Loot piñatas

A post on the ABA forums declared that Watson Crick, an ex-Frostian, was flogging off flipping great wodges of blueprints. It was inferred that these were ill-gotten, thieved from POSs. The list was impressive with the market value of the unresearched variants at about 5b.

Naturally, I had to get me some of that.

I dreamt of finding a lonesome highsec tower with floating labs and assembly arrays and hangar arrays and, well, something quite like this short-range dscan result:

Caldari Control Tower
Experimental Laboratory
Corporate Hangar Array
Corporate Hangar Array
Design Laboratory
Research Laboratory
Research Laboratory
Research Laboratory
Design Laboratory
Research Laboratory
Research Laboratory
Research Laboratory
Research Laboratory
Research Laboratory
Component Assembly Array
Component Assembly Array
Component Assembly Array
Component Assembly Array
Component Assembly Array
Component Assembly Array
Equipment Assembly Array
Subsystem Assembly Array

Oh look, no forcefield.

And the 45 defensive modules, beautifully arranged around the tower? Well, they would have been quite a deterrent if they had been online. But they were ‘Anchored’, meaning offline. My F1 finger trembled but even I know that you can’t just shoot somebody’s POS in highsec without incurring the just wrath of CONCORD. So instead, I read up on war dec mechanics.

They seemed quite straightforward, at least at a high level: 50 m ISK per week unless the member count is greater than 50, in which case it goes up. But that didn’t matter since I was hardly going to target a large, active corp.

I pressed the button, parted with my 50 m and waited impatiently for 24 hours. When I logged in, nobody from the target corp (that I knew of) was online, no members were in system, and the POS was still lacking a forcefield. I warped a cheap Caracal in and started the wanton destruction. My loitering Occator pilot pried open the first container. 824m in datacores! I had been most concerned about recouping the costs of the dec but now I was wondering just how lucrative this new pastime could be.

It was like unwrapping presents - you never know what is wrapped in that shiny cargo container! Fuel blocks, datacores, materials, ore! The total haul was 3.5 b:

2 x Caldari Fuel Block Blueprint (10/20)
15,366 x Caldari Fuel Block
73,353 Coolant
18,333 assorted Datacores
51,272 Oxygen
7,435 Robotics
2,404,674 Tritanium

Oh yes, the irony of a Caldari Fuel Block-producing Caldari Control Tower running out of fuel was not lost on me.

Of course it is not always that lucrative. And scanning down loot piñatas (the technical term) is extremely tedious, made even worse by the fact that people who let their POS run out of fuel don't tend to care what is in them. Still, I'd be lying if I said it wasn't profitable.

The modules in the second POS I attacked were completely empty while the third dropped only 330 m. I felt faintly outraged that the owners hadn’t left more loot for me! Ridiculous, I know, but I wanted the destruction of all those modules to have a purpose.

Explorer hunting!

I decided to go back to lowsec. This decision had nothing at all to do with my humiliating highsec experience. I just don’t like highsec now. Alright?

I decided to pick on someone my own size and hunt some explorers! This called for an Astero:

[Astero, Explorer Hunter 1]

Damage Control II
Small Ancillary Armor Repairer, Nanite Repair Paste
Energized Adaptive Nano Membrane II
Drone Damage Amplifier II

1MN Afterburner II
J5b Phased Prototype Warp Scrambler I
Fleeting Propulsion Inhibitor I
X5 Prototype Engine Enervator

Covert Ops Cloaking Device II
Small Nosferatu II

Small Anti-Explosive Pump I
Small Auxiliary Nano Pump I
Small Nanobot Accelerator I

Acolyte II x5

You can swap the nosferatu for a probe launcher if you have good enough scanning skills (Zappity doesn’t) and don’t have a scanning alt (Zappity does). I have shown a double web fit here but you should always carry around an extra scram with your mobile depot so you can switch if you suspect your target is stabbed.

The first Relic site I found was in Osaa, a lowsec system in The Forge. Zappity warped in, set up a bookmark near one of the cans, and loitered with intent. Surely it wouldn’t take long for an unsuspecting victim to appear, all ready to be killed.

