My God, it's full of stars!

It was probably the best day of the tournament so far IMO.  Just some great fights, many surprises, and a number of down to the wire matches.  Once again I recommend to anyone wanting to learn more about PvP or even just one powerful facet of Eve Online, I suggest taking a look at the videos of today’s combat graciously provided by CCP at their youtube website, go here:  http://www.youtube.com/ccpgames.  I recommend as well viewing these videos in their High Definition format, you can do this by clicking the HD button that turns red when you mouse over it … it will take longer to download because more data is being streamed, so what I do is stop the video and wait until the entire video is downloaded (you can tell by the load bar filling up).  Once you have the entire video download, I think the best way to view a match is by going fullscreen by pressing the fullscreen button immediately to the right of the HD button.

I plan on writing about everything that happened today in a follow-up BLOG post later this week, as there is so much to talk about in today’s competition.  Just some real surprise moves by some of the alliances, including former champions Pandemic Legion who needed to win today after losing by just 1 point last week.  Their setup was so gutsy (congratulations to PL) and worked so well, they are now my personal favorite to win this competition.  Also notable today was a huge amount of ISK valued setups deployed on the battlefield, without significant effect on the outcome, in several matches, the alliance that spent considerable more, sometimes billions more, did not win at all.

I also forgot in my previous BLOGS to thank all the amazing Alliance pilots and their support teams  in this Tourney so far.  For all of us watching- you guys are putting up a great show.  I know I have been impressed by some great piloting and have learned oodles by watching you duke it out in the arena.  And I admit it, when I see ships getting blown up … and you guys are blowing up billions worth of ships, I’m really enjoying it – keep up the good work.  As an Industrialist, I’m happy to see so many uber-expensive ships getting blown up (doesn’t really matter whose) – more ISK for me.

Also I have to say … I don’t know really what all the whining on the forums is about with the commentating going on during these matches.  I realize day 1 may have been a bit shakey … but today’s commentary was really good, and I have no complaints.  I am enjoying the different styles of having more than a single commentator, since each one brings a bit of their own perspective of what is happen’n on the battlefront, and I like the extra tactical or other related info they occasionally provide as well … rather than it all being just a dry recital of events.  So thanks guys for some great commentary this week and last week.  And kudos to CCP for all their hard work … it’s unfortunate about the elephants but you managed to get the Server rebooted and working well pretty quickly, and I’m sure you’re going to be making it a big priority to figure out what zoo all these elephants escaped from.  And thanks again to Interstellar Correspondent volunteers for providing a first-rate Alliance Tournament website expanding even further the statistics and reports available to us.  Excellent post round write-ups as well by IC, the writing IMO professional quality.

As you can see, I’ve been thoroughly enjoying myself.  It’s been all good so far.  Oh yes, I also recommend tuning into New Eden Radio and also chatting on their in-game chat channel neweden-radio.  I had a great time listening to a pretty funny group of blokes who also provided some excellent information and tourney analysis for both the rounds so far.  Thx much.  And I want you to know, some of us are actually getting better at calling the games, despite a pretty dismal record last week.

OK, so like I did last week, I have put together some ship stats.  I decided not to combine last week’s stats with this weeks because the dynamic of the setups did change rather significantly (unlike Tournament VI I  should point out), so combining both week’s stats together I felt  would not help provide some kind of picture of what is going on and would allow me to compare this week with last week, to see what has changed and what appears to be trending.

As before I list the amount of times a ship was used, the name, the category of ship, ISK value, how many times the ship was blown-up and the ship loss ratio, how many times the ship was on the losing side and lose-side ratio, and how many times the ship was on the winning side and the ratio.  I highlight in red those ships that had a higher lose-side ratio, and a highlight blue those ships with a higher win-side ratio.  Yellow if the ship ended up being an exact 50/50 win-side & lose-side.   Since even more different named ships were entered this week than last (like wow, what a lot of variety and I think that’s great) I have made my cut-off point of ships at 7.  However, there was quite a lot of ships used under the 7 total, some of which I will make mention after doing the list.  I will also like last week, provide some observations on a number of the ships and their categories.

