The Nano Gang

The perfect Nano Gang consists of several important components:


> Loki - giving bonuses, point range, scan res, etc., sitting cloaked somewhere in system.


> Tackle Drakes - 34k point with bonuses (Pilots need Low Grade Snakes to make it work) Typically Long Point, 2 Webs, very little tank because you won't need it.


> Scimitars - And this is why. With Scimi and Loki Bonuses, you should never be caught, never in range, and faster than anything else on the field that could be a threat.


> Optional - An Arazu is always a great choice as scout. In a pinch the Loki can do it, since it is always good to have bonuses in the system you are going into.


That is the foundation composition for the perfect Nano gang. The great thing about it is scalability, it can work with a minimum of six ships (although it works best with at least eight) and up and up.  In my opinion the perfect gang size would be, 1 Loki, 6 Drakes, 3 Scimi, 1 Arazu. But that can be more or less.


Drakes sit 30k from the enemy, remember they have 34k points, and hammer away with missile spam. They are fast enough (with Nano in the lows and Loki bonus) that nothing on the field can catch them. Except for small stuff and that's what the webs are for. (Anything small that tries will be doomed) Scimis sit 30k away from the Drakes and serve as the Drake tank.


For those that can't fit the Tackle Drake (and it does take excellent skills and low grade snakes to fit properly) the Tank Drake is the next best option. You lose a web and some agility and some range, but it's better than nothing. For those that can't fly either Drake, the Artie Cane is the next best choice. It doesn't need the snakes, but you're losing DPS and EHP.  The Harbi would be the last BC option in this set-up as it doesn't come close to the range, etc., of the other two. In fact, you'd be better off using a Zealot instead.


It is nice having a couple of Artie Canes along if possible and have them focus entirely on Alpha striking small tackle from range. They work great for that purpose.


And no, I am not giving away fits. Or any other specific details on how this all works. There are probably plenty of other sources out there, but for us in Lucifer's Hammer and Burn Away, we've been working on this for a very long time. In fact we sorta became notorious for it for awhile there. Our Alliance name comes from this gang doctrine for goodness sake! LOL. But we don't run these like we used to, like anything they've sorta fallen out of fashion. But that doesn't mean it isn't still a valid fleet doctrine.


And honestly it doesn't take a rocket scientist to figure it all out.  The keys are the Loki (and really the Loki is the only real choice here, I've seen people do it with the others to mixed results.) the Tackle Drake and having the Logi along. Without Logi this turns into a Nano Strike Gang, which is different in many ways. But that's still something I'd rather keep to myself for awhile.


Can't give away all my secrets now can I?

Fan Art

@BlackArcturus made me a piece of fan art. I don't know what else to say, but I thought I'd share it with all of you.

Click to embiggen if you dare!

3 Doors Down

I was fitting ships, checking old fits (sometimes a ship sits so long in the hanger... but that's another post!), and generally putzing around in the neighborhood. I always imagine Rixx with his sleeves rolled up, grease stains, working on his ships, tinkering in the garage.


I had made a slight change to my Devoter fit and wanted to see what difference it made, so I undocked in it.  I already had some nice kills under my belt for the day and I was waiting around with a few Alliance mates for more people to show up so we could go on a roam.


But sometimes, Eve has other plans. Lo and behold what do I spy with my eye on d-scan? Could that be a Machariel? Along with a Drake, a Domi, a Basilisk, and a Eagle (wtf?! An Eagle? lol).  Man that sure sounds like a level 5 gang to me. ( I only say that because I was told that later, honestly I have no clue what a level five gang is or isn't. To me it looked like a bunch of shit that needed to die.)  And the cherry on top? The gang just happened to be Douchies, a former Burn Away corporation that had left to join Shadow Cartel.  Nothing personal here, but it did make the following a bit sweeter.


We started organizing immediately. Once I got the ball rolling I made a phone call to some good buddies of mine that I hoped would already be out and about. Not only that but they were nearby. In cases like this it is important not to rush, despite the urgency of the situation and your desire to hurry, things have to be done correctly. We merged fleets, comms, Rixx got bumped to FC for a bit so we could work the probes on our end. And we dropped probes.


