More AF stuff

So its been a couple of days since the AF buff now and I have managed to get a couple of good fights in mine, including my first solo fights.

Catalyst vs. Hawk vs. Taranis with Friends

I have been trying out the Hawk mainly, as I am a big fan of rockets and with the extra mids a I can fly a Hawk how I flew my hookbills....with dual webs.  Out in Egg I found a Catalyst in a belt and thought this would be a good test of the new AFs fighting a destroyer.  The Catalyst only has two mids though which meant I had little problem dictating the range this fight occurred at and with the increased damage this fight ended quickly.
I caught a couple of more ships on scan and started to slow boat away from 0 on the belt and low and behold a ranis landed in belt, with his Myrmidon buddy on scan I knew this would need to be a fast fight.  The ranis caught up quickly and got a scram on me, I put my webs and scram on him, opening fire as soon as this happened.  He started to bleed HP fast and popped just in time as his mate in the Myrmidon landed and I warped off.

Hawk Vs. Jaguar

This was my first real test of the Hawk, a newly 'buffed' Jaguar.  This was a good fight getting into scram range of each other we locked each other up and started firing.  Webbing each other though meant that I was the faster frigate, obviously this Jaguar hadn't decided to use an armour jaguar with the fact I could keep at 8km and still do my full damage this fight wasn't terribly close and eventually my advantage in buffer and dps meant there was only one outcome.

I don't know how close this would have been if the Jaguar was armour tanked, with the weakness in kinetic resists it has, it would probably have been closer but still coming out with a win for the Hawk.  This is the same thing I have noticed with most of the new AFs when compared to the Hawk, with the new slot and damage bonus those that can't get close will lose and those that can, can't win the damage race anymore.  It also has the extra gtfo ability as it can now fit dual webs on a shield fit.  It's still too early too say which AF I will fly most regularly yet as I have yet to test my Vengeance out properly but with the damage bonus both it and the Hawk have received its easy to see me only flying those for the foreseeable future.

Check out the newest video released by Liang Nuren, containing some great fights the US Tz Heretics have been getting recently.  Almost makes me want to get up a 6 to play with these guys.

Amamake Fun III

Korg

It wouldn't let me embed his vid so I thought I would embed mine instead :)

Will be working on a new vid this month once my University works dies down again.  So far the ships used a Buzzard, Hawk, Vengeance, Hookbill and Rifters.  Will try and capture some blaster footage whilst I still have some blaster boats in Amamake.

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

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