So here we go:

WEEK #2 SHIP STATS
26 Ishkur T2 Gallente Assault Frigate (26.9m)  |  -14 54%  |  Lose: 14 54% |  Win: 12 46%
24 Brutix Gallente Battlecruiser (23m)  |  -18  75% |  Lose: 13  54% |  Win:  11 46%
23 Rook T2 Caldari Combat Recon (94.9m) |  -16  70%  |  Lose:  13 57% |  Win:  10 43%
23 Dominix Gallente Battleship (48.4m)  |  -8 35% |  Lose: 9 39% |  Win:  14 61%
23 Thrasher Minmatar Destroyer (.77m)  |  -18 78% |  Lose:  13 57% |  Win: 10 43%
20 Abaddon Amarr Battleship (136.7m)  |  -15  75%  |  Lose: 13  65% |  Win: 7  35%
19  Tengu T3 Caldari Strategic Cruiser (694m)  |  -7 37% |  Lose:  9 47%  | Win: 10 53%
19 Harbinger Amarr Battlecruiser (35.2m)  |   -10 53% |  Lose:  6 32%  |  Win:  13  68%
19 Drake Caldari Battlecruiser  (30.7m)  |  -8 42%  |  Lose: 7 37%  |  Win: 12  63%
17 Guardian T2 Amarr Logistics Cruiser (72m)  |  -13  76%  |  Lose: 7 41%  |  Win: 10 59%
17 Hurricane Minmatar Battlecruiser (31.1m)  |  -6 35%  |  Lose:  3  18%  |  Win:  14  82%
16 Cormorant Caldari Destroyer (.8m)  |  -12 75%  |  Lose:  10 63% |  Win:  6 38%
15 Scimitar T2 Minmatar Logistics Cruiser (87.9m)  |  -10  67%  |  Lose:  8  53% |  Win: 7 47%
14  Stiletto T2 Minmatar Interceptor  (14m)  |  -9  64%  |  Lose: 7  50%  |  Win: 7 50%
13 Nighthawk T2 Caldari Field Command (238.7m)  |  -6  46% |  Lose: 4 31%  |  Win:  9 69%
12 Taranis T2 Gallente Interceptor (18.9m)  | -12  100% | Lose: 6 50%  |  Win: 6  50%
11  Kitsune T2 Caldari Electronic Attack Frig (22.7m)  |  -8 73% |  Lose: 5 45%  |  Win: 6  55%
11  Sabre T2 Minmatar Interdictor  (42.8m)  |  -7 64%  |  Lose: 5 45%  |  Win: 6 55%
10 Curse T2 Amarr Combat Recon (102.8m)  |  -6 60%  |  Lose: 3 30% |  Win: 7 70%
9  Oneiros T2 Gallente Logistics Cruiser (72.4m)  |  -6 67%  |  Lose: 6  67% |  Win: 33%
9  Jaguar T2 Minmatar Assault Frigate (79.6m)  |  -4 44%  |  Lose:  2 22%  |  Win: 7 78%
8  Myrmidon Gallente Battlecruiser (31.6m)  |  -5  63% |  Lose: 5  63% | Win: 3 37%
8  Damnation T2 Amarr Fleet Command (171m)  |  -4 50%  | Lose: 4 50%  |  Win: 4 50%
7  Huginn T2 Minmatar Combat Recon  (82.7m)  |  -5  71%  |  Lose: 5 71% |  Win: 2 29%
7  Basilisk T2 Caldari Logistics Cruiser (82m)  |  -3  43% |  Lose: 2  29% |  Win: 5 71%
7  Armageddon Amarr Battleship (50.5m)  |  -6  86% |  Lose: 6 86% |  Win: 1 14%
7  Ishtar T2 Gallente Heavy Assault Cruiser (127.8m) |  -3 43%   |  Lose: 1 14%  |  Win:  6  86%
7  Cyclone Minmatar Battlecruiser (18.9m)  |  -4  57%  |  Lose: 3 43% |  Win: 4 57%
7  Absolution T2 Amarr Field Command (193.9m) |  -5 71%  |  Lose: 5  71% |  Win: 2 29%