Devoter, Cane, Drake and Stabber is what we had in system. Certainly they had seen us on their own d-scan and thought nothing of it. We warped in to the acceleration gate and jumped thru. Into a room full of wrecks. Another acceleration gate, burn and jump. Another room full of wrecks. The further we go in the longer it takes for back-up to arrive. Another gate, burn and jump. Right smack dab on top of 'em!


I yell GO, point Mach, point Eagle on comms! My Drake (piloted by Qanzark) Cane (piloted by Torrinar) and Stabber ( piloted by Gordon Rush ladies) also get points. Woooo! This is insane, rats everywhere, explosions, missiles, smoke, crazy pointy rocks and ships flying around every which way! Our job is to hold on, keep points long enough for the back-up to arrive.


I really like the Devoter in many ways. Two infinite points, damn awesome tank (right at 100k ehp with high resists), but it is slow and like almost all Amarr ships it has cap issues. Right off the bat I'm not only getting hammered, but I'm also having cap issues. Everything I don't need is turned off, I'm even cycling my hardener! But I can't keep up with the Mach, the Domi is making that impossible, even with full cap the Mach could outrun me without webs on him. My Alliance buddies are hanging tough, but they won't last long, I'm at half-armor when I finally get some cap back to start the repper!


And like some golden WW2 dive out of the sun fighters, the Tuskers arrive. I had kept point on the Eagle and it died quickly, the Basi shortly afterwards and the Domi in short order. The Mach had run off, but we also caught the Drake. We kept the Drake alive to keep aggro from the mission rats so we could loot the field. We were also hoping the just arrived Tempest and Ishtar enemy back-up would try to save him, but they didn't. Once we secured the loot we killed the Drake.  (Battle Report)


When we got back to station to drop off the loot everyone docked up. I stayed out to see what might happen, when one of their Canes arrived and red boxed me. Huh. Obvious bait is obvious? So I docked and we decided that those of us in Artie Canes (I switched) would undock, lock him up and then Alpha Strike! Then gtfo before his back-up arrived. Believe it or not it worked like a charm, he was actually still there. But not for long. He didn't actually have any back-up because no one came. I don't know what he was thinking. (Oddly, when I undocked my Cane refused to turn and just kept going in a straight line. lol, fortunately that issue didn't end up meaning anything)


Thanks to Suli for answering my call and for my good friends in The Tuskers for coming to help. And to my Alliance mates that hung tough on that Mach as long as they could. Heroes, all of ya!  Much appreciated and I hope you all enjoyed the fight as much as I did.

50m Now What?

This morning as I snapped Interceptor V into the training window, my skill points popped up over 50 million.  I picked Interceptor V, among so many other skills that need trained up, because it felt especially appropriate. Given that I spent such a large portion of my formative time as a Hero Tackle pilot. I don't even fly Ceptors much these days.


I have to admit that all these milestones lately, the 50m, the three years in-game, have given me a natural place to ponder. Wonder, mull, and otherwise consider.  And yes, I know I think too much.


And since I know that, I've decided not to think. Just going to keep doing. Moving forward. Much like the skill train itself, time marches on, and more often than not - decisions are made for us. What to do? What to train? And deeper questions, all seem to resolve themselves eventually.


So I went on a shopping trip and re-stocked my supplies, bought  a few new ships - including a Cynabal, which I realized I haven't flown in over a month. I decided not the replace the Absolution I lost yesterday, not yet anyway. I tend to over-rely on certain ships and that one was becoming a bit of a crutch lately. So I probably won't but another one for a month or so. Time to give some other ships a run. 


I also have a few other things up my sleeve to spice things up a bit. I can't share everything on the blog y'know. Eventually, all things become clear however.


So 50? Honestly I thought it would mean more. All I see are the skills that still need to be finished off, the things I still have to do, accomplish, learn and get better at doing. Eve continues to be a journey and not a destination.


Where will it lead next? Let's undock and find out.

50m!