Actually, it didn’t take long at all. The first to appear was an Astero. Based on the killboard I suspected that this player was unlikely to be packing a warp core stabilizer. In fact, I was highly suspicious. And then I somehow managed to decloak myself and the Astero scarpered. I decided to continue loitering, even though the game was evidently blown with this particular capsuleer. Just a few minutes later, however, a Buzzard appeared. I inspected his record closely and soon noted that the Astero pilot was an associate on Battleclinic. So that’s the game, is it? We’ll see about that.

When assessing the site from a defensive viewpoint I decided that my perch was no good. First, the Astero had seen where I had earlier warped in. Second, there were no celestials to warp to away from the site. I would have to align back through the site - troublesome because of debris but also because the Astero would likely be between me and the sun. Not good for an escape. So I made my way painstakingly around to the opposite side of the site and patiently waited for the Buzzard to approach the relevant can.

It took him ages. He was evidently rubbish at this. Or MAYBE he was not in a proper exploration fit but rather packing a tank as bricky as one can possibly make a Buzzard, loaded up with plates and scrams and webs and all sorts of nasty goodies.

He finally made his way to the last can. I gave him a minute to settle in then hit ‘keep at range’, decloaked, and targeted. By the time I had set my drones on him the Astero had unsurprisingly also decloaked and was approaching fast. The Buzzard died much faster than I expected, my earlier charitable assessment of poor hacking performance due to an unoptimised fit apparently unwarranted. I transferred the scram and both webs to the Astero who was now on top of me and biting into my armour. The double webs did the job and I didn’t even need to overheat the burner to escape. Ha!

When reviewing the video I decided that I should have killed the Astero as well. But frigate fights are so quick that it is hard to chew through two ships, one of which is similar to your own. Still, it would have been worth a shot. Anyway, out of curiosity I checked the Buzzard fit and saw that it was a proper exploration fit, Sisters expanded probe launcher and all:

Buzzard: http://eve.battleclinic.com/killboard/killmail.php?eid=45129300

Very odd. But very, very satisfying to get away with it right under his nose. I wish I had at least blown up the wreck to teach him a lesson.

Video: http://youtu.be/ejkddLiJhFE

My next victim was very straightforward. He just sat there in the site while I scanned it down and warped in:

Astero: http://eve.battleclinic.com/killboard/killmail.php?eid=45209522

Pod: http://eve.battleclinic.com/killboard/killmail.php?eid=45209525

I asked if he was new and gave him the Lecture. He gave me a 40m isk bounty! He was only a month old and this was his first trip to lowsec. He was not very friendly but I thanked him for the bounty anyway. I cannot seem to keep a decent bounty so every little bit helps.

Revenge of the mission runners

"Comeuppance". That's a great word, isn't it? Full to the brim with satisfying, well-deserved retribution. Well, Zappity sure got hers.

After the failure with the Orthrus and Orca I decided to tinker with the Loot Sweet Loot fit to increase the DPS. After all, I rarely needed the second repper and figured that bursts of overheating would get me through. Extended double repper scenarios are unrealistic due to limited cap boosters anyway and you really just sig tank most of the time after the drones are dead. So I reasoned.

I dropped the second repper, added a mag stab and looked things over. There wasn't enough CPU so I exchanged the EANM for a ANP but this just resulted in inadequate repper cycles. “What about dead space reppers?”, I wondered.

Yes, I wondered alright.

I trundled off to find another victim with my new Centii A-type small armor repairer. After all, what could possibly go wrong? I contemplated being scrammed by NPC rats and killed by their overwhelming force. I contemplated hordes of Drifter battleships decloaking specifically to kill me. I contemplated a disconnection during a fight. I did not, however, contemplate mission runners ganging up and baiting me. That was a bridge too far.

I toyed for a while with some battleship and T3 pilots before finally coming across a Harbinger. My hopes weren’t high since this was a pilot I had earlier harassed without getting a bite. Oh yes, I harassed him alright. I harassed him good. This time I thought he was AFK, sitting there all alone in an empty plex. After all, what else can you expect from mission runners?

I tried to wake him up by locking him and going into a tight orbit. He scrammed and webbed me! Then he unleashed a squadron of angry drones! At this point I probably should have just left. But instead, I started killing the drones, thinking that this brave pilot had decided to fight back and deserved a chance at killing me. Also, I thought that chance was very small. I thought that right up until the moment the Keres landed and pointed me and the Moa landed and they all started killing me very much indeed.

