Territorial Claim Unit anchored...

Well, Dominion is almost done, and our alliance has started taken Sov after living in NPC 0.0 for a few months. It had to happen, we have NAPed most of our neighbors, and the ones we didn't hug stations when we come around now, so we need to travel far to get any good fights. This is the beginning of our move to new hunting grounds, and I for one look forward to it.

Late to log in, I see a CTA in alliance, open up a chat and find the fleet already in position at a staging POS, and only about a dozen alliance members in our NPC 0.0 hub. After having lost a Megathron in a stupid race to a POS bash a couple weeks ago, I started rallying folks who were late to the party to fly up in Interceptors and Assault Frigates. Only 3 of us to fly, we made it in time to unload our ammo into both the Infrastructure Hub and the Territorial Claim Unit.

At it's peak, the fleet of about 50 was capital heavy, with only 15 support (BS and smaller), caps, moms and dreads on the field. We now hold Sov in two systems. Watch this space for more as it comes. We aren't very strong in US TZ, so the fleet was impressive for the amount of high-end DPS we can field in this TZ when necessary.

What's in your hangar

Well, as I'm trying to get back in the swing of the blogging, I thought I'd join in on this one. I'll use my combat hangar in 0.0, although technically it's 2 hangars in two stations...

• 1 Nasty Neut Domi


• 2 Megathrons - one is a sniper, one short range melter


• 2 Myrmidons - one for ratting, one for roaming


• 1 Brutix - Blaster Brute, nothing unusual here


• 1 Arazu - this guy is my covert cyno pointer. The second most expensive ship I fly


• 2 Phobos - set up with a heavy tank, EFT claims over 100k EHP - these are the most expensive ships I own at the moment


• 3 Eris' - yep, more interdiction fun. My favorite is the one with the prototype cloak...


• 4 Nemesis' - two are standard painter/damps, two are...tackle bombers


• 1 Viator - because sometimes you just gotta GTFO


• 2 Taranis' - my favorite. That's why I only have two left at the moment down here, and 3 in transit...


• 1 Ares - not sure how I feel about this guy yet.


• 1 Thorax - because you sometimes need a T1 fit, T1 cruiser


• 2 Enyos - these are my alternates for the Taranis


• 2 Helios' - duplicates, cloaky scout/small transit ship


• 1 Ishkur - this is still a naked hull, not sure how I want her set up


• 2 Rifters - gee, what a surprise...


• 1 Fed Navy Comet - because everyone needs a faction ship in their hangar

Just for the fun of it I did a quick ship inventory in all of New Eden - Ignoring Noobships and Shuttles, I have 65 ships around, at least 50 of them are cruiser or larger, at least 15 are T2 hulls, and about 55 are fit and ready to go. That helps me sleep at night, knowing I am mostly prepared.

And very off Meme, yes I fly Gallente, but not super drone man - I have a rough 8.5 million SP in gunnery, and it's almost all in Hybrid Turrets and support skills. You do the math...

FNF: Thanatos Down!

From the EVE Wiki:

"EVERYONE WANTS A CAPITAL SHIP KILL MAIL. Remember that, EVERYONE wants one. FREAKIN EVERYONE! If your grandmother that doesn’t play Eve heard about their awesomeness, she’d want one too."

