Last night good night

After the slow night I had Monday night I was struggling to even bother logging in, I was out in Doril and would have to do 11 jumps through highsec to get to the rest of my ships.  I did log in the end and drag myself back to Amamake with a bit of the loot that I have had for a while in Curse (Couple of faction MWD/Reppers).

Once I arrived back in Ama, I went out on the usual route in my Hookbill.  Essentially trying to get Militia peeps to kill me.  After a couple of kills not really worth mentioning I came across the reason I fly dual prop Hookbills in the first place.....Slicers, it also served to demonstrate the difference between a good slicer pilot and a bad slicer pilot.

I have always maintained that player skill trumps SP in pretty much all PvP situations, and that statement is even more relevant in the case of the Slicer.  A great slicer pilot is able to kill basically all frigates, regardless of fit, with its brilliant ranged dps even the ones that can catch it have generally taken so much damage that, by the time they do they still can't win the dps race.  However, the margin of error when flying one is very slim, if you make a mistake and get scrammed and webbed early you wont survive long.
Last night I engaged 3 different slicers all fit roughly the same way but all piloted differently.  I will call these pilots the good, the bad and the lucky.

The Lucky

This was the first Slicer of the evening, landing in the belt where him and his mate in a Harpy were shooting an alliance mates Thrasher.  I quickly webbed and scrammed the Harpy to slow him down and allow the Thrasher to catch up with him, whilst I went after the Slicer.  Getting to 13km of him I landed the web then I smacked into an asteroid, a tiny little one but apparently I hit where it was when full and bumped off of air, this allowed the Slicer pilot to escape :(.

The Bad

Warping to an outpost in Vard, I had a Slicer on scan.  Once inside I started slowboating towards him, trying to bait him into burning towards me to point me.  The reason for this is if he hasn't done this properly an O/H burst of my MWD generally lands me within scram range where the Slicer dies very quickly.
That didn't happen this time, instead the Slicer started burning towards me with his prop mod off, so I did the same thinking he would warp once I get to a certain distance.  We eventually reach 25km of each other with me at just under half shields, this however was close enough that I could burn towards him with the mwd on before he has a chance to react and move away.  Credit to the pilot I suppose at least he noticed my sudden increase of speed but unfortunately it was far too late and despite my loss of shield so far he went down fast.

The Good

There is always one isn't there.  Again as before I was warping to a faction plex and according to d-scan this Slicer seemed to be in the plex, just like before.  What followed was a catalogue of errors on my behalf and some absolutely nifty piloting by Nortel of Imperial Fedyakin.

I landed on the gate to find the Slicer pilot 11km from me, queue error #1, I didn't have my tackle overheated, had I realised he hadn't entered the plex yet I could have overheated the web prior to landing and this story would be different.  Hastily switching on my MWD to burn for him I made error #2 I bumped the gate, this stopped me getting within scram range and again changing the end of this story.

After this try as I might I just couldn't coax him into making a mistake, and was resolved to trying to burn myself out of point range.  With my ship spewing flames and my hull resting at 66% structure, I managed to break orbit range just long enough to warp out.

This was the closest I have come to losing this ship to a Slicer and also served to show why I fly dual prop.  The increased speed I get over the AB fits, means I can escape from situations like 'The Good'.  It also gives me the tank that means I can bait people into doing stuff like 'The Bad'.

In Other News

Looking around the blogosphere yesterday I came across this post by Keyanu about how he has recently broken the top 2k mark on Battleclinic.  It made me wonder how I have been doing on the BC ranking system.  Before I joined Heretics, my main at the time Korg Leaf was ranked somewhere near 11k and Korg Tronix was ranked roughly 2k below him.  Since I have joined Heretics and Tronix has become my main I am close to breaking the 3k mark, which means I have gone up roughly 10k places in the last 4 months and I am still going up at a pace of 200-400 places a week (According to the ranking tracker).  I have to say despite the problems I have with the points system on BC in general I am quite pleased by this and shows if you want to rise quickly on BC solo in frigates.

Also I am closing in on the 1k kill mark on Tronix and I think I will replace the ship of whoever my last solo kill is, before breaking that barrier.