Click to embiggen

Not much time to write at the moment, so I thought I'd share the Album Cover I created to mark the occasion of passing 50 million skill points today!!  Another milestone on the path to... well, wherever the heck that path leads? 


Enjoy and I'm sure I'll be back later to beat this thing into the ground.

Incarna: The Text Adventure

Every so often something truly brilliant happens. This is one of those moments.


This is the work of Seismic Stan at FREEBOOTED.  He is trying to be humble about it, but we won't let him.  Enjoy.

Tusker Wallpaper

Clicking on the image will take you to Flickr where you can download various sizes.


Who knew it would be so hard to find a Wild Boar image? I knew what I wanted and couldn't find a good one anywhere, so what to do? Why make one of course. The Wild Boar in the Wallpaper above is actually three different images combined into one bad ass pig. The face, the snout and the tusks all came from different images, working them together wasn't as difficult as it might seem, and resulted in some very interesting textures. This gave me the chance to build exactly what I wanted, a grizzled, wise, tough, monster boar that you wouldn't want to mess with.


Anyway, hope you enjoy it.

Twitter Tuesday: Twits from the Tweetfleet

Sometimes when a Tuesday rolls around I have to ask my fellow Tweetfleeters to hit me up with any questions they'd like, serious, silly or just plain stoopid.


They never let me down.





@BuckyOhair
If a butterfly flapping its wings in Brazil causes a hurricane off the coast of Florida, why don't we squash all the butterflies?


This isn't the first time this idea has surfaced, in fact it was the Aztec advisor QuaqualoopieTek that first suggested this action to his King. The King found his logic to be logical and so ordered the systematic elimination of all Butterflies in the kingdom. If you are wondering how things went... ask an Aztec.




@EvaPrawn
What would you do with the time you play EVE (and doing EVE-related things) if you stopped playing right now?


I'd probably finally get around to finishing one of the novels I'm working on, or that graphic novel I've been meaning to get done, or any one of a number of other projects that always seem to get pushed aside. Mostly though Eve fits nicely within my already packed, crazy, never stop for a moment life, so stopping wouldn't really change things all that much.




@Dracoth_S
Do you prefer flying armor or shield Merlins? Do you still fly frigs at all?


I prefer shield Merlins.  I do still fly frigs, although my ship flying goes in phases and spurts. I typically have 50 ships fitted and ready to go and tend to fly certain ships until I get tired of them. About a month ago I was flying mostly frigates, but then started flying AFs, then Broadswords and Devoters, lately some Command Ships... it all depends. I have been tinkering around with some new Frigate fittings and will probably start trying them out shortly. Variety is the spice of life.  Frankly I don't fly the Merlin much, although I do have a couple fitted up, because the Hawk or the Worm is so much better.  Although harder to get fights with.




@gamerchick42
If you could witness any event past, present or future, what would it be?



Real World - Always a tough one. It would be hard to pass up certain pivotal moments in our history, or ones that people tend to answer - like Christ's death. (Which would open a whole can of worms) But the past is dead and since you included the future, I would have to answer with any random moment from around 2,000 years into the future. When I think of how far we've come in the last 2k years a glimpse of 4,011 AD would tell you so much about where we're going. That would be very interesting.


EVE - There isn't really an event per se, but it would have been interesting to be around when Eve was turned on for the first time. The changes I've seen in just the past three years are amazing, I can only imagine what it would have been like to have been around since day one.




@PaPaGarheade
Why is it always @BuckyOhair's fault?



Ah, the Blame Bucky Temporal Quantum Conundrum (BBTQC) is a relatively little understood phenomenon that occurs when frankly anyone named "Bucky" is in close proximity to more than 5-7 people. This was first noticed during WW2 when several Privates named Bucky were blamed for the disaster at Dunkirk. This early discovery even found its way into popular culture at the time and resulted in the death of Captain America. Interestingly, several MIT scientists have postulated that the BBTQC effect works within the virtual world as well. I've written these scientists in regards to our own experiences with Bucky... hopefully I hear back from them soon.




@EzeriaMistanta
If you had to join another corp in New Eden which would it be and why?