Logging in around 01:15, it's quiet. No fleets up, no serious reports in Intel or Alliance chat. I say Hi to Illauron and Jack, both of whom are online. Within minutes, there is spam in alliance chat from Chad VanGaalen requesting DPS for a carrier kill. Everyone wants a carrier kill in their logs, right? I hop in the best BC I have (actually, the only BC I have in 4C at the moment), a Neutron Brutix, and undock, join fleet and get the destination from Chad's current location. 18 jumps out... ugh, OK fleet is forming up but we are short an FC. I warp to the LGUZ gate, and as I land there is a neut frigate there. I spin up the tracking boosters, start targeting, get set to release my drones...oops. I've undocked without any drones. I still target him, and unload a couple rounds (missing as I am fit with T2 Heavy Neutron blasters and am still 8k away from a frigate) as he jumps back out of the gate. I head back to the station to correct my drone mistake as the fleet continues to build.
Undock again, and head back to the gate, and finally an FC calls and we are to hold on LGUZ until the fleet is ready. At this point Chad is getting a little nervous about how long it will take us, the Thanatos is doing a plex and is almost done. Chad tells us to "burn burn burn" best speed to 00GD-D. There are about 10 of us on gate, as we jump into LGUZ (still without a scout) and we start running for Fountain. The fleet continues to grow as we make our way down the Sword pipe in Outer Ring, and after 3 jumps we've got a scout moving +1 then 2 systems ahead. As all pilots are burning best speed, the fleet is staggered across multiple systems, which (in retrospect) may have helped us. Just as we are approaching Fountain Chad informs us that the Thanatos is aligning out, and has finished the plex. The FC calls for him to tackle and the fleet to move as fast as possible. The actual destination is posted, with directions to avoid the IT station system next door, we are headed for CHA2-Q. Chad is holding the carrier in his Tengu, steady at 90% shields, we are burning as fast as our Battlecruisers will take us ignoring everything (including neutrals on gates) in an effort to get to Chad.
"There is a Paladin on the field" Chad reports "I'm being targeted."
Fo Shizz (FC) tells him to hold on as best he can, and our logistics and interdictor to burn ahead and get support as soon as possible. We are still 8 jumps out.
"1/3 shields" Chad's voice is a little nervous - he's in a Tech 3 cruiser and will lose a ton of skill points if he gets popped. "I have to warp out - and the carrier is warping out too."
The fleet continues to move, forming up on the C1XD-X gate in 00GD-D. Scout goes +1 again, as we now sit on gate, 17 Battlecruisers deep in IT/BLAST territory, waiting as Chad smacks in local with the carrier pilot.
"I've got him convinced I'm alone. He's headed to another complex" Chad reports. "I'm scanning him down now. I've got him - warping in."
We jump into C1XD-X, now two jumps out and aligning to B32-14 as Chad comes back up "Crap. He's warping back to his POS." The fleet stops two jumps out, on the B32-14 gate in C1XD-X, as Shizz comes up on comms.
"Everyone log out now. Log out, log back in to the character screen and stare at your pretty picture. DO NOT click any further. Log out NOW."
A tense few minutes follow as we sit blind, on vent, waiting for instruction. Shizz begins instructing us on the procedure to follow. "Ok - when we log in, jump, warp, jump, then join fleet. Do NOT join fleet until you are in system with Chad, then warp to him."
There's a lot of chatter on Vent now.
"Fleet comms guys. I'm going to mute people if you don't shut up!" barks Shizz.
"Ok" Chad speaks up "I've got him pointed again"
"Everyone log in and jump jump jump!" commands Shizz.
"The Paladin is back on the field" reports Chad.
We are auto-warping back to the gate. A fleet invite pops up on my screen. I click at it to make it go away.
"I'm at 50% shields" reports Chad.
As I land on the B32 gate, I start spamming the jump button. You cannot complete this action due to fleet smacktalk Crap. I clicked the join button on the fleet. 30 seconds of waiting before I can jump. I kick myself for explicitly doing what Shizz warned us not to, but since I'm stuck I go ahead and add Chad to my watch list. Smacktalk ends (the longest 30 seconds of my day) and I'm able to jump - warp - jump into CHA2-Q. Chad is now getting reps as the logistics and dictor have landed on the field. We target the fighters and drones first, Chad has to warp off to break target locks and repair up, everyone lays damage on the Paladin, which pops fairly quickly, then we start in on the carrier, which has entered Triage. Armor tanked carrier takes no real time to go through shields, but he's got a good tank and great repping, as we can't break his tank. Everyone is unloading everything we've got on this Thanatos, and we can't get him below 50% armor. There is some discussion of overheating, but we are waiting. Local starts to climb, and our scout goes to G95F-H to make sure an IT fleet does not drop on us and ruin our day.
The carrier goes into another triage cycle as we continue to unload our ammo into it, still not breaking the tank. Now our fleet has grown to 26 as we continue to unload into the carrier, now in it's third triage cycle. Suddenly an Iteron is on the field, headed for the carrier.
"Target the hauler. Target the hauler. They are attempting to re-stront the carrier!"
4 guys pop the Itty, and the can, and the wreck, before the carrier can re-stront. I check my hold. I have 4 rounds left in the hold and 23 rounds in my guns. I cycle down the guns, unload to the hold, and ungroup my weapons. I'm going to run out of ammo before we finish this, and there's a fight brewing on the way out! I get the guns reloaded and start them firing again, just as we break the tank a support gang finally arrives. We start targeting the support gang under orders until the FC realizes we have broken the carrier tank.
"All DPS on the carrier - All DPS on the carrier - overload your weapons - DO NOT burn them out" orders Fo Shizz, as we continue to unload on the carrier, his support fleet (which has been jammed beautifully by King Voodoo) warps off, realizing we have won the carrier and they will be cannon fodder in moments. My guns are cycling empty. I have one blaster with 23 rounds left as space fills with a bright blue explosion and the carrier ceases to be.

