Wednesday, June 30, 2010

Things you should know about 0.0 Part 2

In part 1 I talked about lots of the dangers of 0.0 for new players. In this part I am going to talk about some of the opportunities that are present.

1. 0.0 Rats are VERY tasty

Ratting in 0.0 is much much better then in empire. Even in relatively crappy areas like Syndicate, you are as likely as not to see a million isk+ BS spawn in a belt. This may not seem like much to experienced players, but to a new player it is very very nice. Even if you get ganked after 30 minutes you and a friend or two in a insured T1 cruiser will likely come out significantly ahead. As for how to fit see point 2.

2. Ratters fit extreme PvE

What this means is that if you look at the local rats, you can make a pretty good guess at what the local PVE ships are vulnerable to. For example, where I live in providence, the rats are Sansha. Sansha do EM/Therm damage and are vulnerable to the same. As a result most of the PVE ships in the area will be setup to massively tank EM/Therm with poor Kinetic / Explosive resists and little buffer. So if you have a PvP ship that does Kinetic / Explosive damage with good EM / Thermal resists and a good buffer, you can probably kill a much larger PvE setup ship in Providence. For example a Hound is pretty much ideal.

3. A noob in a T1 Frigate can kill most interceptors. and you will see lots of interceptors

Yes, that is right, your cheapfit T1 frigate like a Rifter or a Merlin can kill a decked out T2 Interceptor with a highly skilled pilot with a few exceptions. What you need to do is fit an afterburner, a warp scrambler, a stasis webifier, short range guns as as much tank as you can fit. If you manage to scram-web (like the blog name) an interceptor you will probably win. The trick is to get them into range. Fortunately, interceptor pilots are usually overconfident and will approach you at full speed and/or warp to a planet at 0. There are no tears as sweet as a high SP char loosing a T2 ship to a noob.

Tuesday, June 29, 2010

Ships I fly - The Jaguar - Redux

There was a very interesting fit linked to from one of the comments. Sard Card (of the occasionally updated Broadside bog) suggested I look at the fit from Alex Medvedov. This is the fit that Alex typically uses:

[Jaguar, Alex Medvedov's Jaguar]
Shield Power Relay II
Shield Power Relay II
Gyrostabilizer II

Gistii B-Type 1MN Afterburner
Medium Shield Extender II
Faint Epsilon Warp Scrambler I
Fleeting Propulsion Inhibitor I

200mm AutoCannon II, EMP S
200mm AutoCannon II, EMP S
200mm AutoCannon II, EMP S
Rocket Launcher II, Gremlin Rocket

Small Core Defence Field Extender II
Small Core Defence Field Extender II

What is interesting about this fit is that it is an AB fitted Jaguar with a heck of a passive shield recharge rate. Regretably I don't have the fitting skills (or the money) for it but came up with a reduced version of this ship swapping out a Shield Power Relay for a Power Diagnostic System, T1 rigs, and a T2 AB and took two of them out for a spin last night. I lost both of them to small blobs. It was nice having both a decent tank and the reacharg. In the first engagement against a Stabber, Rupture and an interdictor I was amazed at how long my shields lasted with about 25% shields. The peak recharge rate was doing wonders for my survivability.

However, I had a couple of issues taking advantage of this fit. Primarily the tracking is not very good. Without the Rifter tracking bonus the 200 mm Autocannons can be gotten under with a Claw as I found out. In the second encounter I engaged first one, then several interceptors simultaneously. Although I managed to nearly take down the claw it was able to get under my guns, and then when I tried to pull range to lower transversal, it got away in structure. This was compounded by a Tracking disruptor put on me by another interceptor which made my tracking worse. However I feel in a Rifter, or even with 125 mm guns I still could have been doing damage.

Anyways, it is an interesting fit that, once I have a few more skills, I will explore further. It is actually the first AB Jaguar fit that really appealed to me.

Monday, June 28, 2010

Ships I fly - The Jaguar

The Jaguar is sort of like an Uber Rifter. This is especially try since I normally fly the Shield Tanked variety Rifter. The Jaguar basically adds a bunch of DPS, extra e-war, a bunch of tank, is a bit slower and doesn't track quite as well. This makes it pretty much a perfect ship if you want something with a bit of bling, but doesn't break the bank.

