Ctrl – Space

well, it turns out my first foray into Faction Warfare didn’t turn out as well as i had hoped.

the pre req’s for Command Ships finished up on saturday and with an hour to kill before i could slip into my ultra sleek and shiny new Night Hawk, i signed up to the Caldari militia for some quick and easy, no strings attached PvP.

as i’m re-learning the ropes, i didn’t want to bring anything expensive to the fight. i also don’t really like to fly anything bigger than a cruiser class hull PvP because my mobility is usually my greatest asset (yes, i was a huge fan of the nano-fit back in the day and still feel naked without a MWD on any ship class).
so with a budget and an eye for something skimpy, i went with the trusty merlin.

now, back when i started playing eve the merlin was my dream ship. i’d use it for everything and i would even rat in 0.0 with one, collecting loot and webbing for the big boys.
my fits were always a little obscure in that i would never fit any damage dealing modules of any sort. i was built for speed and tackle in the same way you can buy nike trainers and a toy fishing rod for a child who has just discovered the wonders of upright life…

i’ll write a blog about these early days soon as i’m surfing the tangent here.

anyway, i had a merlin to go. this time with a turret/missile split some tackle gear. i “x” up in militia, get into fleet and meet up with my comrades somewhere near Tama.
the fleet chat reminds of me of alliance fleet chat: faux fleet commanders in their dozens,  cheap mother digs (who am i kidding, those are mostly me) and the “are we there yet?” from those backseat children who just wanna be at the zoo already.

to my surprise i received a request to activate my eve voice so i could actually listen to the FC rather than read relayed orders in “txt spek”. before i ended my subscription 8 months ago you had to pay for eve voice, so i may be on a trial or something. if it’s now inclusive of your Eve Online subscription then great move CCP!

warp. jump. warp. jump. no war targets in sight. i was growing bored and doubting my thorough and mindful overview set up. then we got word of activity on the other side of the outbound gate.

this was it, back into the fight. let me at ‘em!

the FC jumped through to bait an engagement, and when they started pounding on him, the remainder of the fleet tumbled in. oh, i was real excited and the adrenaline was kicking in. my finger trembled as i hit the jump button.

grid loads: 2 targets!?

super disappointed.
rubbing salt into the bitter wound was the fact they had MWD’d 100k off the gate by the time we got there.
oh well. the FC sends an inty after them to see if we can get one locked down ( i have no idea what ship types they were flying, but that far off the gate in such short time i would guess they were inty’s) and in the meantime tells us to pop some drones that were left behind.
i target the drones and squeeze the trigger in the same way you punch your pillow at night after you come home from football practice where all the big boys made fun of you cause your legs are so little and you can’t kick the ball very far but it’s not my fault i’m small my mum says i’ll grow up to be strong and handsome and you’ll be jealous and i don’t want hair on my body anyways! /punchpillow

no? really? yeah, me neither….

where was i? oh yeah, my ship blows up. just like that: nothing but spinning debris and space dust. turns out these drones were left behind by someone who was not part of the enemy or friendly fleet: most probably a pirate or a ransom.
i did get the pop up to say that this was a dangerous act or whatever but i was anticipating one anyway as this was the first time i had engaged in PvP since the new install. well, it was the wrong warning and the gate guns got me.

first experience of Faction Warfare: not so hot.

never one to be thrown by such a disappointment, i rolled my little egg all the way back to jita (eww) where my command ship was waiting for me: and it’s everything i expected it to be.
finished the night by running a few level 4 missions in saila and the Night Hawk absolutely annihilates everything in it’s path without fear of my tank ever breaking.

take it! /punchpillow

————————–

Night Hawk fit:

Hi

- 6x Heavy Launcher II (fury missiles for the BS)
- Drone Link

Med

- Target Painter II
- 2x Large Shield Extender II
- 2x Shield Hardeners II (rat specific)

Low

- 2x Shield Power Relays II
- 3x Ballistic Control Units II

Rigs

- 2x purgers

Drones

- 5x Hobgoblin II