In Rust We Trust

Over the last few weeks, I've continued welping Stabbers across nullsec, taking down many a Procurer as I go. I'm actually starting to feel again as if I'm not totally incompetent at solo PvP. I even learned what a kikimora is, although I haven't gone so far as to try to fly one yet.

I have also been setting up shop. I picked Uemon, a lowsec system in the Forge, as my current base of operations, because of its convenient location on the crossroads between Etherium Reach, Caldari and Minmatar lowsec, and Germinate. It's on travel routes for a lot of folks passing between nullsec and highsec trade and mission hubs. A lot of people pass through Uemon, and sometimes they hang around in the area, and do foolish things which result in them getting themselves blown up by dirtbag pirates like me. It also has nice indestructible NPC stations with all the services I require. So little by little I've been moving more ships in. Not just Stabbers, although I Black Frogged a healthy stack of those in from Jita, but also some of the other assorted vessels that I happened to have lying around. 

Including, for example, a trusty Hurricane which saw plenty of action back in my solo wardec days, but has been rusting away in a hangar in Hek ever since. I don't have the SP to fly many larger ship classes, but the Hurricane is one that I skilled into long ago for those rare, unusual wardec scenarios where a Merlin just wouldn't cut it. This particular Hurricane, a veteran of many battles in highsec, saw action right away after moving in.

Hurricane - an old school EVE pirate ship

Iaulus - Lowsec Gila Ratter

Shortly after I docked my Cane in Uemon, I was working out more logistical details for my deployment, when I heard a little bird scratching at my window. It was a black capped chickadee. I opened the window to the frosty air, and the little bird hopped up onto my finger. 

"What have you come to tell me, little one?" I asked.

"There's a Gila ratting in Ofage," the chickadee tweeted. "All ratters must die. These are her exact coordinates..."

I've been seeing lots of Gilas in my Stabber roams, and they have been frustrating me. I don't generally think it is wise to take on a Gila in a Stabber, unless maybe if the Gila pilot is a complete noob, but it vexes me to see somebody bothering those poor harmless NPCs and not be able to do anything about it. So I gladly undocked my Hurricane again and made best speed for Ofage.

Iaulus didn't seem fazed to see me show up in local chat, or appear on dscan. She continued ratting without a care in the world as I warped into her anomaly, where I got a point, webs, and a neut on her. I opened fire with my autocannons. Iaulus counterattacked with her rapid light missile launchers and drones, stripping away my feeble shields and chewing into my armor. I ignored the incoming damage, which was considerable, and kept blasting away as I approached her.

Her shield buffer was thick, and I began to have doubts as I watched my armor bar going down, but ultimately she was no match for the Hurricane. Pretty soon that sexy Gila went pop. I offered a "gf" in local chat. 

[ 2021.01.25 03:39:35 ] Syeed Ameer Ali > gf

[ 2021.01.25 03:41:49 ] Iaulus > how is it considered a good fight when you jump me fighting npc's?

[ 2021.01.25 03:42:10 ] Syeed Ameer Ali > well i had fun ;D

Finally a dead Gila

The old Cane had tasted blood once again, but she was still thirsty.

The Tale of a Lowsec Orca Miner

The next morning my little birds flew from the nest again, and only one jump away from Uemon they spotted a wild Orca mining in an asteroid belt. There was one neutral in system, apparently cloaked.

"This is the part where I get baited, then the Orca points me and his buddy decloaks a Legion or something," I thought. But what is the alternative? Not trying to kill an Orca? Unacceptable!

I undocked my Hurricane, jumped into Fuskunen, and warped to the asteroid belt in question. I landed on Mr. crour umbra's Orca at zero. Point, webs, neut, autocannons, drones. As usual. I took chunks out of his shields quickly, and then stripped away his armor with a few volleys as I smirked at my screen. But then the magnitude of Mr. umbra's hull tank became clear. Slowly it chipped away.

"Ug, this is going to take awhile," I thought, as I spammed dscan. I opened a convo with the Orca pilot.

[ 2021.01.25 13:54:33 ] Syeed Ameer Ali > 500 mil or die

[ 2021.01.25 13:55:24 ] crour umbra > fine give me a min

[ 2021.01.25 13:55:29 ] Syeed Ameer Ali > be fast

I kept shooting and spamming dscan while I waited for my wallet to blink. It did not blink. A moment later the neutral guy from local chat briefly decloaked in an Anathema. Maybe just a spectator, maybe someone else's little bird, but not an immediate threat.

My wallet still wasn't blinking.

"This scumbag is trying to scam me," I thought. "The old 'pretend I agree to ransom while I stall and batphone my friends' routine. What the heck? That's so rude. People just aren't nice anymore, that's the whole problem with this game. I blame the Goons for some reason." I kept blasting away at his reinforced hull while I watched local and spammed dscan.

[ 2021.01.25 13:57:08 ] Syeed Ameer Ali > no time to waste buddy

crour umbra sicced his drones on me. I ignored the incoming damage at first, but it actually started to make a dent in my armor after a few minutes. I could have destroyed his drones at any time, of course, but was more concerned about killing him before his friends or anyone else could get there. I kept all my dps on the Orca but began monitoring my armor bar a little more closely.

As Mr. umbra's structure bar slipped down to 25% or so, stoneface Killervent appeared in local chat. A quick look confirmed he was in the same corporation as crour umbra. "Shit, here comes the backup," I thought, and began to align to a safe spot. A Corax appeared on dscan, then warped to us at 20km and began hurling light missiles at me.

"Ok, I can handle this guy," I thought, "But obviously this must just be the first one to get here. Nobody would batphone one Corax guy to deal with a Hurricane, would they?" I kept my autocannons on the Orca, but sent a flight of light drones after the Corax to try to drive it from the field. I was concerned that the Corax guy might get point on me until the real backup arrived, so I wanted him gone. His shields began to peel away. I kept an eye on local and overheated my guns.

No more help came. Calling in a Corax was crour umbra's one play. Moments later the Orca exploded. 

Miner down

Stoneface Killervent's Corax was within point range, so I quickly warp disrupted him. After the damage he had already taken from my drones, one volley from my autocannons proved sufficient to delete his destroyer.

GF Mr. Killervent. I can't fault you for trying.

I returned to our private chat with crour umbra. I had to point out that he could have simply paid the ransom and lived. As regular readers of my blog know, my word is as good as gold, and I honor ransoms 100% of the time.*

[ 2021.01.25 14:02:14 ] Syeed Ameer Ali > too bad

[ 2021.01.25 14:02:40 ] Syeed Ameer Ali > could have lived

crour umbra closed the chat window without reply. I returned victorious to Uemon, gloated on my favorite chat channels, and buffed out the scratches that they had made in my armor.

Lessons learned:

Orcas seem to have been buffed considerably. It took a solid seven minutes of shooting with my Hurricane to take him down. That's some serious EHP. Last Orca I killed with this same Hurricane maybe lasted a minute at most. That would have been like 2014. Also, Hurricanes have been significantly nerfed since then. 

As a result, I decided to invest in some higher DPS ships for any comparable situations that come up in the future. Adapt or die.

*subject to terms and conditions.