Celebrity Death Match #10 Kane Rizzel

Kane Rizzel – Elite Solo Pirate (31st August 2009)

Kane had been contacted some time ago and had quickly agreed to fight me in a Battlecruiser duel. The Terry Pratchet quoting solo pirate had actually been scheduled to be Celebrity Death Match #3 but finally it came about last night.

I to like reading the Discworld Novels and always chuckle at the quotes Kane uses. Some of his blogs have a bit of a Pratchet feel to them and are an enjoyable read. As I understand Mr Rizzel is having a bit of a tough time deciding what to do in the Eve universe but I sincerely hope he finds a place to call home and enjoy the game again. There may still be a possibility that he takes up some classes in The Black Rabbits Academy as a teacher and I would certainly look forward to that as a fresh student of the Academy myself.

After our very first contact I immediately parked up a Drake near his current base of operations. I had feared Kane had blocked my account as I had trouble getting hold of him in the last few weeks. That fear turned to elation when last night still at work I logged on briefly to check my Eve-mails. In the inbox sat a flashy envelope from Kane Rizzel explaining he had been busy but was ready for the duel before 1am Eve time.

Sweet, I thought, undocking my pod immediately and setting a high-sec route to Emolgranlan. I started the 28 jumps off in auto pilot mode whilst finishing off my RL duties.

As soon as I got home I got myself a bottle of beer and prepared for getting famous myself by claiming a Kane Rizzel Killmail. I had expected Mr Rizzel to bring a Hurrycane and in previous experiences my favourite Drake had been pretty successful. My passive Drake fit is nearly maxed out in skills and sports a impressive 90050 EHP with the resists at 73.3/77.9/78.3/82. I made a last minute decision to take of a Large Shield Extender and swapped it for a MWD sacrificing a wopping 18000 EHP.

A private chat window had opened and we chatted for some time, briefly interrupted by my laptop overheating. This appears to be happening more often these days and is becoming a cause for concern. I hope to upgrade to an Alienware or a Mac Book Pro in the next month to replace my now incompetent gaming platform.

I apologised for the interruption and continued. We agreed to meet up in the neighbouring system Eifer and I undocked the ‘FashizzelKaneRizzel’. Kane suggested for me to make a safe spot and I did so as quickly as I could. In the meantime my opponent spoke with some local pvp’ers and used his political weight to ask them to stay out of this fight and not to scan us out.

Kane kindly let me choose the safespot and make the fleet but I never doubted his trustworthiness.

With the safespot and fleet created my capacitor started recharging. Kane entered the system and as his warpdrive engaged he explained he had flipped a coin to let fate decide what ship to bring.

The ‘Sgt Detritus’ named Harbinger entered the the grid on my overview. For those of you that don’t read Terry Pratchets’ books; Sgt Detritus is a giant troll made from stone and possesses the strength of ten men, each possessing the strength of ten men.

A mere 5 k gap didn’t bode well for me and I engaged the mwd to increase the distance between us. I never got far. He must have had a scrambler fit as my mwd shut down shortly after engaging. With hindsight being the beautiful thing I should have never fit the mwd as I never got to use it again.

My ship slowed even more than its intended manufacturers speed and the gap was no more. Lasers started tearing into my shields and my ECM drones started dropping like flies. Setting up an orbit was simply a waste of effort as the Ammar Battlecruiser rode me like a pony. As I was unable to get any distance between us instead I prayed to any available war god and overheated my launchers.

The ECM drones now reduced to 3 still didn’t lock on to give me a break from the beating I was getting. I contemplated pulling them in but feared the time it would take for them to return to their bay would be fatal. His shields had by now fallen to the steady barrage of Tech 2 weaponry but his armour was as thick as 8 day old porridge.

With both of us overheating the end was neigh and my shields shattered, quickly followed by my none-existent armour. Structure peered through and with a last volley of his lasers it took me to 3%. I removed all visuals and prepared to record my demise. My demise? It hadn’t come.

I quickly pulled up the HUD and in our chat window Kane had written ‘I burnt my guns out’. In the time I had prepared the screenshot I had not stopped overheating mine either and neither of us could now use our main weaponry. It would have been a ridiculous stale-mate would it not have been for his combat drones helping me out of my misery. The Warrior drones moved in and spat at my burning vessel taking the remaining 3% structure.

‘Sgt Detritus’ had its shield removed and most of its armour but the skilled commander behind the controls had taught me a lesson. The extra 18000 EHP could possibly have swung the fight in my favour. ECM drones actually working would perhaps have changed the outcome. Maybe, just maybe, it was the coin that was to blame. Who knows.

We briefly chatted but with a mere 5 hour sleep ahead of me I had to keep it short. Kane Rizzel has been good fun to fight and it has certainly been worth the wait. I hope everything works out for him and hope to see him in space again some time. Just for an opportunity to get that Kane Rizzel Killmail….

Roc Wieler, Manasi and now Kane Rizzel have completely destroyed my once glorious 4 point lead. The score is 7-7 but I hope to gain a point later today in my fight against Flashfresh.



Related links/posts;
Kanes’ side of the coin; http://novakaneinc.blogspot.com/2009/08/screw-dust514-rust-is-here-and-now.html
Novakane Killboard; http://www.novakane.eu/Killboard/?a=kill_detail&kll_id=2712
Celebrity Death Match Killboard; http://818-k.eve-tools.net/?a=kill_detail&kll_id=16