Right now if I was forced to join another Corp it would have to be The Tuskers. Having flown with and against them so much in the last eight months I've gotten to know them and respect them more than ever. They seem to be more closely aligned with my own personal feelings about Eve than just about any other Corporation around. Although there are several others that I would also have to consider, at the moment, it would be them.





@lostoffworld
Why is British Top Gear brilliant and American version suck hairy goat balls? 



As any intelligent, PBS watching human knows, anything said with a British accent is better than the same exact words said with any other accent, especially an American one. Funnier, wittier, more insightful, the British accent (in all its flavors) adds that extra "umph" to anything. Nothing proves this more than Top Gear.  Plus those little British cars are funny looking.

Blob: What it is and isn't

There are few words that invoke the anger, hatred, fear, loathing and general wtfs in local than the word: Blob.  Nice blob. I've wuz blobbed. Blobbing and being blobbed are two sides of a combat coin that at once provide the best and worst of Eve.


But, what exactly IS a Blob?


I've been in fleets numbering from 2 to 2,000*, and for the most part not a single one of those were blobs. However, that depends on your perspective doesn't it? Over the weekend I was in a fleet that numbered around 50, not huge and not small. While we were waiting on a gate, a lone Hurricane jumped thru and we all opened fire and killed him in a matter of seconds. Now, to that poor Cane pilot, our fleet was certainly a huge blob of death. But it wasn't a blob.


Over the years I've come to certain conclusions regarding the word, function and results of blobs in Eve. And mostly they come down to one fact of life - no one likes to die without hope. That Hurricane pilot in the story above? No matter how skilled, talented, well fit, trained or officer blinged his Cane was - he didn't stand a chance. Zip. Zilch. Zero.


I don't care who you are, no one likes to die like that. We spend a lot of time, effort and in-game resources to prepare ourselves for the worst. And then, well sometimes the worst happens. We pick the wrong gate, the wrong undock, the wrong whatever and kla-blooie!! All gone. 


That hurts.


But, again, not always a blob. So, what is a blob anyway?


I've developed a definition that I'm sure no one will like, but I'll share it with you anyway.


Blob: The deliberate and purposeful accumulation of sufficient resources to render your opponents resources meaningless in a direct confrontation.


"Deliberate and purposeful" speaks to the thought process of the blobber. In the Cane example, we were on the gate because there were large enemy fleets in the next system. We were not there to destroy the Cane, it just got in the way. However, had I found a Cane ratting in the belt and assembled a like force to kill him, that would be a blob.


"Render your opponents resources meaningless" means this definition works no matter what your enemy is flying, or how many they have. If it's an Archon ratting in a mission, or 10 BCs in system, or a single Rifter, you decide to bring enough ships along that it won't matter what they have. You'll win no matter what happens. The blob eliminates or reduces the possibility of defeat.


But Rixx, isn't your definition the actual purpose of combat? 


It is indeed. The fact is there are only 2 kinds of blobs in Eve, the one your in and the one that finds you. And neither of those is wrong, bad or otherwise worthy of hatred. Even if I have 2 ships in a gang and some poor schmuck is unlucky enough to be flying something stoopid in a belt and we kill him, is that a blob? To him it is. To us, a good kill.


Perspective. Goodness knows I've been blobbed many, many times. And I still get angry about it. Because it sucks. It stinks to be caught and have no way out, no chance to escape the overwhelming display of firepower. And I will never get over it.


But it happens. I might even make some snide comment in local about it, and I certainly will never offer a gf, but really that is all for show. Inside I know it could have easily been the other way around and I'd be posting a new killmail.






So what have we learned about the blob? Nothing really. This is all just my opinion. And in my humble opinion there are no blobs, only people with less friends than other people. People with worse luck that day. People without intel channels. People that shouldn't be flying that there. And people that should learn the proper ways to avoid being blobbed in the first place.


HTFU. No wiser words.




*NOTE: Several people have brought to my attention that no fleet in Eve can have 2,000 members. Of course this is technically correct. No single fleet can, but I was counting combined fleet efforts on single battles. I have seen those numbers several times, as I'm sure many of you have.