EVE Blog Banter 17: The Ladies of New Eden

The EVE blog banter is a great way to test the pulse of the blogging community on a variety of issues. In previous incarnations the banter was one of the items I worked hard to write for regularly. It's hosted by Crazy Kinux, and the latest discusses women and EVE.

Crazy Kinux is... one of those who believes that, though the game should not be changed to specifically go after that part of the gaming population, EVE Online would greatly benefit if somehow the balance the 2 genders roaming New Eden would lean towards an equilibrium. So I ask...
What could CCP Games do to attract and maintain a higher percentage of women to the game. Will Incarna do the trick? Can anything else be done in the mean time? Can we the players do our part to share the game we love with our counterparts, with our sisters or daughters, with the Ladies in our lives? What could be added to the game to make it more attractive to them? Should anything be changed? Is the game at fault, or its player base to blame?

I think EVE suffers overall from a limited, focused playerbase. Let's face it MMOs in general target specific audiences, and although there are women in those audiences (I have gamed with women all the way back to junior high D&D), they are not as prevalent as men. What could CCP do? Well, to begin with let's look at the overall marketing strategy of EVE:
"It's your destiny - shape it as you will"

While that sounds good, it's not a clear message to sell the game to anyone, let alone women who aren't already MMO gamers. The excellent trailer created a while ago called "The Butterfly Effect" is the closest thing to a marketing piece that might, almost, appeal to a potential lady of New Eden. Why? Because women are, by and large, social creatures. I've been married 7 years and with my wife for almost 11, and one thing I see from her, the people we know, and the people we meet, is that in general, (and yes, I'm generalizng) women would look at the marketing campaign for EVE Online and say, "bleh, spaceships. Why would I want to do that?"

In reality, EVE doesn't need to change for women to play, although they may be more prone to emoragequit when they suffer the inevitable suicide gank or losec gatecamp. EVE offers everything that can appeal to women - it's a social environment (text chat, voice chat, interactions) and there are aspects of EVE that don't consume your every waking moment (various industry roles, anyone?), and there are competitive aspects to EVE (PvP, Market Gaming) that appeal to those who are more competitive. The problem is the message, and the venue. I don't see EVE ads when I'm shopping for flowers or anniversary gifts - only on my tech-geek sites. I know online advertising is targeted, but they need to reach beyond the target audience.