Expensive Incursus: http://eve.battleclinic.com/killboard/killmail.php?eid=45096972

I gave them a gf in local and went my chastened way. I think I might stick to T2 modules from now on.

Video: http://youtu.be/M1IIwgjYyak

A Maelstrom for tea, Incursus style

A Machariel in a plex. It is a pity I am still in highsec. But it was still worth investigating so Zappity warped in and went straight for the fat Large wrecks, having noticed that emptying these tends to raise the ire of the average mission runner. In this case, my worthy adversary pretended not to notice. So I destroyed his MTU:

MTU: http://eve.battleclinic.com/killboard/killmail.php?eid=45090839

I have to report that he did not like it. After briefly yellow-boxing me he warped out. I recognised the signs so I hung around, waiting for his return. You see, your average mission runner takes a while to warm up to the concept of PvP. You have to give them two things: time and just cause. He already had the just cause, watching helplessly as his hard-earned loot was STOLEN and only compounded by the assault on his farming machinery.

He returned soon after in a Maelstrom, evidently indignant at the loss of his pet and intent on revenge. But not quite so intent that he wanted to risk a Machariel. Well, never let it be said that Zappity is fussy. While a Machariel would have been very nice a Maelstrom is not to be snorted at, especially when you are in a humble Incursus.

He was actually quite sensible to start with. He knew about tracking and he knew that the safest place for him was a long way away. He walloped me hard from 100 km while I was loitering at a wreck so I switched on the burner and angled toward him while maintaining transversal. At about 60 km he activated his MJD to increase distance.

Hmm, tricky. But while he knew about the importance of range he had evidently forgotten about the minimum warp range, as well as the fact that I clearly needed a combat prober in order to find him in the first place. So by the time my cloaked Cheetah was on grid my Incursus was 170 km away. I landed right on top of him.

That was probably a brown trousers moment for him. We were just over 100 km from the NPC battleship fleet and able to concentrate on each other. He had a decent shield tank and a lot of drones. After I had finished killing them it became apparent that he could tank me with relative ease. I offered him a ransom: "50m and I'll let you go. Yarr!". He refused, telling me that he was not in a hurry and that this would go on for ages. Then he closed the chat. So, ransom offered and ransom refused. Oh well, for once I wasn't in a hurry either.

This is when he made his biggest mistake. He should have ignored me and concentrated on the NPC battleship fleet which was now only 50 km away. That would have been a stalemate, only resulting in my warping away in disgrace. I watched the NPCs gradually close on us, forgotten by their erstwhile attacker but intent on revenge.

By the time he understood his peril it was too late. The battleship fleet was under his guns at between 20 and 30 km and he was suddenly in low shield, helped along by my suddenly overheated blasters.

The chat flashed: "I sent your money!" Now, I am an honourable pirate who is bound in this regard by both my own sense of ethics and corp rules. Even though he had earlier formally declined I still checked the journal: 500,000. He tried to scam me! I sent it back, unwilling to be scorned in such a manner.

Armour! Hull! It was going quickly now! A panicked "I sent the full amount" appeared just before he exploded. I told him that he should not have tried to trick me and sent that back too. Let that be a lesson to him!

Maelstrom: http://eve.battleclinic.com/killboard/killmail.php?eid=45091604

Pod (just because): http://eve.battleclinic.com/killboard/killmail.php?eid=45091615

I chatted with him after and found out that he was a recently returned player. He was a good sort and I was happy to explain what happened to him. I also sent a chunk of ISK his way, despite protestations that I had earned the kill.

Yes, that is right. Zappity, the friendly Pirate. Unless you are mean like last week's victim who swore never to let me rest. And who I am waiting in vain to hear from, of course.