As a solo ship the Jag has a lot to offer. It can certainly handle all other frigate sized ships and flown well can be a threat to many cruisers. Basically in this ship you should feel free to engage pretty much any other frigate, assault frigate, light cruisers and interceptors. The only ship that is a real threat is the Ishkur (Gallente Assault ship). The Dramiel is an annoyance as, if dual proped, it can usually run away. I would say that the only real downside of the Jaguar is that most small ships will shy away from an engagement.

In fleet the Jaguar also really shines. Due to its tough tank it excels in the all important task of heavy tackle. There are few other ships that can grab a Vaga and scram/web it long enough for help to arrive. A rifter in this role is usually pulverized within a few seconds.

[Jaguar, Standard Jag]
Damage Control II
Nanofiber Internal Structure II
Gyrostabilizer II

Catalyzed Cold-Gas I Arcjet Thrusters
Medium Shield Extender II
Faint Epsilon Warp Scrambler I
X5 Prototype I Engine Enervator

150mm Light AutoCannon II, Republic Fleet Phased Plasma S
150mm Light AutoCannon II, Republic Fleet Phased Plasma S
150mm Light AutoCannon II, Republic Fleet Phased Plasma S
Rocket Launcher II, Caldari Navy Foxfire Rocket

Small Core Defence Field Extender I
Small Core Defence Field Extender I


Note: In fleet a NOS usually is better then the rocket launcher since it will allow you to hold scram while being neuted.

Sunday, June 27, 2010

Ships I fly - The Rifter (Shield Rifter Meets it Match)

As I talked about in an earlier post Ships I fly - The Rifter I love shield tanking my Rifter. Well last night my shield tanked rifter died a painfull death to a armour tanked Rifter.

This was the ship that killed me...

[Rifter, Hera Darkthorn's Rifter]
Damage Control II
Small Armor Repairer II
200mm Reinforced Rolled Tungsten Plates I

1MN Afterburner II
J5b Phased Prototype Warp Scrambler I
X5 Prototype I Engine Enervator

150mm Light AutoCannon II, Barrage S
150mm Light AutoCannon II, Barrage S
150mm Light AutoCannon II, Barrage S
E5 Prototype Energy Vampire

Small Projectile Burst Aerator I
Small Projectile Metastasis Adjuster I
Small Projectile Metastasis Adjuster I

The important feature here was that it was using Barrage and had rigs to compensate for the poor tracking. What this means is that she had me scram webbed so she could control range. Then she held me off at approx 5 km where she was able to do more damage to me then I was able to do to her. That combined with her active tank meant that I was not able to kill her. Near the end of the battle I had switched over to barrage myself but it was too late by then. I died as she was entering structure.

I have her fit because later on I found her with my jaguar in a nearby system and engaged her again. The same issues happened however the Jag has a much better tank then the rifter and it was victorious (annoyingly close however).

What is surprising is that I was confident in victory. In the past every time I engage another rifter with my shield fit I win in a close range slugfest. This time however my opponent did something better then just hit approach, she used range to her advantage and she emerged victorious. In other words.... she out piloted me.

Kudos to her (probably a guy in real life but whatever) for actually flying her ship and not just hitting orbit and praying.

Friday, June 25, 2010

Things you should know about 0.0 - Part 1

As a denizen of 0.0 I occasionally come across some noobs having going on a cruise to find out what it is like. Sometimes they are alone, other times they are in groups. I highly encourage this but it does usually end badly. Often they don't understand what happened and why they ended up dieing. This is the first part of a series of articles about things you should know.

1. You are being watched:

You may not realize it but you presence is being detected as you jump through systems. Unless the system is empty (just you in local) mains and alts of the local alliances are watching you and tracking your movements. It is possible that they don't care at that particular point to intercept you, but they are aware of you and there probably is already a response fleet heading your way. Remember that most players have out of corp alts scattered around, so don't feel reassured if all you see are some 2 week old characters in local.

2. They will hunt you down

It may seem pointless but unless the locals have absolutely nothing better to do they will hunt you down and engage you. This is EvE, this is why they play the game. Whether it is because they assume you are an alt of an enemy or just for sport their first reaction will be to destroy you. There are some exceptions of course. Some alliances have a NRDS (Not Red Don't Shoot) policy. However they are the minority, and there are others occupying the same space who are not as gentle.

3. When they engage you they will ensure that they will win.

While everyone says they are looking for a fair fight, you will find that there are no fair fights. When they engage you they will be sure that they have enough to take you, probably easily. See point 1 about them tracking you and knowing your fleet composition, age, past killboard stats, likely loadouts etc.