How does CCP market something so deep, so broad? With the easiest, broadest message: "It's your destiny - shape it as you will." If they were serious about expanding the playerbase to include women, they would need to market more about EVE than Sov warfare and large fleet battles, even though that's the endgame. Perhaps a campaign that focuses on the industrial side of EVE, especially with Tyrannis on the horizon, is the appropriate angle. EVE isn't for everyone, but right now, CCP is only marketing it to the fans. It's like telling a baseball fan how great it is to see a game in Fenway Park. They already get it - they aren't the folks you really need to market to (although you can't ignore them). A side benefit of marketing the other aspects of EVE? You would get more than just women - you would get those folks who are at best fringe fans of space/scifi - and introduce them to the grand, social world that is New Eden.

Other participants in the banter:

• Astral’s EVE Trial By Fire


• The Cataclysmic Variable


• Depths Unknown


• Diary of a Garbageman


• Errant Thoughts


• Eveoganda


• EVE SOB


• Garhead


• The Ghost’s Report


• Hydrostatic Capsule


• La Vie D ‘Une Capsuliere


• Learning to Fly


• Life in Low Sec


• Linked Dreams


• Michael Williams – Master of None


• The Nomadic Gamer


• Ombeve


• Prano’s Journey


• Random Updates (I Guess)


• Rantucket


• Record of Alva Dyson


• Starfleet Comms


• Where the frack is my ship?


• Talk Nerdy To Me


• Wench with a Wrench
  
  

Saying goodbye to the house you grew up in

After almost two years in EVE, I joined a Player Corporation last summer. Aurora Security (A.SEC) was (at the time) in Faction War on the side of Gallente. Within days of joining they left FW, with frustration of the blobs and problems with FW that have been well documented elsewhere. For a short period we were just a LoSec based corp, doing some wormholes, L4/L5 missions as a corp, a variety of industry, and some plexing. We lived under NBSI in our world, which meant we had targets all the time. A.SEC was my first real introduction to what EVE is meant to be. A group of players across the world working together and for them the game was all about fun. I learned how to fly safely in losec and 0.0 courtesy of Mr. Teu (retired). I learned about scouting roams, fitting long-range versus short-range, gank vs. tank, how to escape a gate camp (or at least have a chance). I moved to 0.0 with A.SEC, was introduced to bubbles, POS bashing (which I still can't do well), hot drops and bomber squads.

A.SEC fluctuated between 6-10 active members in my timezone in the early days. We fielded our own gangs for roams, we had groups to hassle invaders in our space (pre-Dominion), players who were new and old. An unfortunate turn of events led us to a rapid move from our first 0.0 home, which left several players with their entire hangar stranded in enemy territory. This happened to coincide with a few very active folks getting burnout and we went from having a steady 6-10 players online anytime to 4-5. We settled into our new alliance quickly though, and were able to contribute effectively and were recognized as a good addition. Life with Art of Defiance (-FFS-) was more interesting for A.SEC - this was a true PvP alliance, on roams, camps, ops daily, if not daily for each major TZ. FFS was made up (mostly) of experienced players - folks who had been playing for 2+ years. This was good and bad - lots of experience but lots of folks on the edge of burnout. During a particularly difficult stretch we had a new neighbor arrive in the form of Dead Terrorists (IKILU). After some preliminary shooting at each other, FFS and DT formed a NAP with the intent to drive Vanguard. out of their current residence. That worked well, with Vanguard departing within a couple months. However, FFS was seeing lower and lower participation, with the onset of holidays, new games, and just general burnout, and recruiting was not easy. A.SEC was suffering the same path of the alliance, but with optimism we moved forward, and FFS corps merged into DT.

A.SEC continued to struggle with recruiting and activity, and since DT is an aggressive PvP alliance, there were concerns all around about losing our access to 0.0 and the fun combat we love due to inactivity. It was decided to merge our PvP toons into a sister-corp from FFS that was also part of DT - Royal Enterprise (RENT). So, with much chagrin, I logged into EVE and dropped roles from A.SEC. First note: when you drop roles you lose access to everything - corp hangars, POS hangars, everything. Fortunately I was clear of assets in corp hangars, but if I'd realized that I would have waited a couple of days to help move assets about. The other part of this is that you can apply to a new corp as soon as you drop roles - and after the 24-hour cool down you can be accepted and just move from one corp to the other directly.