Korg

First Two Weeks of January

I am fairly pleased with how December went with my highest kill total of any month and the majority of those kills coming whilst flying solo.  Its just a pity I didn't have fraps running for a lot of it as I have missed filming some great fights (Hookbill vs. Ishkur, finished with 12% armour).
January has started just as well, with 37 kills last week and 25 this week, still no where near as prolific as last month but still on course to top 100 kills in a month again so that makes me happy.
My losses on the other hand have been mostly of the stupid nature, either coming through late night derpage or due to a large quantity of alcohol that I consumed during the day.  Even then taking away the three expensive losses and the others seem very cheap.

I be a director now

The major piece of change occurring in my EvE life this month was becoming a director for the EU Tz in Heretic University.  I am quite pleased the higher ups have trusted me with this and I have quite a few plans that I think I will start trying to role out in the coming weeks.

University is a proving/testing ground for prospective pilots in Heretic Army, it allows them to make some mistakes independent of Army whilst still being part of the Amamake culture.  If after a month the pilot has proven his skill in both solo and small gang PvP, he/she will be invited to join Army.  Not everyone will get invited but some will.

Only issue is now that I am director I will have to start taking gangs out more often and I really despise FC work, mostly because I am bad at it but also due to having people rely on my orders to help them survive.  Basically I don't like the responsibility, at least I will get some practice and no longer be bad I suppose.

They seem to be doing well so far, with Az Tek our 4m SP, super find leading the way in kills in his Thrasher with 99 kills for the month so far.  He is a prime example of pilot skill trumping SP in fights.
Heretic University Killboard

They also have a great banner for their board designed by Kri Matar.

The other big news in corp is we are now in an alliance......no we haven't joined some random 0.0 alliance....we petitioned CCP and got the Heretic Nation alliance back. 

Good Fights

I have had a good few fights to start the year out but my favourite easily goes to the first flight of my MSE Harpy.  I undocked from Amamake and headed out on one of my usual roaming routes, jumping into Siseide I found a Jaguar on scan and proceeded to play a round of belt bingo. 

Eventually I landed in the same belt as him but 60km off, I loaded up null as I thought he would kite me (everyone would try) but it turned out he wanted a tank/gank race. The problem was I had started with Null loaded and up close I was suffering the tracking issues associated with that ammo.  I started to pull range slowly but I was taking a pounding, my shield gave out before him and I started to bail.  His shield gave out as I was about to enter structure, spamming warp to get my pod out, he entered structure.  Suddenly a flash and I thought shit I haven't entered warp yet.  It was at this point I noticed my pod had guns and a shield extender fitted.  Even my sleep deprived brain thought this odd.  Needless to say the picture below probably expresses my shock at surviving that fight.

Drackarn: @Korgtronix Whatever you do...... don't....... sneeze......:)

Something has to be said for t1 frigate fights, although anyone can get in them and they don't take long to skill up to a decent level there just always seems to be something pure about killing things in them.  Something that warms the cockles of my little black heart.

So undocking in my hull tanked Incursus (Sounds stupid but its great) I warped to a belt that had another Incursus and a Rifter in.  They seemed to be itching for a fight but as I had landed 45km off them (this was intentional) they had to burn to me first.  

The reason I say it was intentional is because my ship has the grand total of 2.7k ehp and there was no way I would be able to brawl them both down in my current fit at 0, landing this far off allowed me to split them up a bit which means I can essentially 1v1 them or at least put enough damage on one that I can win the damage race once they both get into range.

Luckily for me the Incursus was MWD fit like me and the Rifter was AB fit, burning away from them to split them up some more, I eventually engaged once there was a gap of roughly 50km, overheating everything and sticking my scram web on him, me and the Incursus started brawling.  He was going down but my shield vanished and a good chunk of my armour but he popped with me around 45% armour.

Now I had the choice of bailing with my ship and a kill, or risking the ship to get what is at best a difficult fight when I am at full health.  To be honest there was only really one choice, sticking my drone on the Rifter whilst I was at 30km seemed to have him distracted as he didnt target me till I was nearly through his armor buffer and, inevitably he popped.

All in all a good start to the new year

Korg

We are recruiting

University Requirements.

