The dreaded Candiru

I read the EVE forums pretty regularly and am always amused by the posts about the death/rebirth/lack/bounty of solo pvp in EVE. As a (mostly) solo pvp’r I feel the need to weigh in.

Firstly, most people who claim there is little to no solo pvp in EVE don’t count ganking as true pvp. I’d like to clear a few things up, first of all, although the kills I make are typically straight up, cold hearted, remorseless ganks. I sneak up on helpless miners, haulers or looters, uncloak and annihilate them. That does not mean that I am not pvping. The simple act of flying my high value bomber, which is effectively uninsurable, into a wormhole is a dangerous art form. I’ve jumped into bubbles, campers and am rarely met with open arms. Once I am there, I must locate and sneak up on my targets undetected, which often requires very advanced, personally developed, tactics. Only then do I get to uncloak and gank the guy. After ganking the guy, I need to loot the wreck unable to cloak for a time period and then exit safely as his corp mobilizes. There is so much more that goes into my kills than just F1-F4. There is just as much skill in what I do as solo frig or cruiser encounters in low/hi sec. What people often fail to recognize is that EVE provides long term pvp, instead of instant gratification. PVP in EVE counts so much more than you’re the bad guy… I’m gonna get you bad guy. Everything goes into it, your wallets, your experience, your political stances, your friends, the location, and finally and almost least important your ship and fit. That’s EVE love it or leave it.

Secondly, I’m sick of people who idealize honorable PVP, and slam gankers, scammers, ninja looters, and pirates. Most of these people grind missions, manufactur, mine, trade or some other activity to make money. Well some of us don’t enjoy any of that (although I’m starting to like manufacturing) and have found ways to actually enjoy the way we make isk. Of course we appreciate and depend on those of you who grind your isk, so we can operate our “businesses”. Let me preface my next statement by saying I hate pvp in virtually all MMOs. That being said, EVE is a pvp game through and through, no matter what you are doing, you are pvping. Everything is competition, nothing comes for free. Missions used to be solo content, but thankfully ninja looters have filled the void. Also remember that what many of us do is actually profitable for us, so that we don’t have to grind for enough money for honorable pvp. EVE’s pvp takes place over a longer time scale, who can get to where they want to be or how they want to play first and then who has the most fun. Of course if that’s true, I’ve already won.

This is a blog about cold blooded kills though, and I have a great one for you, It’s even against not one, but three combat ships. I scouted out three ships running an anomaly, a Raven, a Harbringer, and a Drake. With my interest peaked I info’d the pilot and discovered that the two BC pilots had only about a month of training time and the Raven had about 1.5 years. Liking my odds against such inexperienced pilots I jumped out and got in my ‘phoon. I warped to zero on the Raven and opened up. The Harbringer actually targeted me back before warping off and the drake simply ran. The Raven didn’t even fight back, it’s like I wrote the script for that battle before it ever started. I warped out and later crossed path with a stabber. Scared of engaging such a fast ship in my bomber I returned to my now trusty ‘phoon, combat probed him and warped to about 5km on him. He put up a meager defensive, but quickly popped. Then I saw his fit… WTF? Who leaves ALL your lows empty?

The buddy system

The stealth bomber is a phenomenal ship with some really outstanding capabilities. I have no real experience in using them in anything bigger than a small gang, but I know the 0.0 alliances use them to some impressive results. For me they do very respectable damage, close to 500 dps and 5000 alpha with my skills. The bombs are nice, but as my loyal readers know I don’t even carry them anymore. What makes the stealth bomber such a stand out platform for me though is one unique quality that is virtually unmatched in EVE. The bombers ability to lock targets immediately after uncloaking is the one defining feature of the stealth bomber that allows me to have the amazing success I do. Paired with a great scan resolution and the ability to warp cloaked, the Stealth Bomber is the king of guerrilla and psychological warfare.