I will miss my time with A.SEC - although many of the other PvP pilots are joining me in RENT - it was my first true home in EVE, and the players I worked with impressed me with their willingness to educate and their great attitudes. With regret, I say goodbye to the house I grew up in - Aurora Security may you survive, thrive and grow through this tough time.

FNF: Central Serpentis Sparking Transmitter

Friday Night Flights (FNF)
(originally posted Sept. 12, 2009)

Friday seems to be the best night of the week for me to log in and fly, and I've managed to have two exciting ones in a row. Mr. Teu asked me to fill out the report for our evening's adventures. Enjoy...

Life in 0.0 is new, and seems to involve a lot of cloaking, which makes me happy that the first ship I had out here was a scouting Helios. Friday night starts out quiet. Andro Missle from PoV is playing games in A2 when I log in - Vinny, Cracy and Mr. Teu are playing right back. Andro is in a Manticore, but with suddenly 4 of us in system, he decides to log off. Vinny gets some bookmarks set up out in A2 and logs as well, leaving Cracy, Teu and myself alone in A2 to do some ratting. I borrow a Brutix from Teu (thanks!) as I don't have anything larger than a Cruiser down here yet. We start hopping belts, looking for a good set of Serpentis Admirals on patrol, when Pascal Mage logs in. Now Pascal Mage is a serious warrior. He has over 400 kills logged in his two years of flying, many of those in a Gallente Megathron. We all quickly switch back to our ASSHAT ships, taking up position around PoV's Starbase, watching. Pascal first bops around in a capsule (oh, the wish to have a way to penetrate those shields!), then hops into a shuttle. Thinking he's going to make a run out to C4, I leave my station observation post to a random spot in the system, and drop a set of scan probes, in anticipation of having the system to ourselves. I instruct Aura to reactivate my cloak as I return to my idle spot above the PoV Starbase, and bring up my system scan grid.

"Sweaty - get out" exclaim's Mr. Teu tersely.
"Don't worry about the probe's I dropped them to scan" I reply, thinking he's concerned about the new scan probes in system
"No - you're not cloaked - GET OUT!"
I check my command consoe, and sure enough, I'm sitting 300k from the PoV station in a paper thin Helios - visible to anyone who's looking. I quickly warp to a spot about 100k from anywhere in system, reactivating my cloak.
"He's hopped into a Rapier" Mr Teu informs us.
"i'm sorry - I don't know why my cloak didn't enable. I swear I warped away, launched my probes, then came back cloaked" I apologize, cursing myself for not double-checking the status of my cloak.
"Don't worry about it. Let's get back to the POS and put up a show of force. Make him log off or leave. Everyone get into the biggest ship you can fly, even if you can't run any of the modules" replies Teu.
As we warp into the POS, I find myself boarding a Dominix class battleship for the first time. "Well, I can actually run everything fitted here except the remote reppers" - I guess I'm close to flying a battleship, I think happily.
Suddely Andro Missle logs back in. Teu's angry voice crackles over comms "Dammit. They've called our bluff. They've got a Manticore and a Rapier - we can't take that."

Still sitting safe inside the POS shields, I'm still basking in the excitement of flying a battleship as Teu tells us "put the big stuff away - they've called our bluff. We can't take them. Get back into your cloakies, warp to a safe spot and go get a beer - we'll try to wait them out."
Cracy laughs " That's a good thing, I couldn't run anything on that Battleship except a couple of the mids"
Teu laughs as well. "Well sit them out. Don't log off, we don't want them to know what hours we are on" I look quickly at the clock - 23:05. Hmm. Well, it is Friday. I can sit it out for a while. I hop back into my Helios and warp out to a safe spot in system, just as Teu's voice comes back over the radio "They are leaving the POS - everyone make sure you are cloaked up and deep safe!" Just as we check our status, both Andro and Pascal reach the Stargate and exit the system.