10m Sp (This isnt set in stone)

PvP Experience (We would prefer a grounding in small gang or solo work)

Must be able to field a BC with reasonable skills

Must be self sufficient

Some proof of solo kills

None of the above requirements are set in stone and we will forgive you not meeting certain things based on out interview with you and your general attitude.  The SP and experience criteria are interchangeable, we might accept a 5m sp character with a ton of solo kills or a 30m sp character with only 1, however if you dont meet either of those requirements please do not apply.

The most common gangs we fly are:

Wolf Packs (Both t1 and t2 frigs)

t1 Cruisers

Shield BCs

Nano BCs

Therefore we would prefer you to be able to bring a ship to any of the above gangs.

Korg Tronix

University Director

The Coercer Rocks

I have decided fuck having lots of mids......who needs mids.  However I am not going to join my minmatar brothers and fly those weird two mid ships, thats too many mids.....I am going to fly the golden space fork....The Coercer.

Here is my fit.


[Coercer, 1 Mid Best Mid]
Tracking Enhancer II
Heat Sink II
Damage Control II
400mm Reinforced Rolled Tungsten Plates I

Warp Disruptor II

Dual Light Pulse Laser II, Imperial Navy Multifrequency S
Dual Light Pulse Laser II, Imperial Navy Multifrequency S
Dual Light Pulse Laser II, Imperial Navy Multifrequency S
Dual Light Pulse Laser II, Imperial Navy Multifrequency S
Dual Light Pulse Laser II, Imperial Navy Multifrequency S
Dual Light Pulse Laser II, Imperial Navy Multifrequency S
Dual Light Pulse Laser II, Imperial Navy Multifrequency S
Dual Light Pulse Laser II, Imperial Navy Multifrequency S

Small Energy Collision Accelerator I
Small Energy Metastasis Adjuster I
Small Energy Metastasis Adjuster I


Who needs prop mods.....pah, I have 330dps or 17km optimal with 260dps.

So I flew this last night and had some tasty kills in it.  I was there hanging around in the top belt (Hey I have to act like a Heretic sometimes) when a very unfortunate pilot landed 11km from me.  One long point and 3 volleys later and this was posted in local.

Tiger Blades > The Fuck??

I had liberated him of his Slicer shaped confines and allowed his pod to get all the invisible space vacuum it could want.

I then noticed another frigate on scan I could possibly bait into shooting my poor one mid ship......I mean my powerful space vessel.  Warp to the Osso gate there was a Rifter that was obviously feeling frisky, as he started shooting and I returned fire.  It took alot longer to kill than the slicer but eventually I liberated another trapped pod.

After a good start to the evening I decided to go watch some telly at this point whilst I had alot of momentum going......what do you mean that was a stupid idea.
So once I got back from wasting the momentum built up in front of the idiot box, I went back out in the Coercer and eventually ended up coming across a C&P celeb Lady Spank in his DD.  At this point, buoyed by my earlier successes I decided that I would try my one mid glory boat against the king of frigs.
Warping to the spot he was in, only to find he had warped towards me....eventually we landed on each other and after stupidly setting auto repeat off on my guns/point originally we got down to the brawl.  It was a close one but my ship had just enough buffer to kill the DD as I entered structure.

I did look some more after this but I mean when you kill a DD in a shit ship it does make you reluctant to risk your glorious vessel.

Korg

Music

  

Frigate Tournament (In Detail)

So I have mentioned that I will be organising a frigate tournament.  I have had some decent interest so far, mostly from outside my own corp which is nice.  I will list below a more in depth run down of how the frigate tournament will be organised and hopefully this will convince more people to sign up.

Firstly the Rules

1. You HAVE to fit a point - This is a pvp tournament and as with real world pvp without a point you wont get far, and I really don't want ridiculous frigate fits that wouldnt be viable usually (i.e. Dual Rep Punishers, Webbing Wolfs etc.)
2. There will be a designated area for which these matches take place, leaving this area forfeits the fight.  Only exception to this is if the other person has obviously violated a rule him/herself.
3. There will be no ECM modules allowed.  Although it is a perfectly viable tactic I would prefer for competitions sake that everyone doesn't turn up in Griffin/Kitsunes and perma jams everyone.  This doesn't make for an interest competition.  ECM Drones are also not allowed for the same reason, except replace Griffin/Kitsune with Ishkur/Worm etc.
4. All frigates are allowed (including Griffins/Kitsunes) but I reserve the right to change this rule, as I want this to be as competitive a tournament as possible.
5. Each match will be timed, there will be a maximum of 2 minutes per fight.  If both frigates are still alive after this (well done) the fight will be declared a draw and they will have to wait until the other fights in that round are played out before being able to settle the match.  For example if you are the first fight and you draw, you will need to wait until the end of that rounds matches before replaying your match.
6. Each pilot can use any frig they want each round, as soon as you undock for your match you cannot redock.  For example, you could use a Taranis in round 1 and then a Slicer in round 2, however you cannot undock, see what your opponent is in and then change your ship accordingly.
7. There will be no using booster alts during the tournament, I have no problem with you faction fitting your frigates but booster alts are out of the question.  You will be fleeted with me (Korg Tronix) and your opponent during your fight, if you drop fleet prior to the fight ending you will be disqualified.

