At very least, my lack of posts, my new mercenary corporations, and the upcoming 3.0 edition of the Beginners Guide to Piracy.
Before I say anything else, however, I want to give a (belated but heartfelt) congrats to Mynxee on not only getting elected to CSM but landing the chair... person? position as well. Looking foreward to seeing what you can do/suggest/guide as a CSM member. I really liked your platform, and if you can get even a tiny portion of your ideas to CCPs ears the game (and low sec in particular) will be better off for it. Good luck.
As for my rather low rate of blogging output, I have only meaningless excuses to offer (my internet was down, I was out of town for a while, etc.) and an apology to those few readers I have that actually want to read what I have to say on a regular basis. The truth is I simply haven't had much inspiration to write anything on top of the hour or two of daily work I've been putting into the piracy guide. In any case, I have been wanting to do some posting. I wanted to do a post theorycrafting teams for the alliance tourney, but I was unsure how to do it without giving away what my alliance plans on using for the next year or letting slip any information about the team we were hired to train.
Speaking of which, some of you may know that I have recently departed from the life of pure hardcore piracy. I ground up my security status over the course of several weeks before returning to empire to head up a new initiative for the Blood Money Cartel: The Hatchet Men mercenary corporation. I've been feeling for a while now that I need a bit of a change of scenery, and so far Hatchet Men has been exactly what I was looking for. In addition to providing a different species of PvP, it has also allowed me to begin expanding the Blood Money Cartel towards the original (and continuing) goal of the organization, namely becoming a robust criminal organization with strong branches in a wide variety of EVE PvP arenas.
Mercenary work has been an interesting and refreshing change from piracy. While the PvP itself is often far less interesting, (more along the lines of camping and ganking than daring solo work and fighting against the odds) the thrill of the hunt and the kill has been replaced by professional pride and the satisfaction of a job well done. In addition, unlike piracy, I actually get many opportunites to play with some of my more expensive toys without worrying about getting ganked or stuck in a gatecamp.
The Hatchet Men team so far has done an excellent job, with 100% efficiency on six out of eight of our combat contracts thus far (in addition to a 100% efficiency so far on our current contract). I'm extremely proud of my fledgling mercenary force, and our numbers and lethality are growing rapidly from the five members we started with a couple of months ago.
Shameless Advertising: If you are interested at all in hiring or joining Hatchet Men, our Merc post is Here,
and our recruitment is Here
I have still been engaging a bit in casual piracy, however, especially because Mercenary Work is not exactly the most daring PvP most of the time. I need my solo/small gang fix every once in a while. Unfortunately (or fortunately, depending on how you look at it,) Hatchet Men has been extremely busy with contracts, and I havn't had much time yet to do anything other than hunt and camp war targets.
In other news, I have been working hard on the new eddition of the Begginers Guide To Piracy (3.0), and plan on having it done with in a month or two from now. It is currently 65 pages at 9 point font, so it's been taking quite alot of work, but I am confident it will be worth the effort. I may be looking for some assistence editing and proofreading in the coming weeks; if you're interested in helping me, please leave a comment to that effect.
Good hunting,
-Skira
Sunday, June 20, 2010
Monday, April 12, 2010
Deception and War: You tank fit your what?!
"All warfare is based on deception."
-Sun Tzu
On the battlefield in EVE, a commander has very little control over his enemies actions. For the most part, a fleet commander must focus on managing his own forces exclusively, having only the tools provided by electronics warfare modules and the changing tactical battlefield conditions to influence his opponents actions.
However, there are a few ways to shape the way your opponent reacts to your gang in your favor, in particular directing them to primary the wrong member of your group. If, for example, you found yourself facing a gang consisting of a Drake, a Hurricane and a Prophecy, the choice of primary target would seem obvious. Two of those ships are capable of equipping extremely powerful tanks, at the cost of firepower. One of them, however, is a high-damage, relatively low tank ship. Eliminating the Hurricane first would be prudent.
In this situation, you can easily tell an inept commander if he were to primary the drake. Wasting his firepower on a much slower to kill target at the onset of the fight ensures the enemy DPS remains on the field longer, allowing them the upper hand in attrition. Simply by seeing the ship composition of this gang, you can predict which ships a competent commander will shoot at first.