Loot Sweet Loot, reloaded

I decided to dust off Loot Sweet Loot, my trusty mission runner hunting Incursus. I had a hankering for the red glow of Minmatar space so I slipped into my Halo set and, after repairing my sec status at the DED Office, headed to Lustrevik, that oh-so-bright NPC Kill hotspot on dotlan. Full points for Tags4Sec, CCP. I would certainly not have bothered repairing my sec status manually. Just think, all those mission runners wouldn’t have been persecuted. My goodness. Local in high sec! I announced my much anticipated return with my usual edict: "Hello, I am Zappity the Mostly Fearless. I am here to inspect your wrecks for juicy loot and to destroy any who dare oppose me! No ship can stand against the mighty Incursus!" Nobody responded. They were obviously all too shocked for words. So I probed down some shiny battleships and killed some MTUs, including a nice 'Packrat' one. I eventually came across a Brutix Navy Issue who had just finished what looked like a level 2 mission. I zipped about the grid and emptied every single wreck. I cleaned out the last one just before my shield alert went off and I was surprised to see a nice red box around the Brutix. He was only 20 km away so I quickly turned the reppers on and dived into a tight orbit. I put the few T1 drones that issued from his bay out of their misery and settled in for the grind. He exploded in a most satisfactory manner: Brutix Navy Issue: http://eve.battleclinic.com/killboard/killmail.php?eid=45071650 And, what's more, he neglected to get his pod away. Pod: http://eve.battleclinic.com/killboard/killmail.php?eid=45071658 After I finished splattering his pod I convoed him to ask whether he was a new player. You know the drill - I usually give some advice and a chunk of ISK. But this pilot was far too rude for that. "Up yours" was the extent of his communication, although I was also added as a contact with Terrible Standing: “you know l;ll never let u rest bitch” was the ill-typed description. That was disappointing. Perhaps he doesn't have the right stuff for this particular pastime. I began to suspect I was becoming unpopular a few minutes later when I discovered an interesting item in someone else's wreck and asked in local, innocence itself, “What does Zbikoki's Hacker Card do?” I was INSTANTLY bountied for 10m. Great stuff! Highsec, huh? There you go. On a more serious note, I wish neutral reps weren't a thing. I often get called out on this when I ask someone why they are afraid of my 'lil frig in such a large ship. I think the hit rate would be much higher if such blatantly unfair mechanics weren't possible. The other one is the ship switch mechanic, although even this isn't as bad because at least you have to drop point to effect it.

I wondered how the magnificent Incursus would do against an older adversary with better skills. I didn’t have to wonder long because I soon came across an Orthrus and Orca pair in Lustrevik. I lazily wandered from wreck to wreck in the completed room, casually emptying wrecks, when suddenly half my armour was gone! How rude.

I changed my trajectory to increase the angular before spiralling in on the Orthrus and scramming him. I stirred from my daydream, in which an expensive killmail featured prominently, when I realised that I was barely denting his shield. Huh. The regen on these things is pretty good. 

What about the Orca? I went for him and quickly switched the scram to the new target. All the while I was being peppered by Acolytes from both ships and I was kept busy killing them all. Of course, changing targets also allowed the Orthrus to start hitting me better. Still, the reps were holding and I was able to test the command ship's tank. 

It was too tough. Before long, I ran out of charges and had to warp away, tail between my legs. How shameful. I could have tried to ship up, or bring reps on grid but decided not to. I played and lost.

Playing with sentry drones

I decided to see what all the noise about sentry drones was about since the Ishtar is about to be nerfed. I suppose you could say that I am late to the party but never mind. I have used sentries in PvE before but that is very different to using them in real EVE. I figured that since the Ishtar was so widely known to be OP I would have difficulty getting a solo fight in one and therefore chose the Vexor Navy Issue since it can still field five of them without being as heinously OP as it’s HAC cousin. Here is the kiting fit I tried first:

[Vexor Navy Issue, Sentry Kite]

Damage Control II
Omnidirectional Tracking Enhancer II
Nanofiber Internal Structure II
Nanofiber Internal Structure II
Drone Damage Amplifier II
Drone Damage Amplifier II

Experimental 10MN Microwarpdrive I
Warp Disruptor II
Large Shield Extender II
Large Shield Extender II

Medium Energy Neutralizer II
Medium Energy Neutralizer II
Imperial Navy Small EMP Smartbomb
Imperial Navy Small EMP Smartbomb

Medium Anti-EM Screen Reinforcer I
Medium Core Defense Field Extender I
Medium Core Defense Field Extender I

Bouncer II x5
Hammerhead II x5
Warrior II x5

I found a similar fit on the forum somewhere (sorry, but I can’t remember where to give credit). This is meant to be a kiting fit although not particularly fast (2200 m/s) with 538 dps from Bouncers and 32k EHP. The idea was to point them and try to keep the Bouncers at about 50 km in an attempt to keep optimal down by going in roughly away from the sentries. No doubt this is child’s play to nullsec F1 monkeys to whom this is bread and butter stuff but to me it was an interesting challenge.