Now some observations:

Ishkur – Gallente Assault Frigate:  This week saw a fairly dramatic reduction of the use of Caldari Rooks 41 of which were deployed in round 1 last week, and only 23 this week.  This followed the theme of less E-War setups being fielded and increased emphasis on  DPS setups.  Now I am generalizing a bit since no setup is completely E-War or DPS, and IMO the better setups have a good balanced mix of both, but setups often lean in one direction or the other so its easy to pigeon-hole.  Ishkurs are continuing to be a tournament favorite however, 26 fielded this week, even more than last week, and the most deployed ship as well.  The surprising part for me is that statistically you can see the Ishkurs did not do that well last week 60% on losing side and yet again this week, slightly better but still with the negative at 54% losing side ratio.  Now this is somewhat interesting:  the other most used Assault Frigate was the T2 Minmatar Jaguar and it performed with a very high 78% win-side ratio.  Given the immense popularity of the Rifter hull in PvP, I am surprised not to see more Jaguars being chosen over the Ishkur, especially now with the really positive results in Round 2 for these PvP frigate beasts.

Brutix – Gallente Battlecruiser: Et Tu Brutix? This week saw a definite surge in the use of Battlecruisers over last week, many more being deployed.  Once again … more DPS on the battlefield.  The number of Brutix’s doubled going from 10 to 24 deployed in setups.   But surprisingly, the Brutix did not fair so well, given its stunning 90% win-side ratio in last week’s round 1 of the Tourney.    My theory (and its just a theory here) is since we saw much more DPS fielded this week, the Brutix didn’t have it so easy as it did last week where there was a preponderance of more E-War setups … and the Brutix had more chances of surviving and dealing out its punishing DPS without risking its achilles heel of a rather weak tanking ability.  But we can definitely see also that even though the Brutix didn’t do so well, other Battlecruisers really did damn well:  the Amarr Harbinger on winning-side 13 out of 19 games with a 68% ratio, the Caldari Drake (I know a lot of moans out there) breaking out with a 63% win-side ratio, the Minmatar Cyclone with a positive win-side ratio of 57%, and the Minmatar Hurricane with a whopping 82% win-side ratio.  Interestingly enough, it was only the Gallente Battlecruisers that did poorly.  Was it due to the inherent emphasis of the Gallente BC’s being drone boats?  Or the Hybrid ammo?  Questions I guess for the Alliance teams to figure out before the finals.

Rook – Caldari Combat Recon: Dropping from first place in usage to third, the Rook still saw some action this week.  Yet just like last week, statistically showing a negative win-side ratio.  Last week having a lose-side ratio of 53.7% and this week it even increasing more to 57%, probably due to even less E-War centric setups saw not as much support this week than lasts.   The other two most deployed Combat Recons this week were the Minmatar Huginn and the Amarr Curse.  The Huginn suffered the same fate as the Rook, with an even worse 70% lose side ratio.  But the Amarr Curse proved quite the exception, being on the winning side a convincing 7 out of 10 times or 70%.  My guess is why the Curse did so well and the other two Combat Recon’s didn’t was its Recon Ship Skill bonus to Energy Vamping & Neutralizing (that the other two Recon’s don’t have, having separate types of bonuses for their race types).  AND since we saw more capacitor-DPS heavy setups, the Curses ended up being more effective because it was able to drain the Battleships and other cap heavy ships.

Thrasher – Minmatar Destroyer: Coming in 5th as the most used ship this week, and the most popular Destroyer deployed, the Minmatar Thrasher did not perform that well with a disappointing 57% lose-side ratio.  In fact, even though we saw a lot more Destroyers fielded, none of them did well statistically,  and found themselves on the losing side more often than winning.  Again, I would say because their were more bullets and missiles flying around this week than last week, the Destroyers ability to do anything before their paper-bag hulls collapsed was even more pronounced.   It did come as a bit of surprise nevertheless to me, since last week Destroyers had done so well.  And I wouldn’t count Destroyers out completely, as today’s great match between GoonSwarm and Red.OverLord, GoonSwarm did field 5 Destroyers in its setup and won.