Recently I watched a corporation start up a mining operation. They had 3 mining barges and were using a Typhoon as an overwatch. The Typhoon had its light drones out, but had managed to station itself about 10km from two of the barges. I carefully worked myself about 22km from the isolated barges and over 30km from the Typhoon. I have been in the situation of not enough points for all the targets, but have learned to lock and point the covetors while shooting the retrievers or haulers. I uncloaked and did so to a covetor and retriever. Both were down in the blink of an eye and I started to lock the third barge, when the Typhoon finally woke up and started to lock me. With the third barge being out of point range, I warped off as his light drones came screaming in. Cackling evilly I returned to the site to find the Typhoon guarding the wrecks. I estimated his reaction time plus lock time and uncloaked, popped a wreck and then recloaked. I repeated for the second wreck and both jet cans they were mining into. At some point he broke radio silence:

ColeMega > come on
ColeMega > get some or not ?
ColeMega > donny
ColeMega > whats up ?
ColeMega > you gonna fight or run ?

Of course, the answer to that was; “I’m going to take a few pot shots from extreme range and then head out to a new hole with fresh targets.”

There is very little in EVE that is as satisfying as killing people while their friends stand guard and watch. Encounter after encounter that I go through people don’t even start reacting until after the first ship pops and only then usually in a desperate scramble to get out. Without the ability to immediately lock the psychological effect of such a rapid kill would neuter the bomber.

Action, Action, Action

I’m back in the cockpit and flying sorties regularly again. Luckily I’ve had a flurry of action in the few times I’ve been out recently. One of my first stops brought me to a WH that I recognized the tower names in. I caught a few different ships on scan as I first entered the hole, but they thinned out really quickly. There was a Drake still at one of the towers acting very erratically and the pilot eventually jumped into a caracal and went out to the entrance hole. Meanwhile my wingman and I were switching over ships, me into my phoon and he was in his bomber at the hole. We eventually took the bait and engaged with my wingman’s bomber as I jumped through in my phoon. A whole mess of backup showed up in the form of an Onyx, Harbringer, and Dominix. My wingman vacated before the cavalry showed up and I traded a few blows, but jumped back to high sec once I hit armor. They convo’d my alt which they knew was still likely in system.

Kalex Khan > We really wished we had a mining site up, or something better to bait you with :)
Mynril > update your blog ;D
Bodega Cat > Trying for another blog update right?
Genocide Forge > yeah
Genocide Forge > im back in the game
Mynril > we were missing ya ;)
Genocide Forge > i know rl is kicking my butt
Kiritsubo > it tastes like fail
Genocide Forge > o/ ltr good hunting
Mynril > take care

I’m not sure why they didn’t point the bomber early. I can only imagine that the caracal had a scrambler vice a disruptor. If they had pointed it, they would likely have gotten it. I’m sure they will chime in and I’d enjoy hearing the other side of the story. I stopped by the next morning to check up on them.

In the hole next door we had a whole lot more fun that night. We quickly located and popped a Covetor and his pod. The pilot's alt jumped into a Manticore and disappeared off scan. We tried to get him to uncloak near the hole for a little bit, but he was either too smart or not around. We moved on, but returned later that night. I jumped through and cloaked up and was met in local with this:

Sanne Allows > aw, comon, it was one little bomb.. lets play.....
Sanne Allows > ok, if yer gana be pussys about it, at least tell me if yer still hear so I can get back to work.

It seemed that he had been playing a game of cat and imaginary mouse with us since we had left. Not appreciating be called a pussy and loathing his particular brand of new age leet speech we decided to camp his system for the rest of the night. He left out to high sec eventually and we terrorized a large number of transients through the hole including this guy and an anathema that we had to about 50% structure. In a very short time we managed to get a lot of action, which was refreshing.

On a separate note, I lost my first bomber in a long time. I would have preferred Mynril’s gang get it, but instead I lost it to AFKing into low sec to buy skill books. It had been a while since I “newbed” a ship.