Wartime.....

We are being threatened with invasion by a major pvp alliance that has many allies. It seems that we have been holding our own. I was able to get in on my first citadel kill. I THINK we destroyed a POS (player owned starbase) that was protecting a supercapital fleet. I know that we have regular incursions of enemy fleets. Just yesterday an Orca (a command class industrial ship) was destroyed. I wonder how because we heard on intel channels about a large black ops fleet forming and we should safe up. Well other than that I do not feel like we are in a position to really worry. The coalition we are in is really strong, and form large fleets to counter hostiles. It would suck to have to leave branch for the second time but....I do not mind  new areas bring new challenges.


 This is the Orca it is a large ship that takes some time to get into warp if you do not use the mircowarp drive trick.

So if you are using said ship, and you have access to intel channels....PAY ATTENTION.

/tata

Rorquals getting caught...SPAIS are everywhere!!

It seems like we have a large number of Rorquals getting destroyed recently. This leads me to believe something is up. Of course many will argue that well the ship sits in the belt locked in place because of it's industrial core. The industrial core is a module that really is at the heart of the Rorquals power. I turns nice drones into SUPER mining monsters!! But you are stuck in place much like a dreadnought using a siege, or  Force Aux ship using a triage module.

But those modules are used in either pvp or high risk pve. You have a team of people (we are talking about wormholes) that provide intel and security. Null security space is much the same. We have really good intel channels, people checking new wormholes that pop up. We have people who know who the gankers are, and who will open a cyno (a portal) through which a large number ships will arrive and blap you.

With all of this...still these capital ships are getting destroyed. They are very expensive like I mentioned in another post about 10-13 billion isk ...EACH. This leads me to the only weakness in this set up....spies. Spies can tell an enemy when you have started a new industrial core cycle (so the baddies know your stuck for 5 minutes). They can give out intel on your mining habits. It is hard to believe that these miners invest billions of isk into a ship not to mention the training time. To not have a good set up excellent intel channels, in a large standing fleet where others can rush to your aid...and still get caught and blown up. What this does it will keep mineral prices high as too many capital mining ships get blown up...the massive boosting capabilities go with them. Mining in a hulk with out boosts is...meh. With boost...its amazing!!

My thoughts....spies are feeding Rorquals to large PVP blocs. Or rather the large PVP blocs have infiltrated most null security regions and can regularly feed intel which leads to a steady stream of dead Rorquals. Me thinks....it is best to wait before jumping in and buying ot build one just to become a target. Who cares about a carrier....it can be set to instantly warp, or jump out. They are worth maybe 2-3billion fully fit, usually 2 billion if you are trying to save money. So watch your butts people, you are being watched....and there isn't much you can do about it to counter such an attack...

/tata

'Excavator' Mining Drone

Excavator mining drones the new super drones that the Rorqual uses have gone down in price. From 1.2 bil a unit to 781 mil. I am waiting on a couple of things. First will the yield be nerfed so hard that it just isn't worth buying. And of course I am waiting on further price drops. Please do not nerf the yield CCP.

This is the Rorqual in deployed mode. It's drones get a MASSIVE boost to yield while in this mode. The ship can not move and one cycle I believe takes 5 minutes. All across null sec these ships have been destroyed. Before this recent release the Rorqual used to sit inside Player Owned Starbases and give boosts to fleets from there. Sometimes warping to a belt to grab dozens of cans left by the mining fleet. Now this ship must in the belt with other mining ships, and it can out mine many of them.


This is the new super drone. 5 of these bad boys can out mine 2-3 Hulk class Exhumers!!


/tata

Hmm should I buy a 8-13 billion isk Rorqual..