But what if that drake was a tackle and HAM fit gank drake, and the prophecy was likewise fitting blasters or pulse with plenty of damage mods, and the Hurricane was something more like the following:
[Hurricane, Tripple rep]
Damage Control II
Energized Adaptive Nano Membrane II
Energized Adaptive Nano Membrane II
Medium Armor Repairer II
Medium Armor Repairer II
Medium Armor Repairer II
10MN MicroWarpdrive I
J5b Phased Prototype Warp Scrambler I
Medium Electrochemical Capacitor Booster I, Cap Booster 800
Medium Capacitor Booster II, Cap Booster 800
Armored Warfare Link - Passive Defense
'Arbalest' Rocket Launcher I, Caldari Navy Foxfire Rocket
Dual 180mm AutoCannon II, Republic Fleet Fusion M
Dual 180mm AutoCannon II, Republic Fleet Fusion M
Dual 180mm AutoCannon II, Republic Fleet Fusion M
Dual 180mm AutoCannon II, Republic Fleet Fusion M
Dual 180mm AutoCannon II, Republic Fleet Fusion M
Dual 180mm AutoCannon II, Republic Fleet Fusion M
Medium Nanobot Accelerator I
Medium Auxiliary Nano Pump I
Medium Auxiliary Nano Pump I
Hammerhead II x1
Hobgoblin II x4
+ Standard Exile Booster
While this is far from the ideal use of the ship by itself, the ramifications of such a fitting should be clear. With the warfare link and exile booster this setup can resist about 650 dps, and overheat to almost 800 sustainable. Admitedly, this is no triple rep myrmidon or passive drake, but it’s a shockingly sturdy tank from a gank boat.
Almost any ship that would traditionally get primaried works in this role. When composing such a gang, try to make sure that the non-primary ships (things like Drakes and the like) have sufficient firepower to balance the overall attrition of the gang. HAM drakes with 3 or 4 BCUs work well, as do blaster prophecies and shield tanked + damage mod myrmidons.
Remember, also, the more tempting the “false primary” is, the more lax you can be in the choice of the other ships. For example:
[Vagabond, Tank]
Gyrostabilizer II
Gyrostabilizer II
Gyrostabilizer II
Gyrostabilizer II
Damage Control II
Large Shield Booster II
Invulnerability Field II
Invulnerability Field II
Medium Electrochemical Capacitor Booster I, Cap Booster 800
425mm AutoCannon II, Republic Fleet Fusion M
425mm AutoCannon II, Republic Fleet Fusion M
425mm AutoCannon II, Republic Fleet Fusion M
425mm AutoCannon II, Republic Fleet Fusion M
425mm AutoCannon II, Republic Fleet Fusion M
'Arbalest' Rocket Launcher I, Caldari Navy Foxfire Rocket
Medium Core Defence Operational Solidifier I
Medium Anti-Kinetic Screen Reinforcer I
Warrior II x5
Something like this makes a particularly effective false primary. With Crystals and Blue Pill, this actually makes a surprisingly monstrous tank and gank boat, dealing over 640 dps and tanking over five hundred in return. It merely has to be careful of being volleyed as it has rather low EHP.
With such a vagabond in the gang, even T1 cruisers have a chance of not being primaried. The more lethal (and deceptive) the other ships in the gang, the better. Blaster Feroxes and Eagles, gank Damnations, you name it.
Now obviously, this is a trick to be used sparingly, especially if you tend to fight the same enemies. If you’re especially lucky, you might try a switch on a group of enemies you fight on a regular ocation, such as another local pirate group or the targets of your mercenary contract. Pull this trick two times in a row using the same set of ships. Then, if you suspect they’ve figured out your “ace in the hole”, switch back to normal setups for subsequent fight and see the effects. If you play your cards right, your enemy will rashly primary one of your heavily tanked ships, leaving you gank cane or deimos or whathaveyou untouched.
Bonus:
[Deimos, Megatankodoom]
Damage Control II
Armor Explosive Hardener II
Energized Adaptive Nano Membrane II
Medium Armor Repairer II
Medium Armor Repairer II
Medium Armor Repairer II
Medium Electrochemical Capacitor Booster I, Navy Cap Booster 800
Small Capacitor Booster II, Navy Cap Booster 400
10MN MicroWarpdrive II
Light Neutron Blaster II, Caldari Navy Antimatter Charge S
Heavy Electron Blaster II, Caldari Navy Antimatter Charge M
Heavy Electron Blaster II, Caldari Navy Antimatter Charge M
Heavy Electron Blaster II, Caldari Navy Antimatter Charge M
Heavy Electron Blaster II, Caldari Navy Antimatter Charge M
[empty high slot]
Medium Auxiliary Nano Pump I
Medium Auxiliary Nano Pump I
Hammerhead II x5
Just some food for thought.
-Skira
-Sun Tzu
On the battlefield in EVE, a commander has very little control over his enemies actions. For the most part, a fleet commander must focus on managing his own forces exclusively, having only the tools provided by electronics warfare modules and the changing tactical battlefield conditions to influence his opponents actions.
However, there are a few ways to shape the way your opponent reacts to your gang in your favor, in particular directing them to primary the wrong member of your group. If, for example, you found yourself facing a gang consisting of a Drake, a Hurricane and a Prophecy, the choice of primary target would seem obvious. Two of those ships are capable of equipping extremely powerful tanks, at the cost of firepower. One of them, however, is a high-damage, relatively low tank ship. Eliminating the Hurricane first would be prudent.
In this situation, you can easily tell an inept commander if he were to primary the drake. Wasting his firepower on a much slower to kill target at the onset of the fight ensures the enemy DPS remains on the field longer, allowing them the upper hand in attrition. Simply by seeing the ship composition of this gang, you can predict which ships a competent commander will shoot at first.
