Wednesday 30 September 2009

Bio Funnies #4

You know if you play eve to much when you get in a car wreck, you run away as fast as you can so you don’t get podded.

Tuesday 29 September 2009

EVE Blog Banter #12 I-pod Capsuleer

This is my first attempt to join in the Eve Blog banter created by the great CrazyKinux. I have not attempted to get involved in any previous ones due to time restraints or because the particular subjects had been way over my head.

This one however requests a post on how Eve can be made mobile and since I am an I-pod touch user I figured I should pipe up and let my voice be heard. After all there is the chance to win a billion isk… or maybe a key-ring and mug…or maybe not.

Hell, sign me up anyway…

I wish there was an application for my I-pod that retrieves data through API-keys and the Eve server. It should look slick, handle smoothly and have some really useful tools. I think a catchy Eve related name for the application would be nice, maybe something like…er… ‘Capsuleer’?

What it already exists? But it has some free slots you say for future additions? Mmm… interesting. Please find my additions below;


Headlines
In this section one will find some of the top blogs in the eve community displayed. Updated automatically when a selected blogger posts a new story. It also has some CCP and Eve news updates.

A nice addition would be the option of leaving comments straight from the I-phone.

Pilots
Now this is very prominently the most important feature of the application. Any eve pilot will have had that one moment in the middle of the night where they sat upright in bed sweating, having just realised they forgot to add a skill to the skill queue.

Well no more. With this submenu it is easy to keep track of what skills are queued up and when they finish; reducing the chance of a pilot missing out on those precious skilling-hours.

In a future edition of the application there should be a possibility of actually adding to the skill queue via the application itself.

Skills
This has a clear overview of loaded pilots current skills and how long learned skills would take if added to the skill queue.

As an addition there is an option to view all skills available in the game to see what skills would be useful to get in the future.

Agent Finder
There is a great website that supplies every possible solution in the agent business. May it be that you are looking for a combat mission agent or a science project manager this application should be able to fulfil exactly what this website offers.

Eve maps
Dotlan could be the base for this part of the application to help in how to find your way around the Eve universe. The maps should indicate each systems security status, who owns what space and what amenities are available in what solar system.

Eve-mail
This should sync with the well out of date Eve mail setup available at this stage. Eve mails should come in and should be able to be replied to like any other email server.

Scientist
It would be nice to be able to keep track of ones science projects.

Part of this menu ought to tell you with what science agents you have how many datacores accrued.

The other part of this should keep track of what science projects are outstanding and of what type; copying, invention etc.

Constructor
Similar to the Scientist menu this should keep track of outstanding building projects

Secondly it would be cool if Grismar’s building tool would be made available somehow.

Contracts
Yup I want to know how my outstanding contracts are doing. Have they got a bid on something has someone bought my 400 mil Raven?

Market
Full market details on current market prices for a start. I don’t believe that this part should be too hard to get on a mobile platform with the many sites already available.

Furthermore it would be great to see how my buy and sell orders are doing.

Item Browser
The only reason I keep a second Eve related tool on my I-pod is because Capsuleer doesn’t sport an item browser. Iclone has a pretty good base for the idea but is very messy. However it’s the only mobile item browser and I like to read up on ship details, module info etc. when I am on the bus to work.

Fitting Tool
Need I say more? A big part in eve is how to fit your ship and if your desired fit actually is possible with the skills you have. Bring on mobile EFT!

Test Flight
Test flying your fittings made in the fitting tool in this part of the application should at least give a feel of the ships speed and DPS output. Clearly the graphics won’t be as good as in the game and PVP would probably not be possible but as GalaxyOnFire has proven 3D PVE can look pretty sharp and handle ok on a touch screen device like the I-pod.

Server status
It is always nice to have a general time to keep when making appointments in eve. Since the pilots are from all over the world it is nice that all live by one clock and one time; Eve online time.