Time, Place and Date

The time and date of the tournament will be GMT (UTC) timezone between 7-12 and I will hold it over the week of the 5th to 11th of December.  The flexibility in the date is try and give a chance for the most people to take part, the timezone is because, as much as I love the people who play EvE, I live in UK and I really don't want to be up at 2 in the morning to run a frigate tourney. 

As for the location, I will hold it in the Bosboger system (4j from Rens).  This system is 1j from high sec which will make logistics for everyone taking part as easy as possible.  The high sec gate is rarely camped and the system is fairly quiet so its also unlikely we will be disturbed.

Any change to the details above I will message you in game.

And now for the fun bits

The Prizes

1st Prize - Vigilant Cruiser - The Serpentis cruiser requires Gallente and Minmatar Cruiser skills and is fitted with hybrids.  It produces a ridiculously high amount of DPS and has a web strength bonus.  Of course thats only relevant if you want to keep it, it currently sells for 300-350mil

2nd Prize - Navy Faction Cruiser of your choice - Exactly as it says, you choose a faction cruiser from 1 of the 4 empire factions.

3rd Prize - Navy Faction Frigate of your choice - Same as above but a frigate instead.

'I lol at you' Award - Navy Faction Frigate of your choice - This will be awarded to the person who comes in the most loltastic frigate and has success i.e. winning in a combat cov ops will score some major brownies with me.  WARNING - If everyone turns up in funny ships it is no longer funny.

The Footage

I would love it if everyone could fraps their fights during this tournament.  I aim to make a video with as much footage as possible contained in it.  Obviously this is subject to your computer actually being able to, I don't want anyone burning out graphics cards.


If you want to enter, eve mail me in game at 'Korg Tronix' and join the 'Frigate PVP' mailing list

Korg

Best Ship In Class (Cause I want to get in on the bandwagon)

So there have been plenty (two) blogs so far on the subject of best in class for each of the ship types in EvE.  Personally these sorts of lists will never be agreed on and are very dependant on the situation you find yourself in.  Although I thought I would get in on the act for the fun of it anyway, so here goes my list of the 'Best in Class'.

Frigates

T1 Frigate: There isn't much to choose between each of the races top combat frigates and on their day they can each defeat each other in a fight however, I am going to have to say the Rifter purely because it is the most forgiving to a young pilot and is ridiculously easy to fit.

Assault Frigate: Once again the Assault Class of Frigate is fairly even, there are some duds (Retribution) but most can be extremely competitive in the PVP field but again as above I will have to give this to Minmatar and their Jaguar as it is the most forgiving for the young pilot when they first get into t2 frigates.  Once on an even playing field (SP and experience wise) it is a toss up between the Ishkur, Jaguar and Hawk.  The Jaguar retains its greatness regardless of SP but the other to become exponentially better the more SP you have to invest.

Combat Interceptor: Although the Crusader is a great combat inty, the title will always go to the Taranis which is quite possibly one of the best non-faction solo frigates and give them a run for there money.  The AB+Rep fit feels more like a fast AF than an Inty.

Tackle Interceptor: As long as we forget the Raptor the others are fairly interchangeable in the tackle role however, the title goes to the Malediction because you have the option to use it solo.

Cov Ops(Combat): Not going to comment on there probing abilities as they can all probe equally well.  I will instead give my opinion on them as combat frigates, and although the Helios has the best tank/gank ratio in this role the Buzzard gets the nod as it can cloak and is nearly cap stable which adds a lot to survivability in long fights.