Taking my chance, I uncloak, drop 4 probes, recloak and warp to another location - checking that my cloak is active before activating my scanner.
"Well, I'm going to get back to ratting," says Cracy. "I really want an officer spawn."
"We'll support you on that" says Teu. "Sweaty, hop into a cruiser - I want us mobile in case they come back"
"I"ll be there in a few minutes - just want to scan the system and see if there's anything fun to do" I reply.

Aura quickly informs me of two signatures in system. One is a known Serpentis Port. I warp to it, recognize that it's mostly frigates and cruisers. As I continue to scan down the other site, my curiosity is piqued when i find it is a radar site. After some pinpointing, I discover that our system houses a Central Serpentis Sparking Transmitter. I report that over the comms.
"We'll probably have to wait for Pierre" says Teu "we don't have the ships to take something like that"
Disappointed but understanding his desire to keep the young pilots under his wing alive, I begin a search on the anomaly. Aura quickly recognizes a similar site in Guristas space:

A myriad of technological marvels inhabit this area of space, the physical guts of a powerful and well protected computerized network. A codebreaker module will be invaluable in uncovering the secrets that are likely hidden here, locked away inside data vaults and heavily encrypted digital networks.

"Teu, accoding to what I can find, it's got 12 missile batters, a pair of Battleships, and is a hacking site. I've warped in at 100, and that's all I see. Aura reports that when you approach within 30k it only spawns a wave of 8 mixed crusiers and frigates"
"Really? Can you use a codebreaker?"
"Yeah - I've done it a couple of times in losec"
"OK, let's formulate a plan"
Minutes later Cracy has a flight of drones destroying the missile batteries, one by one, and Teu is leading the two admirals far from the transmitter. WIthin a few more moments, the admirals ships are floating wrecks, and I move in to the transmitter, activating my codebreaker.
From datacenter to mainframe to communcations tower, I move through the 5 structures with my codebreaker, acquiring the secrets of this Serpentis complex. After hacking into the databank, I am excitied to find a collection of high-tech ship invention tools and components.

Collecting our rewards, we head back to the starbase, reveling in the possibility of tens of millions of ISK in sales from our discovery. Tired, I am ready to fly to my safe spot and sleep for the night, when Cracy's voice comes back over comms, somewhat excited. "I have a Triple Admiral Faction spawn here - there's a Shadow Serpentis admiral in the belt!" The sounds of explosions echo over the comms "Man they can hit hard too" he says, somewhat nervously.
"We'll be right there" replies Teu. "I'll borrow Deka's repper - Sweaty get in my Brutix and get out there"

We quickly warp to Cracy, finding him holding somewhat steady while dodging most of the fire from the three admiral's battleships. WIth our arrival, they refocus their attention on Mr Teu, as the battleship he has borrowed suddenly is the target of three angry Serpentis officers. Unfortunately, they have neglected the flights of drones released by Cracy and myself, and let Cracy get in close with his blaster-fit Brutix. Moments later the battleships are falling to our assault, one by one. Excited, Cracy reminds us both "I get any faction modules - I found them!" Just as reports come in of multiple PoV pilots two systems out, in YVA.
"Crap" says Teu. "I'm not letting them have this stuff. Sweaty get in there and loot the wrecks. Cracy, if you can get into a salvager we want to get that battleship salvaged" I'll guard for their arrival - if we don't get it all before they get here I'll pop these wrecks myself"

A tense 5 minutes follows, as we quickly move from wreck to wreck, gathering the remains from the destroyed ships.
"We have three Shadow Serpentis Modules here and 1000 rounds of large ammo - it's all your's Cracy" I report on the officer's wreck. Cracy whoops lightly, as we continue our work. FInally, just as the clock chimes two, we have recovered all the salvageable components from the wrecks, boarded our covert ops ships, and flown to our respective safe spots. As we all settled in for a well-earned rest, visions of ISK and advanced ships floated before my eyes. All in all, a very profitable and exciting Friday Night Flight...

