Wednesday Night Fights note

Looks like my partner in crime, Astral Dominix. Is having a busy and challenging week. As a result this weeks fights are postponed until next week.

For all those that emailed Astral, we will be reaching out in game with the times for next week.

Real life comes first, nothing more. Shoot you all next week.

Cheers

EVE SOB

Wednesday Night Fights!

Mr. Astral Dominix and I have been mulling over an open forum for pilots new and old to enjoy some 1 v 1 PvP duels in or around Rens. Astral announced it as The first rule of fightclub is.. in his blog this morning. Unfortunately to spread the word we kind of need to talk about it just a little.

The idea is simple in that we hope to meet once a week and fight o the death in the name of fun and education. In our Duel earlier this week both Astral and I (link) posted our fits and experiences from the fight. The feedback given was great and encouraged us to call out to those offering advice to come down to Rens and teach us a lesson. To demonstrate their words of guidance by sending us to our pods so that we might learn by doing.

The rules are as follows:

-T1 Frigate Hulls only

-Any T1 mod (named is fine) with NO T2 or Officer Mods

-Fighting is Consentual

-No Podding (in Highsec)

-No crying and/or bitching over lost ships. Social smack talk allowed.

-Faction ammo is allowed.

-No need to fit a scram - Warping out = fail. Hey it gives you an extra midslot, K!

To sign up send Astral Dominix an ingame evemail. Those who send a mail will be sent the location system for the weeks fights and a start time. If numbers are such to warrant it. I'll start some kind of bracket system to keep the action going. Who knows I might even pony up fitted T1 hulls for the winners and offer a full replacement for ISK lost to the wooden spoon should this get popular.

I hope to see you in your pod some Wednesday night soon.

Cheers

EVE SOB

*edit* Fixed Spelling and grammar. Darn Bostralian.

Clash of the T1 Frigates - PvP practice with Astral Dominix

For a good while now the air has been thick with the social lobbing of smack talk between Astral and I. We had a long time back decided that some 1 v1 duels in frigates would be good for us both as we learn the ropes of EVE PvP. Astral posted his account of the festivities and I promised to do the same.

Last night saw the first of what we hope to be many such duels. Rules were simple. T1 frigate with T1 fit, flip some ammo from each other, warp out and on warp in engage. I was in my trusty rifter and Astral a punisher. The fits are as follows:

Pod Racer MK1: aka cookie cutter tackle rifter in T1

3 x 150mm LAC I
1 x Small "nave" nos
1 x 1MN AB I
1 X WEB I
1 X named scram
1 x 200mm RTP
1 x SAR I
1 x DCU I

EMP S and Nuclear S

I build all but the two named mods and the plate including the ammo. So for me the fit is practically free

Astral's Punisher: Quote "A nice fit" Astral Dominix

3x 200mm AC I
1x "langor" web
1X Cold-gas AB
1X "collateral' nano
1X Emergency DC I
1X EANM
1X 200mm steel plate

Arch Angel Carbonized Lead and Arch Angel Nuclear S

Astral said it cost him 3M ISK to fit it all out.

We chose Bei as the system and the first planet as the fitting place to meet, exchange bullets , and fight. I warped in at 20km for a few reasons. The first was hoping that Astral had not warped to 0 (he had :( ) and the second was to work on my approach. I took a little damage but in my half spiral landed and settled into a nice orbit with very little shields down. Astral was over stating my speed a little in his account as the T1 fit rifter hits a top speed of ~860m/s with my current skills. Even with the named web at a tight orbit I was speed tanking a lot of the incoming fire. Astral actually grumbled about me having a shield tank.

The EMP s made pretty short work of the punishers shields as expected and then I set about the task of chewing through his armor tank. I have to say I am not impressed with nuclear S here and I made a slight error that lead to me taking more damage but I did it in the name of learning. As I was ahead and here to learn I widened my orbit out to see where the nuclear S hit Astral's armor the hardest. I settled in to where it was doing a MASSIVE 23 points of damage per volley. The error was in playing these games I had lost all my shield and Astrals bigger guns and better ammo was hitting home more often. It was time to start dancing with the rifters cap NOS on and SAR in single cycles to keep the guns going and the thing flying. After a week I burned through his armor and hit the home straight. I tightened my orbit again and switched back to EMP S. Incoming DPS went down and so did Astral.

The biggest thing I took away from the fight is that it is a LOT of fun. I also am getting more comfortable living in the red and working through it. Accepting DPS and that the hull you are flying is disposable is what I see as my first mile stone for PvP. This duel and flying nothing but rifters has let me come to terms with flames and getting in there. The in your face fighting style of the rifter was at first a HUGE switch up from the ranged missile and drone warfare of mission running. So with every fight rat or human the toe to toe style of the rifter and the incoming fire that brings is becoming the norm.

So this marks my first and extremely over due kill with Zombinutz and ironically the first for TGV as well. I was a little shaky at the start of the fight but once we settled into the motions of it all it was too busy to notice any further jitters. After the fight I was calm and hungry for more. Unfortunately RL called in the form of the work I had been ignoring and the need to take my Subaru fit to the repair bay.

Astral and I will head off for a lowsec roam next to see what we can scare up out there. Depending on what Astral fields I might break out some DPS fits I've been keen to try. I also have a shield tanked rifter that is yet to get dirty. So many options on this little beast that I even fly it in fleet running missions where I am known as "the rusty drone".

Many thanks to Astral for the fight and the time spent hopping all over the place getting to it. Next plans are to bring some T2 fitted variants to the next duel. All ready looking forward to it.

Cheers

EVE SOB