The server’s online/offline status is also available just in case it’s not already worked into your natural body clock.

Options
For changing background images, help messages, sound options and sync options.

About
The must have disclaimer bit until the application gets accepted by CCP as the best available and probably better than anything they could produce themselves.


That’s my two cents anyway. I love the Capsuleer application and can’t wait for it to expand and do even more great things. Maybe Roc Wieler and Pyjama Sam take some of the ideas listed above and pay me a few billion isk in show of appreciation =).

Sunday 27 September 2009

Weekly Update #7

Weekly Update (21st – 27th September)

O my, this week has flown by. I have had some decent eve time this week but have not completed all I intended to do. I blame heavy drinking and too much work.

It appears I have lost a follower…=( . I had from the start of this blog pretty quickly gained 13 followers. Now this does not necessarily matter or bother me, but it is nice to be liked isn’t it?

I get more and more shout-outs related to my blog and in general pilots are very complimentary on what I do. I have had some requests for duels on a non-CDM basis and I sure intend to pick these up. Please read Kirith’s blog on an interesting/very true opinion on this particular subject.

Now yes I write a blog and yes I fly futuristic space ships but my general RL pc skills suck. I have no idea how to keep track if people that actually read this blog and if so how many. Surely there is a way to keep track of this kinda thing?

Now one thing bothers me in myself; if I don’t care about what people think of me and if I do this blog for my own satisfaction…why do I like the shout-outs? Why do I want to know how many people actually read this? Why does it hurt I lost a follower?

I don’t know yet but I do intent to get back to it. If in the meantime anyone could tell me how to keep track of visitors/readers etc please let me know…

Celebrity Death Match;
First off; my apologies to Mr Kirith Kodachi for not having had a chance to meet up for the pending Celebrity Death Re-Match. I intend to catch up with you very soon, this week if at all convenient for you… =)

I did get to squeeze in a CDM with 00sage00 however with a pretty poor result on my end. I had started off pretty well with a convincing victory but lost the immediate rematch and got completely annihilated in the deciding battle. I tip my hat to Mr Sage for his unusual fitting choices and beating me as I had done with some celebs earlier in my CDM career. Please the relevant CDM post for the full story.

Also with this CDM completed I have prepared to publish a second ‘rambling’ post with updated stats. Some of which made certainly made me laugh… or think… and interestingly enough 00sage00 will claim the ‘most words written for a single CDM post’. More to follow soon; as I shall post the statistics after CDM #15. Please don’t forget to send me suggestions or request for stats you would like to see from Celebrity Death Match.

Helpdesk;
In the helpdesk section I intended to post some more guide related stuff but again most guides have been done over and over again. There is space to give my point of view but this takes time, something I currently do not have. Also some of the subjects I intended to tackle have actually been discussed at length this week by some very good bloggers. And they sure did put up good arguments and suggestion. Breaking out the subject in easily understood bits then discussing it. I think the topics; Cloaking and D-scanner use are somewhat taken care of…

I did however post a helpdesk blog this week; explaining the standard CDM rules.

Pirating;
I had booked this Friday night off work (a first for a long time), well at least I managed an earlier finish. I had done this for the mere chance to fly out with the Bastards on their 2 year Anniversary Faction Roam.

I have indeed applied to join the Bastards full time as I have had a great time flying with them so far and also the pirating side of eve has become extremely attractive to me.

My faction ship choice had become the Worm, hoping secretly the Bastards would delay the roam until after the Dominion update. But either way I was happy just to be there. I owned a Worm about a year ago and paid 40 million isk for it. Scouting the market these days you will rarely find one for less than 100 million. It’s an expensive start to the night for sure but I did manage to pick up a ‘bargain’ Worm for 100 million already rigged.

It was speed rigged, not my prime choice and it did force me to fit the little devil as a nano tackler. I didn’t mind I just wanted to come along, and I did not expect to bring it back in one piece after the roam.