I headed out but after five jumps of being denied instant gratification became bored and started belt ratting in Prism. After a few minutes I spotted a suspiciously competent looking character enter local and, not particularly convincingly, head to the top belt to ‘rat’.

I warped to the third belt at 50 km, dropped my Bouncers, and hung around about 25 km from the beacon, or whatever that triangle thing in asteroid belts is. I don’t do mining. Sure enough, a couple of minutes later I heard the adrenaline-inducing ‘thunk’ of another ship landing on grid. I love that sound. Unless I really am ratting in which case I tend to panic. We pointed each other immediately and went at it. I told you he wasn’t just a ratter!

My plan of keeping him at about 50 km from the Bouncers but moving away in a nice straight line to reduce transversal didn’t work too well. He was, after all, orbiting me at ~25 km with a MWD, flinging nasty missiles at me. Maybe I should use Wardens at 100 km next time.

I thought about my smartbombs, originally intended to remove pesky light drones buzzing around me. I activated them in the faint hope that they would kill some of the incoming light missiles. Foolishly, I didn’t have my log open so I couldn’t keep track of the incoming damage. I must test this some time.

Anyway, we both crept down (myself crawling somewhat faster it must be admitted) toward armour. But I eventually timed his orbit correctly and got him in a nice chase line back toward the sentries. They took a chunk out of him and suddenly we were both in armour! The next wave of sentry damage put him in hull before he popped shortly after. Ha! But he definitely would have won if he’d been in the navy version. Not good enough. I need to work on my strategy.

Caracal Noogie Edition (yes, I am too lazy to look it up): http://eve.battleclinic.com/killboard/killmail.php?eid=44943977

I decided that the ‘kiting’ fit was rubbish, mostly because it is not fast or agile enough to be a proper kite cruiser. I don’t think I’m good enough at kiting to keep out of range of a brawling MWD cruiser slingshot. So I decided to try a brawling fit:

[Vexor Navy Issue, Sentry brawl]

Damage Control II
Omnidirectional Tracking Enhancer II
1600mm Reinforced Rolled Tungsten Plates I
Energized Adaptive Nano Membrane II
Drone Damage Amplifier II
Drone Damage Amplifier II

Experimental 10MN Microwarpdrive I
J5b Phased Prototype Warp Scrambler I
X5 Prototype Engine Enervator
Small Electrochemical Capacitor Booster I, Navy Cap Booster 400

Medium Unstable Power Fluctuator I
Medium Unstable Power Fluctuator I
Imperial Navy Small EMP Smartbomb
Imperial Navy Small EMP Smartbomb

Medium Anti-Explosive Pump I
Medium Trimark Armor Pump I
Medium Trimark Armor Pump I

Acolyte II x5
Valkyrie II x5
Warden II x5

I warped to a medium plex, dropped the Wardens at 80 km from beacon and waited at zero for anyone foolish enough to visit. A Moa on short scan! The damage from these guys can be nasty so I figured it was a good test. He landed a few kilometers from me and I pounced on him with my scram and web. But he pounced on me too so he started it.

His damage application was excellent and before I knew it I was in armour with only a small dent in his shield. I turned on nuets and then the smartbombs as his drones appeared (they were only Warriors). It worked great! After just a couple of cycles he pulled his drones back and his tackle mysteriously disappeared. Huge chunks of his shield started to disappear as his hardeners were disabled and the Wardens were able to hit better. Kinetic damage was a bad choice against a Moa.

My main concern then was keeping him tackled. I actually did this poorly and he outranged my scram before I hastily approached and overheated the module. I should have also been concerned about my capacitor because only a second or two after he popped I ran dry!

Moa: http://eve.battleclinic.com/killboard/killmail.php?eid=44966616

Video of both fights: http://youtu.be/2taFf_aLKPw

This is a really fun way to fight. I haven’t done much cap warfare before, and this fit in particular is quite cap hungry with only the small cap booster. What I don’t like about it is sitting and waiting for the opposition to come to you.