So I’ve moved back to Molden Heath. Those a bit older in the game will know the significance. If you don’t and want to read up on some alternative R1FTA past and present perspectives, check these out:
http://brutorbullfighter.blogspot.com/
https://semsrifter.blogspot.com/
The first is older and no longer active but will tell some of the original corporation history. The second is still active whenever the author get’s a chance.
First, some backstory. I was having fun staging out of Hakisalki in the pocket of low security space just outside of Hek, most notorious of trade hubs. X-13 corporation mostly kept to their side of Hagilur, the main passage to the vaster portions of low sec, where they camped the Rancer gate and Panic Attack corporation occasionally would camp the Bei gate in Hagilur. Not too big a deal as plenty of targets still came through as can be seen at the following:
https://zkillboard.com/kill/82870580/
https://zkillboard.com/kill/83183358/
https://zkillboard.com/kill/83183350/
Then Fetid corp moved in. At first, this was no big deal. The ship traffic I lost from their camping of the Bei gate were made up in fighting their time zone stragglers that were ratting like this little thing and moon miners without backup such as:
https://zkillboard.com/kill/83598548/
https://zkillboard.com/kill/83598562/
https://zkillboard.com/kill/83598569/
All it took was a little patience.
Alas, all good thing must eventually end and after a while Fetid had too many players moved in and online to make an efficient rapid strike on a regular basis and if I brought a large ship I would just get a Titan engaging me. Additionally, my targets in Panic Attack were off limits since they were paying me 150 million ISK a month to not shoot them (which oddly funded my ability to shoot their allies, aka Fetid).
It was time for a move, but don’t think I won’t leave a vacation home here in Fribrodi.
So I moved back to the “fabled land of the good fight,” where we need to step fast to avoid the cloaked pilots that are looking to jump gangs onto everything with a warp core but also where many capsuleers leave their backup just a bit too far away. Here lies the initial battle reports of that move.
Day one saw the normal stuff, explorers, ventures and shuttles along with respective escape pods but there was also one of my favorite kinds of ships out and about, a faction navy ship. Why is this one of my favorite ships? Because new players can fly them, feel over confident and sometimes merit some expensive modules. This makes ransoming them a much more lucrative option. Seeing as how I am newly back to Molden Heath after quite some time, I decided to not risk the time to ransom and go for the kill instead. Also, you know it’s gonna be easy peasy or bait when you spot a Gallente faction Vexor at an asteroid deposit…
Good thing I chose the speedier option too cause as soon as I finished up a Garmur landed 30km away. Claws are fast though so I warped away and let the stronger ship pick the bones.
On a side note, wow is balancing tank and speed difficult to do with the capacitor on Claws. Is this what Slicer pilots feels like? I can run my armor repair module maybe twice before my cap stability becomes iffy and then it takes a while to recharge. If you try the Claw fit and want to go up against a dedicated drone boat, use the Wolf…
Day two was a bit slower, bagged a Gnosis that I had to call in backup for. Props to Feth for making the trip. This Gnosis took a lot of damage and really ended up self destructing in the end but then again… they were also out of repair charges so it may have gone in our favor by the end anyways. *High Five
A little later that day I switched it up and took my own Garmur out for a spin. I went head to head with a Hurricane in my local system and I did not realize they got a range bonus until the fight was over. We started at a 25 kilometer orbit and were taking some serious heat so I bumped it out to 35 km and over-heated the propulsion modules. Finished the fight with 20% shields left but here it is. Garmurs doing Garmur things which, I guess, people hate. I’m actually not that big of a fan of the ship and don’t think it is all it is cracked up to be. I prefer a utility high and I feel it is kinda flimsy but maybe I just need more practice. Regardless, I feel myself wishing I had probes instead of just the ship-board scanner every time I take it out.
And so we enter our most recent day back. This one was a little nuts I must say. I log in and undock from station X in Heild system (feels good to say that) and take the jump gate into the dead end pipe that is Hrokkur system. Normally a dead system but wow, six in the local registry including me. I figure it is going to be people running the battle cruiser events but check it out anyways.
I warp to the center of the system and my heart sinks a bit. On scan we have:
Thrasher
Gnosis
Gnosis
Hurricane
Praxis
Oof, not sure what to do here so I check the pilots killboards and am torn. On the one hand, this is a lot of ships and on the other, they all seem pretty green as far as piloting capabilities goes — of course I decide to go for it.
I scan around trying to pinpoint their location and get them on a 5 degree scan. It looks like they are all together, damn, I was hoping for someone not with the pack. Still we are gonna do this but there is just one little problem, they are not in any known locations so will need combat probes to be found and I only carry core probes in my Jaguar. One jump away though I can swap out to my Cheetah and come back in to probe them down. I do just that and quickly launch probes, cloak, scan and got em on one hit so I recall probes before their scanners can pick them up and alert them.
It is at this time that I realize a huge blunder… I’m not even cloaked bro…
Either I haven’t been this whole time or recalling probes decloaked me. For reference, that would not be the first time it happened, which is really weird.
Regardless they either don’t care, are not paying attention or think the Jaguar I was in before will not be a threat — all good reasons to keep moving forward.
I go back for the Jaguar and jump into system and warp to them. While scanning on my way there though I notice that only a Gnosis and Thrasher remain. Hmmmm, maybe now they are running, it would seem like that is the smartest option, to wait as long as possible to maximize time and profits. Either way I land and am met by both an acceleration gate and a Thrasher, short range scan shows one Gnosis to still be inside… probably warping off now that the Thrasher has seen me.
Screw it! Maybe I can still be fast enough to catch the Gnosis. I ignore the Thrasher and punch warp on the gate. Land. Another gate. I burn to it as fast as I can. Warp. Land. GNOSIS PORT SIDE! In no time at all I snag the fat, heavy ship and begin to shred their shields. Once the shields are gone I swap to his drones so reduce incoming damage as they are the only things able to hit me. It is at this point that I’m glad I changed missile rigs from the one that increases flight time to the one that increases missile velocity. As it turns out, scout drones fly faster than light missiles without it.
His shields gone, the local NPCs do my job for me and pummel his armor and hull while I dispatch the drones. My heart is racing though. Any minute a Thrasher, Praxis and two more battle cruisers can come crashing through that gate. But the Thrasher leaves scan range and the Gnosis is left to die.
I loot the wreck and instinctively hit scan again. The Hurricane is still out.
I offline my warp disruption module and online my probe launcher, get it at a 5 degree and get back a positive ID on a site. I recall probes, online my warp disruption module and punch warp. Pilot should have freaking docked when he saw the others die. When I land however, I understand why. The NPCs have them warp disrupted already. Justice it seems. They will help me put another speed bump in the machine that is High security space.
An easy burn and orbit around the Hurricane lands me another kill in rapid succession.
Quite an epic first few days back. Maybe it will hold maybe it won’t. Either way, I’m still shaking and it’s good to be back at least for now. I rushed this story out but look forward to adding more character to future ones, so stay tuned!
Fly fast, fly Molden Heath.
Pirate's Pass 