Flashfresh the Bastard CEO fc’d the 6 hours I spent online with a mixed fleet. We started of in Evati with 19 pilots, some Bastards, some potential recruits but all in faction ships. Some of the ships; Caracal Navy Issues, Firetails, a Worm (mine), and a beautiful Gallente Navy Vexor…

Action was sparce but the fleet had been good fun to be with. We go a few kills ourselves, lost a few pilots here and there… Including myself…

An annoying Ishtar and his Sleipner friend took a good 40 minutes out of our scheduled roam and in a sheer attempt to impress my prospective colleagues I went in for a hero-tackle… I can merely quote Flash and say; MWD + straight line = death.

So I lost the worm, hey ho. I started purchasing a Kestrel and fittings in the area we where in but with supply low in that sector I ended up just flying back to Evati to pick up a ship. On arrival in Evati I chose a Crow instead to make sure I could catch up with the fleet a little quicker…

On arrival back with the fleet I managed to get involved with some more tackles and kills, finally dropping Nashh’s sec status to negative. The night ended with the remainder of the fleet being camped in for some time but with some careful planning Flashfresh got us back home safely.

I missed out on the opportunity to fly home z0de’s Navy Vexor but with one recently purchased myself is shall enjoy that Demon soon enough.

Watch this space…

Thursday 24 September 2009

Celebrity Death Match #14 00sage00

00sage00 – Eve’s rising star. (23rd September 2009)

I contacted Mr Sage earlier this week hoping for him to accept a Celebrity Death Match. Now straight away the conversation revolved on what a celebrity is and why I picked him to fight. It is an interesting question that I clearly have thought about before. What bothered me after our initial conversation is the fact he said I should fight myself…

What? Me? A celebrity?! Ha! Mmm.. no not yet.. maybe soon, but not yet. I get more regular shout-outs in local regarding this specific type of post however there is lots more coming. I like the attention I must admit but that is not why I started doing this. I simply hoped to entertain myself and if people like what I do it’s a mere bonus…

Mr Sage’s name has been coming up more and more, his name usually at the top of any well known comms channel, because of the funny way he’s spelt it. His blog already prominent and becoming more so every day. His story’s are well written and makes one wish for the next update soon.

Time for a CDM? You bet!

After a few swift eve-mails the location was to be in my new home of Evati requiring me to travel nowhere far for the first time in my CDM career. The fight time was to be at 23:00pm Eve time. We agreed to fight in Tech 1 Frigates without any ECM modules or drones.

Again my fight with Venom resonating fear…

After I spotted Mr Sage online earlier in the evening I figured I’d give him a shout to see if he could meet a little earlier to give me a chance of a normal nights sleep before continuing my RL week of hell. The rising star unfortunately had a fleet operation scheduled but established he would contact me if he would be available earlier than the agreed time.

Myself?; I joined in another Bastard roam, this time under the quality fleet command of Realyf, and ventured into wormhole space. We managed to get a Battleship and a Battlecruiser kill but unfortunately I lost my myrmidon under heavy sleeper fire. Not a real worry as it had only been a Tech 1 fit but the trip home in a pod was done in shame. I had hoped to shine as I have recently applied to join the Bastards full-time.

As I returned home ready to bring out another Battlecruiser I got the call. Sage himself had just returned from his combat operation and he himself and his crew had returned in pods too.

Strangely comforting the fact that we had both failed even though my loss was bigger than his…

I was a little unprepared with this early call to action and mid travel I decided to re-plan my route to meet him instead of him meeting me. I had a quick look to see if I could contract out a ship to Nashh from another character but my limited contract slots did not allow me to. And the fact my smallest contract (at 500 mil) outstanding had a buyer already I decided to just buy the ship I needed when I got to the combat location.

Knowing the fit I wanted of by heart by now, it didn’t take me long to get the required modules for my ‘Kestrel of doom’. The only addition I made was Tech 2 Javalin Rockets as a spare in my hold. I had thought of this before but my fight with Hallan Turrek had shown me that it was a necessity.

