I've made my share of mistakes in Eve. And I've always been man enough to admit to them, learn from them and try to avoid making the same ones again.
Leaving my Corporation back in the early Summer when my son went into the Hospital was a mistake. I should have just gone AFK and let the chips fall until I could get back. Of course, at the time I wasn't sure I would be coming back. I came closer to quitting Eve at that moment than I have before or since. Hindsight.
That decision effectively killed my Corporation. It wasn't a decision made in a vacuum however. At the same time as my son's illness, two of my Directors were threatening to leave the Corporation. Those threats also led to the decision to leave.
I've been back now for over three months. Nine months since I re-started the Corporation. The person I started it with, Angor Mau, is not playing Eve anymore. My Alliance Exec has been gone for over two months. I have a blank portal page that I don't have access to. I cannot get to my TeamSpeak server, the forum, or the killboard. There are two Corporations wanting to join the Alliance that have a combined 97 members, more than doubling the current size of our merry little group.
It felt like the Chinese Hell of a Thousand Paper Cuts.
And then Steve Jobs died. And I was reminded of a quote of his, which I paraphrase, "Look in the mirror every day as if it was your last, would you be doing what you are doing?" I had to answer no.
As hard as it is to admit to yourself, Lucifer's Hammer died three months ago. It died when two people you wrongly trusted took half your members with them, under what turned out ( I discovered yesterday ) to be a false pretense. It is also hard to admit that you can't do this alone, that bringing new member corporations into this situation is wrong. That every day you keep hoping the course will be corrected, all while feeling guilty for those that have come on board.
I know. This is Eve and I should just do it anyway. But I can't do that. So instead of watching it all die a horrible death, like a beautiful race horse with a broken leg, I decided to kill it myself. Not violently, like some rage quitting fool, but honorably and with some amount of dignity. No one will probably care one way or another, but I will.
We had an awesome run. From January to early Summer Lucifer's Hammer was on fire. We had a great team of pilots and we all worked extremely well together. We had a blast in RK and with giving them Hell for the whole stupid small neuts thing, we enjoyed our day in Muppets and the subsequent trolololololol over the lost blue freighter, and we really built a decent Alliance with some great Corporations.
For every single pilot that came thru those doors, for every Corporation, I say thank you. Thank you for believing in us, in me and our vision for Lucifer's Hammer and the Burn Away Alliance.
As for me I am staying in Lucifer's Hammer. I said before that I wouldn't be leaving and I meant it. A few of our pilots are also staying, but we won't be actively recruiting any time soon, if ever. Right now I just want to simplify my Eve. My RL is more complicated than ever and I just want to focus on becoming a better pirate, pilot and player for the time being. Goodness knows, for some reason, I'm apparently not very good at anything else.
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?
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.