Fuzzy Logic: I like small ships

So I spend a lot of my time learning about PvP. I've flown PvE for almost two years before I joined a PvP corp. There's a funny thing about PvP that I'm finally starting to grasp - bigger is not always better. I've been flying small PvP ships (Interceptors, Assault Frigates) for about 6 months, and I make fewer mistakes than I used to (but I still make them) when taking them into fleet action. I scout pretty well (at least my FCs have said that), but I can fly larger stuff. I'm comfortable in BattleCruisers, and I'm starting to dabble in T2 cruisers (Recons and HICs), and I can fly Battleships.

Or, perhaps I should say, I have the EVE skills to fly Battleships. I've done a little plexing in an RR/Drone Domi, and I've taken a Sniper Mega into two POS battles. The Domi is still around, but both of the Megas died in their first engagements. One was just bad luck (got webbed at a POS bash and alpha'd by the POS gunners), the other was stupidity (never fly a small BS gang without a scout through active enemy space to a POS bash). But seriously, I really don't feel comfortable in those behemoths. Even though I can fit a full T2 Megathron, I don't feel comfortable flying it. Piloting styles are different as your ship gets larger, and flying a Battleship is much like flying a mining barge (in my experience) - big, slow to align, and quick to be targeted. It didn't stop me last night though...

I was in station, dealing with sorting some corp BPs when I started up Vent and looked for fleets. Sure enough, there was a fairly large fleet in action, but nothing in the fleet finder. I started pinging in alliance to find out where they were, what they needed, anything. I'm a team player (not a KM whore) and I'll bring out a ship to help alliance. They were flying sniper battleships at a POS takedown, 16 jumps out, with the last 7 or so in enemy territory. We were warned, enemy is active, and it's goons (a.k.a. SOLODRAKBAN), so be careful. I check in local (we've got 15 alliance in local atm) and only one other guy wants to get into the action, so we set out in our Sniper battleships (Apoc and Mega). That was, as I'm sure you experienced pilots know, our first mistake. Two battleships no scouts, and only intel is that "the road is clear most of the way, but there are goons about."

We get almost all the way to the POS bash (two systems out) when we jump (blind) into a "built-to-kill" gatecamp. Hurricane, Hurricane, Vagabond, Vagabond, Harbinger, Drake, Eris, Heretic, Stiletto, Falcon, Thrasher, Vengance, Cyclone, Stabber, Stabber. Two dictors, AFs, Intys, lots of DPS in Battlecruisers and HACs. I hold gatecloak, analyze the bubble I'm in, and find the nearest edge. Start to burn for the edge, MWD overheated, DCU on. My co-pilot is down in one volley, maybe two, and I'm out of the bubble. Second mistake: I didn't burn for a celestial - just the edge. I'm out of the bubble, and I align to the out-gate (third mistake). The secondary bubbler gets in range and suddenly I'm bubbled again, I'm targeted, and 3-pointed. No MWD, in a bubble, in a Battleship - I lasted maybe 30 seconds. I didn't get my pod out either. Oh well, 10 million isk in upgrading my clone (again). At least the ship was insured, and fitted with mostly T1 mods, so I break (almost) even on the insurance return. So I've flown Battleships twice into PvP combat, and lost them both in their first battles. On the other hand, I lost an interceptor last month that I'd flown regularly for almost 5 months. I'm sure the tides will change, but at this point, I like to fly small ships. I know the cost gets close to a Battleship hull when you fully fit and rig a T2 frigate, and the T2 cruiser is equal in price to a fully fit Battleship (if not more expensive), but I would rather fly those than the sub-capital king.