Without too much delay we both undocked and met at Planet 1 of our agreed system and stole from each others cans. We both warped to planet 2 after, to have a fresh start, and battle commenced…

The enemy Punisher locked my kestrel immediately and commenced fire. His Nosferatu creating electric fireworks, sparking manically between our vessels…



My confidence grew as more alcohol went down my gullet and more rockets slammed into his quickly vaporising shields. There was no need to switch to the less powerful-long range rockets I held back just in case. A feeling of frustration started building as I wished I had fitted the Javalins in my fight with Roc Wieler and Hallan Turrek.

I calmed myself… the beer was good.

I refocused my attention to my current foe as his armour started to collapse at a steady pace. My shields were taking some damage but not as fast as his armour where now melting and I prepared to record the moment…

It hadn’t come?! What?! I quickly pulled up my head up display again and to my shock my launchers had de-activated. How strange I thought. I did overload my racks but had instructed the cancellation of that before I prepared the screenshot…

My webifier on one rack had completely burned out as did the scram on the second. The launchers, although damaged, were still working but had deactivated. With his hull already peering through, his Punisher did not last long after the 4 rocket launchers spewed out more death…



With his Frigate easily dispatched I felt confident enough to accept an immediate re-match in Cruiser hulls. We talked some about my fitting choice and I posted the saved ‘Gank Kestrel’ fit in our communications window, immediately regretting it.

Accepting a rematch in Cruiser hulls brought added problems to my evening. I had by now drunk enough to kill 3 grown men. However my clear victory gave me super human confidence as I uploaded EFT. A quick look through my own made recommended fits came up with ‘The Mynxee Killer’. ‘That’s the one’ I said to myself. My fight with Mynxee had been so close that now with better skills and with her recommended over heating skills I was sure to win…

I had briefly tried to fly a Thorax in my fight with Spectre just the week before but he had quickly shown me not to fly something you can’t fit well.

I undocked the sleek hull I had grown to love many months ago… she looked beautiful. The local sun gleaming brightly of her body as I aligned to planet 1. I had fitted the ship rather quickly but had waited some time for my celebrity target.

I did not mind. The wine was good…

Cans where stolen from and Planet 3 was aligned as I prepare for battle number 2. I was to win this for sure. My confidence soaring as I landed 20 clicks from my target.

Drones calmly deployed, started their approach and fired the additional damage to my already firing missiles. Fury was their name and they delivered just that; fury. The shields stripped away from the enemy Maller, easily. I prepared to gain more distance from Mr Sage but realised I had not fitted any speed modules whatsoever. Hey? I thought this fit was supposed to have at least an afterburner?

It doesn’t matter I figured as his armour was starting to fade. My shield still fully intact as my drones had taken the damage for me… His armour decreasing with every volley I attempted to retract my remaining drone to save it but it was too late. On route back to its hold the Hornet II exploded in a bright spark. Never mind I told myself again as the Maller started to encroach on my personal space. It is too late for him… I am reclaiming my victory status in this little adventure. Ha! Ha ha!



My euphoria didn’t last long. His Armour stalled at about 25% and didn’t decrease any further. My shields however had started to melt quickly, I fact very quickly. I panicked briefly hoping to change the outcome but realised I couldn’t affect the result any further…

I was unable to increase my speed and therefore the distance between us. I could not boost my shields as I had a passive fit My damage output had already reached its limit and that was just it…

My mouth opened slightly as I could only look on as my shields lost the last bit of resilience… I did not move knowing what this meant… my armour gave way without a single second of resistance, as did my hull.

Floating in space I managed to utter ‘GF’, still stunned by the outcome.

We docked up and exchanged the goods dropped as we did before. With the score 1 vs 1 there had to be a third fight. There cannot be a CDM without a winner surely.