But what if that drake was a tackle and HAM fit gank drake, and the prophecy was likewise fitting blasters or pulse with plenty of damage mods, and the Hurricane was something more like the following:
[Hurricane, Tripple rep]
Damage Control II
Energized Adaptive Nano Membrane II
Energized Adaptive Nano Membrane II
Medium Armor Repairer II
Medium Armor Repairer II
Medium Armor Repairer II
10MN MicroWarpdrive I
J5b Phased Prototype Warp Scrambler I
Medium Electrochemical Capacitor Booster I, Cap Booster 800
Medium Capacitor Booster II, Cap Booster 800
Armored Warfare Link - Passive Defense
'Arbalest' Rocket Launcher I, Caldari Navy Foxfire Rocket
Dual 180mm AutoCannon II, Republic Fleet Fusion M
Dual 180mm AutoCannon II, Republic Fleet Fusion M
Dual 180mm AutoCannon II, Republic Fleet Fusion M
Dual 180mm AutoCannon II, Republic Fleet Fusion M
Dual 180mm AutoCannon II, Republic Fleet Fusion M
Dual 180mm AutoCannon II, Republic Fleet Fusion M
Medium Nanobot Accelerator I
Medium Auxiliary Nano Pump I
Medium Auxiliary Nano Pump I
Hammerhead II x1
Hobgoblin II x4
+ Standard Exile Booster
While this is far from the ideal use of the ship by itself, the ramifications of such a fitting should be clear. With the warfare link and exile booster this setup can resist about 650 dps, and overheat to almost 800 sustainable. Admitedly, this is no triple rep myrmidon or passive drake, but it’s a shockingly sturdy tank from a gank boat.
Almost any ship that would traditionally get primaried works in this role. When composing such a gang, try to make sure that the non-primary ships (things like Drakes and the like) have sufficient firepower to balance the overall attrition of the gang. HAM drakes with 3 or 4 BCUs work well, as do blaster prophecies and shield tanked + damage mod myrmidons.
Remember, also, the more tempting the “false primary” is, the more lax you can be in the choice of the other ships. For example:
[Vagabond, Tank]
Gyrostabilizer II
Gyrostabilizer II
Gyrostabilizer II
Gyrostabilizer II
Damage Control II
Large Shield Booster II
Invulnerability Field II
Invulnerability Field II
Medium Electrochemical Capacitor Booster I, Cap Booster 800
425mm AutoCannon II, Republic Fleet Fusion M
425mm AutoCannon II, Republic Fleet Fusion M
425mm AutoCannon II, Republic Fleet Fusion M
425mm AutoCannon II, Republic Fleet Fusion M
425mm AutoCannon II, Republic Fleet Fusion M
'Arbalest' Rocket Launcher I, Caldari Navy Foxfire Rocket
Medium Core Defence Operational Solidifier I
Medium Anti-Kinetic Screen Reinforcer I
Warrior II x5
Something like this makes a particularly effective false primary. With Crystals and Blue Pill, this actually makes a surprisingly monstrous tank and gank boat, dealing over 640 dps and tanking over five hundred in return. It merely has to be careful of being volleyed as it has rather low EHP.
With such a vagabond in the gang, even T1 cruisers have a chance of not being primaried. The more lethal (and deceptive) the other ships in the gang, the better. Blaster Feroxes and Eagles, gank Damnations, you name it.
Now obviously, this is a trick to be used sparingly, especially if you tend to fight the same enemies. If you’re especially lucky, you might try a switch on a group of enemies you fight on a regular ocation, such as another local pirate group or the targets of your mercenary contract. Pull this trick two times in a row using the same set of ships. Then, if you suspect they’ve figured out your “ace in the hole”, switch back to normal setups for subsequent fight and see the effects. If you play your cards right, your enemy will rashly primary one of your heavily tanked ships, leaving you gank cane or deimos or whathaveyou untouched.
Bonus:
[Deimos, Megatankodoom]
Damage Control II
Armor Explosive Hardener II
Energized Adaptive Nano Membrane II
Medium Armor Repairer II
Medium Armor Repairer II
Medium Armor Repairer II
Medium Electrochemical Capacitor Booster I, Navy Cap Booster 800
Small Capacitor Booster II, Navy Cap Booster 400
10MN MicroWarpdrive II
Light Neutron Blaster II, Caldari Navy Antimatter Charge S
Heavy Electron Blaster II, Caldari Navy Antimatter Charge M
Heavy Electron Blaster II, Caldari Navy Antimatter Charge M
Heavy Electron Blaster II, Caldari Navy Antimatter Charge M
Heavy Electron Blaster II, Caldari Navy Antimatter Charge M
[empty high slot]
Medium Auxiliary Nano Pump I
Medium Auxiliary Nano Pump I
Hammerhead II x5
Just some food for thought.
-Skira
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