Cov Ops(Bomber): I haven't got huge amounts of experience with stealth bombers except in gangs, and Hounds seemed the bees knees there but Solo the Manticore is better due to having mid slots.

Navy Faction: This in my opinion is possibly one of the best balanced classes of Frigates, they are all good and all have there benefits.  The best though is either the Hookbill or the Slicer just because both melt/splode most frigates in most situations.

Pirate Faction: I would be panned through the floor if I didn't say the best is the Dramiel but I think it is dependent on the situation. The Dramiel is the best for a general solo roam where everything is fair game, purely because once shit hits the fan you can run however, if you are out aiming for frigate fights then the best changes and becomes the Daredevil (Rail or Blasters).  I will say overall the Dramiel wins due to its ability to be great or good in most situations.

Electronic Warfare Frigates: Sentinel, no discussion.

Destroyer: Not much to say about the Destroyers, they all kill most frigates well but the Thrasher does it best.
Interdictor: For the bubble dropping role, they are all good.  Solo however its the same as the Destroyer class the Sabre(t2 Thrasher) wins it.  Note that everyone knows this though and are unlikely to engage a solo sabre in a frigate.

T1 Cruiser: Its between the Rupture and Vexor in the t1 Cruiser class at least from a combat perspective.  I cant decide between them so I will go with the only other cruiser that is worthwhile outside of specialist gangs the Blackbird.

Heavy Assault Cruiser: HACs are a great class of ship, pretty much all at least someway workable to a decent combat ship but there are only two that stand out above the rest in pretty much every role.  The Vagabond and the Zealot.  The Vagabond is the better solo boat (Due to being able to run regularly), the Zealot is the better gang boat being able to join AHAC (well duh) and Nano gangs depending on the fit.

Combat Recons: The Curse is the best solo Recon (In my opinion) so it would stand to reason that its the best Combat Recon too.  Its also great at gang work.

Force Recons: Falcon wins it here, nothing causes more rage and turns the tides of fights better than a Falcon.

Logis: I personally have no experience of logistics cruisers other than being repped by them, but I have heard good things about all.

Navy Faction: The Stabber Fleet Issue wins it for me, its brilliantly versatile whether you want a buffer cruiser, nano shield cruiser or dual rep active cruiser this thing can pull it off well.  Also the tracking on this thing is insane and with its tiny sig (can get it as low as some frigates) it lasts ages.

Pirate Faction: Cynabal, great damage, speed and the agility of a frigate(ish) you cant go wrong with a Cynabal.

Battlecruiser: its a toss up between the Cane and the Drake, they both have great nano/kite fits and both have tank/gank fits.  Personally the Drake is my number one for PVP.  Not even going to make any points for PVE

Field Command Ships: Slepneir or Abso are both brilliant PVP ships but as people like to blob solo ships I will go with the slep because of its speed.

Fleet Command Ships: Fairly Interchangeable depending on gangs but Claymore sees most use in my world and wins it for me. Claymore also makes a fairly good combat ship in its own right.

T3s: Tengu

Battleship: On the battleship front, its a decision between the Tempest and the Abaddon for me.  Solo the Tempest wins out but in gangs the Abaddon is best (plus you can make pretty rainbows)

Marauders: Golem or Vargur but I have no experience so I'm not going to comment

Black Ops: Not going to bother, have no experience and only about 500 people fly them :)

Navy Faction BS: I have rarely seen these ships in a PVP role but in the PVE world the Raven Navy Issue wins so I will give the overall title to it.

Pirate Faction BS: Machariel wins completely due to its speed and the mentality of people when pirate faction comes on d-scan.

On the Capital front I have absolutely no experience as I never intend to fly one so instead will defer to the populace on that one and most seem to be split between Gallente and Amarr on the Carrier(both types) front.  I imagine its the same on the Titan front too due to there being slaves.

Now the easy ones

Industrial: Mammoth or Itty 5, this does depend on what you want to do with your industrial though.
Transport: Viator or Prowler, again dependent on role.
Mining Barge(lol): Cant be arsed to write something here oh wait
Freighter: I imagine these are fairly interchangeable they haul large amounts thats it.

So thats it my list of 'Best in Class'....dons flame retardant jacket.....flame on.

Korg