Thursday, June 24, 2010

Ships I fly - The Rifter

The ship I most often solo in is the Rifter. It is clearly an awesome T1 frigate and the standard to which all others are held to. I have a slightly unusual fit for it. I typically shield tank it and equipe it with a MWD. This is a lot less common then the Armour tanked AB rifters that you see all over the place.

I do this for a couple of reasons. The main one being that a shield tank has good resists against the kinds of damage that armour tanks are vulnerable to. Since the opponents assume that you are armour tanked, this can make a significant difference to the amount of damage you recienve. In addition a shield tanked rifter has more EHP then a fully armour tanked rifter. Since a shield tank does not increase mass, a shield tanked rifter has much more agility than an arour tanked one. This makes for fast align times and the ability to choose engagements more.

Using a MWD is a difficult choice and a lot of people think that it is a mistake. The reality is that a MWD makes the ship a lot more versatile. The ability to quickly approach targets or to get out of harms way is valuable. With a MWD I can out run most non-interceptors easily (and with overheating can outrun many interceptors as well) and so I can choose to fight or not. In theory, during a fight with another frigate, an AB should give my ship more ability to dictate range. In practice however it ends up being a moot point. Thanks to the large falloff of autocannons, I can succesfully engage the enemy at any range < 5 km and still do good damage. Rarely does an enemy try and run away and even if they do overloading my scram and MWD allows me to keep them from escaping.

As well having a MWD makes this ship still usefull when non-solo. If I join up with a fleet I can be an excellent tackler or a scout. With just an AB this would not be the case.

I find that this frigate can take on pretty much any other frigate solo. Yes, it can even take on Assault frigate and Taranisis with some good chance of success.


[Rifter, MultiRole Rifter]
Gyrostabilizer II
Damage Control II
Nanofiber Internal Structure II

1MN MicroWarpdrive I
Medium Shield Extender II
J5b Phased Prototype Warp Scrambler I

125mm Gatling AutoCannon II, Republic Fleet Fusion S
125mm Gatling AutoCannon II, Republic Fleet Fusion S
[empty high slot]
125mm Gatling AutoCannon II, Republic Fleet Fusion S

Small Projectile Burst Aerator I
Small Core Defence Field Extender I
Small Core Defence Field Extender I

Wednesday, June 23, 2010

Hello World

Welcome to my new Eve blog. Let me introduce myself. My name is Toterra (in eve not in real life) and I am a 18 month old capsuleer. Currently I am flying with Agony Unleashed and I have been with them for about a year.

Like many players Eve is my first MMO. I had been considering joining an MMO for several years but never really made the jump. I forget what it was exactly that drew me to Eve, but once I started researching it I was hooked. I quickly created a trial account and started a Gallente character. After using him for a week I discovered that I had erred in my original by giving my character a lot of charisma thinking that this would be a great skill. So I rolled a new Minmattar character and called him Toterra. The main reason for choosing Minmattar was the Rifter, which I had been told was the best T1 frigate and so I wanted to fly it.

Anyways after a week of doing empire missions, I moved to low-sec space since the missions there were more lucrative. Flying in lowsec knowing that at any moment I could be pounced on and get some real PvP was certainly more thrilling then the hi-sec missions which were already getting boring. Sadly there was not really any PvP for me. I was never probed out and succesfully dodged the gate camps. Exciting but certainly not the instant death I had been warned about.

Soon I had grinded my standings high enough to join the Minattar Millitia and started joining up in fleets. This was a lot of fun where every night I X'd up in the milliatia channel and added my rifter or thrasher to the blob. I was in awe of the FCs knowledge and ability to win fights. After a friendly fire incident I lost standings and ended up joining a small corp living in the low-sec parts of Metropolis.

Metropolis was a lot of fun. We were really bad (best player was less than a year old and rather clueless) but we had a couple of fights and spent a bunch of time effectively 'living' in space.

After the CEO went mysteriously AFG I bailed on the corp and decided to join a small 0.0 corp living in Curse. This was a huge step up and it was fun to be in fights similar to those I experienced in FW, but with more organization.

One of my goals since FW was to do the Agony PVP basic course. Finally I managed to get a spot in a class and learned more in 6 hours then I had in the previous 4 months. Thinking that this was the place for me I put in an app and joined up with them.

One year later I am a decent FC, I can kill a Taranis in my Rifter, and entire alliances cower in fear when I pop into local. Ok, maybe not the last one so much but it has been a good run.