we might see out of this in one piece.

        This has been my first experience with war declarations and whilst a frustrating one, it has indeed been a valuable one. I've been able to witness how a very cunning and resourceful pilot flies, learnt more about flying various ships, covering team members, scouting and forming strategies, even a little about commanding a fleet. So despite the cons, there has indeed been a few pros. One major con to all this however; 2 million for a week's worth of causing grief to new pilots. Not cool. I had once thought war decs were universally expensive, but upon being told this, by the man himself during some fun local banter, it made me feel nothing but sadness. What are concord for, the reason of high security systems, if one can just pinpoint a bunch of like-minded players all finding their feet and pay a mere 2 million isk to unlock the gate holding them back known as piracy. I agree, there is a certain amount of hardening up to do (forgive me for omitting the profanity there,) but a week old pilot cannot harden up to a four year old vet. It just doesn't happen. I'm thankful that myself and one friend in particular have been able to stem the killing, if not stop it entirely, but the declaration isn't over yet and there is a long road to salvation still. Let's hope we don't fall down to our knees.

        Any thoughts are as always appreciated, till next time.

Thundercats!

        ... Well, not quite. Apologies for getting anyone's hopes up. I do, however, have a cat related post today. I finally have the opportunity to fly a Jaguar Assault Frigate! (Waits for the crowd roar...) Yes, not quite as exciting as one might hope but it's a goal I've been moving towards for a long time. I really cannot get on with anything other than frigates currently during my solo flights, I like the agility of them and the tactical opportunities they give on the battlefield.

I understand they might not be the most savvy purchase for an isk starved pilot such as me, but hopefully I'll have some great luck flying this ship.

On an somewhat related note, I have begun to culminate a Punisher guide to help people learn the ways of the great frigate! Check back regularly to get updates on how the projects going, hopefully it will be of some help to potential Amarrian pilots, or just Minnies who really don't give a s***!

Till next time, fly smart.

Oh how it was never meant to be...

       Ok so I had a thrasher lying around, gathering rust and thought I'd finally take one out for a shoot around low security. Fitted it all up, 7 shiny teach 2 cannons, armour plates, the works. Quite excited about the potential kills I could hopefully get I ended up spending a good 13 million on that set-up, money which I admittedly didn't truly have to waste. I finally un-dock and begin to cruise towards a local haunt of mine; Amamake.


       Now I know I was on my way to shoot down other pilots in a faction warfare area, whether they were faction fighters or not, but being bombarded by a horde of Gallente and Minmatar battleships just takes the cake. They had camped the gate into Amamake via Ossogur I believe. I was pretty much insta popped by a wave of quite literally 15 Battleships and proceeded to be ransomed. Fortunately the clone I was flying had nothing in his head, so more fool them. I really do wish that some pirates would get off their asses, stop holding hands with twenty other of their heavily armed brethren and sit waiting for whatever comes their way. Gate camps are a part of New Eden I'm not asking for any changes, but does it not seem almost carebear in itself to be protected by so gank and tank that you could probably click the self destruct button and someone would still come take care of you.


       What I'm trying to say is, fight fights you may not win, pirates in for profit are pirates not worth their salt. Jump in your frigates, hell even cruisers! Just stop hiding behind a swarm of drones, shields and armour when facing off against a lonely Thrasher. This is I know a huge rant post but when things like that slap you in the face, it really hits home. I'm off to go mission my isk back for the next 5 days.

       And based on this, I doubt I'll be trying the Thrasher anytime soon, Rifter please!