Dominix – Gallente Battleship: Like Battlecruisers, the amount of Battleships deployed this weekend doubled.  But unlike junior, Daddy Battleship did not do as well: the Amarr Abaddon was for me the single biggest surprise when it came to Battleships.  Having done pretty well both in Tournament VI, and last week, I have to say this week the Abaddon really sucked, and its statistic of 65% lose side confirms this.  Now saying this, I also think that maybe some of the load-outs that were used on the Abaddons fielded also sucked, and that Abaddon’s were not used to the best of their strengths.  The other Amarr battleship, Armageddon faired even worse with a 86% lose-side ratio.  Several other Battleship types not on the list did just as bad if not worse (such as Caldari Ravens both regular and Navy Issue).  The one exception to the lackluster Battleship performance this week was the Gallente Dominix, and I’m not really sure why but it performed with a respectable 61% win-side ratio.  Maybe becuz of it’s dronage ability??

Tengu – Caldari T3 Strategic Cruiser: I think like most of you, I’ve been following the performance of T3’s closely this tourney.  Since the perspective of my in-game Industrial toon (Dante Edmundo) building one of these things is a real undertaking, not to mention the amount of ISK involved.  The Tengu has been by far the most popular of the T3’s deployed … by quite a wide margin over the other T3 Cruisers.  A distant second has been the Gallente Proteus.  This week saw about the same number of Tengu’s deployed as last week (20) this week 19.  So Alliances have not yet lost interest in T3’s even though they’re expensive as hell.  Last week the Tengu did put out a 65% win-side ratio … very good, but this week not so good … the Tengu didn’t dip into the lose-side of the ledger which is good, but it only barely was in more winning games than it losing with a win-side of 53%.  There was however an amazing peformance by Important Internets Spaceship League’s last remaining Tengu destroying four Laconian Syndicate’s Battlecruisers single-handedly.  I know hard to believe, go here for the IC report if you just don’t believe it.  SO … that being said, I really don’t know yet about T3’s.  My gut feeling says there may be more potential there that just hasn’t been reached with T3’s.  So I’m still going to take a wait-and see attitude on them.

Guardian – Amarr Logistics Cruiser: As last week, the Logistics did well yet again this week, and did see an increase deployment across the board, in the case of the Guardian, double the amount deployed last week.  To be noted:  both the Guardian (59% win-side ratio) and the Basilisk (71% win-side) had good to a really good win-side ratio, but just like last week, the Gallente Oneiros logistic didn’t do well: failing last week with a lose-side of 67% and this week with exactly the same 67% lose-side ratio. Purely coincidence?  Probably the most obvious reason for the Oneiros’ poor showing is that it’s racial logistic bonus is for Armor Repair, where on the other-hand the Basilisk racial logistic bonus is for Shield Transfer & Maintenance … I’ll let you connect the dots.

Nighthawk – Caldari Field Command:  You know, the Nighthawk is an expensive ship at 238.7 million a pop, but I’m gonna get me one of these someday.  Because the Nighthawk IMO has win-sauce all over it.  It’s just a good ship to have in your fleet.  It provides all sorts of missile bonuses and of course those valuable Field Command Warfare link modules.  This week, the Nighthawk again came through with a powerful 69% win-side ratio, and this in a pretty DPS heavy combat environment.  Last week the Nighthawk also was on the positive side at 52%, and considering the Nighthawks amazing performances in last Alliance Tourney VI … I’m sold.  Where’s the blueprint?

Well, it’s getting late here and I’ve written about enough to fill a few law books.  I was going to talk about some other ships but I guess I’ll save it for my next BLOG post when I look at today’s setups and write about the amazing fights there were (today was the best day so far in the Tourney in my opinion).  Although I do have to say, after watching two Gurista Rattlesnake Battleships get deployed and used for a crushing win I’m goin’ to get me one of these babies as well.  Also once again, one round saw an Industrial Hauler fielded, this time the Caldari Badger, and you know what, it’s team won.  So who knows, maybe haulers are the future cracker-jack.  Start training up on your Industrial skills.

o/