So I spent some time on the test server mining in a Rorqual. WOW...I was blown away. With a mining oriented setup that thing out mines 5 un boosted Hulk class Exhumers. Exhumers are the main line of mining ships. Boosted it can mining with the capacity of 2.5 hulks with max boosts and and skills. Oh....and the Rorqual can compress ore. With its impressive 300,000m3 hold, matched with the ability to compress ore....this thing is a beast. It can mine and compress MILLIONS of m3 of ore. Match that with the proposed setup I would use...3 hulks...2 with near max skills, and another very well skilled, and my main in a Rorqual....WOW

Then I saw this battle report..

https://zkillboard.com/related/30004194/201703121400/

They lost 7 Rorquals and they had a defense fleet...I think.... SEVEN. That would drain my wallet....to perhaps 10bill or so. They lost .....so many...ships.No my 94 billion isk would be GONE.

So..I am thinking....Rorqual....erm....nah wait till the price of the capital mining drones drop a bit in price...say 200-300 million a unit. They cost 1.2bil EACH. Those Rorquals had 5 of em.....OUCH.

Amazing changes...but too steep for my wallet.

/tata

Off loaded 20 billion isk worth of goods to Jita,

We see so many killmails where pilots shipping goods to Jita (the largest market hub in Eve), getting caught and blown up. You see getting things into and out of Jita is risky. In Eve there are many ways to earn isk. One of them is to destroy ships hauling valuable things, and grab what survives the destruction of the ship. We call these people gankers or pirates. I love them. They keep doing stupid things like take multiple jumps into low sec in a ship with no tank, and can be scanned. Meaning pirates know what you have in your hold, and they set up a smart bomb trap ahead of your route. Some people even auto pilot.

In Null sec...it is simple learn how to porbe well, it is very easy. Then probe down any wh you find. Use either a well tanked cloaky strategic cruiser (use warpcore stabilizers on the low slots if you happen to get caguht). If you are carrying more stuff in the 2000-3000 m3 range use a cloaky hauler with a tank! Directly probing down low sec or high sec wormholes take time, but it is far safer. Intel channels can work against you. People know that there is a Prowler class transport ship moving towards Jita along a well know and often used route. Wh's suddenly pop up, so the route to Jita will be different. Wormholes are random as well. So it nice having my wallet 10 billion isk fatter. I bought a Golem, and I plan on buying another one just for pvp.


So try not to get caught and spend your isk on things you want, don't line the pockets of those nasty pirates.

/tata

Theory crafting finally pays off!!

https://zkillboard.com/br/88689/

So I arrived at home a bit late from work. I can see that my wife has logged in my character. Awesome. I sit down and I start planning out what we will do in eve that evening, well yesterday evening...err night it was 10pm Korea time. I never just hop in a ratting or scanning ship when I log on after being offline for sometime. I wait and check intel channels. What if there is a cloaky ship that has probed down the relic site I want to run. Or perhaps there is a Blops gang staging nearby, So waiting to checking what the situation is in our area is important. Sometimes I see a target that I have just the right counter to heading to our system. This happened yesterday. I have been playing around with a anti kiting fit close range brawling Gnosis class battle cruiser. Basically I have both of our ships mid slots with damps 4 damps each. These reduce the locking range of the hostile ship. So if you really want to point me (warp scramble or warp disrupt) and prevent me from warping off, your going to have to close range....into our dps. So an interceptor and 5 sivpuls (tactical destroyers), our 2 jumps out. I call to Yogita...ok I shout "HEY KID GRAB UR GNOSIS". I am surprised when she actually drops what she is doing and makes sure that she has dual plates on her ship (the last time she has just one 1600mm armor plate and she almost got blown up...thanks to the damps she got away!), and I warp our 2 ships to the XM- gate in Qcwa (these are star systems in Eve. Qcwa is where we live and spent most of our time).

The interceptor enters the system and is eager to point me and pull range. Well...7 damps later he realizes that if he wants to maintain point he had better close range. So that is what he does....Yogita and I blow up the interceptor, and 4 out of the 5 sivpuls. We go on to loot the wrecks of their ships and wow...it was a blast. Yogita and I play around with different fits and often duel each other to test out our ideas. Theory crafting is a big part of Eveonline!

/tata


Oh yeah...I got a capital spawn in a sanctum helping me make my 100 million isk for the day super easy!