I comforted myself in the fact there would only be one ship to fly home after our third fight. Frigates it was to be again and I knew I would not change my ship from my previous super victory. Why would I?

The wait for my opponent took a little longer again. I had by now well stayed up beyond my desired bedtime.

I did not mind… the rum was good…

I remembered the fact I had given away my ‘Gank Kessy’ fit but decided not to change my tactics. I gave a lame attempt to bluffing instead. As I waited I explained I too was looking for an ulterior fit. Hoping to throw him off preparation of a ‘Gank Kessy kill fit’.

I mentioned a different ship type and different speed mods…

Maybe the beer, wine and rum had got to me. Maybe I just can’t bluff to save my life… I don’t know. What I do know is that our fight lasted as long as rabbit sex.

After landing our guns opened up and his shields stripped away from him, a comforting sight normally, not when my shields had been removed within 2 volleys.


Hazadawhat?!..

With primed lasers Mr Sage peeled me like a banana would be peeled by a skilled surgeon wielding an axe.

I was gob-smacked. A loss? Ok no problem. A close match? Ok no problem. Being beaten up by long range weapons? Sigh… ok, no problem. Being annihilated within seconds? Not ok.

I had to cough up a drunken ‘GF’. Damn it. What had just happened?! Bewildered I decided to dock, ashamed of my extremely convincing defeat. Kicking myself for allowing to much time for him to come up with a fit that could kill my Kessy.

Mr Sage played it well, too well in fact and I did not.

Am I gutted? Am I upset? Mmm yeah, obviously I would have preferred to win, but it has been a great opportunity to meet a great person, one sure to make his name very big in the Eve community.

I am pleased I have been one of the first to be a part of this rising stars career, and am glad to provide the proof that its not the age of a character, but the skill of a pilot that makes the difference.

Don’t be a stranger Mr Sage…


Related links/posts;
00sage00’s account; http://00sage00.wordpress.com/2009/09/23/celebrity-death-match/
CDM kill board #1; http://818-k.eve-tools.net/?a=kill_detail&kll_id=20
CDM kill board #2; http://818-k.eve-tools.net/?a=kill_detail&kll_id=21
CDM kill board #3; http://818-k.eve-tools.net/?a=kill_detail&kll_id=22

Wednesday 23 September 2009

Helpdesk #2 The 10 CDM rules

The 10 Celebrity Death Match rules;

1; Fights are for a kill-mail; to the death; until a ship is destroyed.
2; No warping off. Warping off would be considered a dishonourably loss.
3; No podding.
4; Celebrity chooses fight location.
5; Celebrity chooses ship type.
6; Celebrity chooses fitting restrictions (i.e. no ECM, no ECM drones)
7; Celebrity chooses fitting must haves (i.e. must fit point, must fit BS sized gun)
8; Celebrity may warp in at any distance; if I warp in I warp in between 0k and 20k.
9; No distance greater than 50k should be taken from each-other unless previously agreed otherwise.
10; No podding.

Sunday 20 September 2009

Weekly Update #6

Weekly Update (14th – 20th September)

O my word. Work has ripped me a new one this week. Various members of staff bailed, ill or fake ill or had to be fired. Obviously this meant me picking up the shit and the extra hours. 70 hrs later and I am knackered. I am getting too old for this stuff.

Subsequently this means I got minimal eve time in. I did manage to get 2 CDM post in this week; Spectre and Hallan Turrek. Spectre late on Sunday just after posting my weekly update and Hallan mid week. The result has been disastrous as I lost both. The CDM score now swinging in the celebs favour for the first time again in 12 fights.

A CDM re-match has been agreed (after much fist-shaking) with Mr Kirith Kodachi and shall be done at some point this week. Kirith has claimed a first in the fact we shall be duelling in Destroyers this time around. I haven’t got high hopes as I haven’t flown a destroyer for at least a year but it shall be good fun for sure…

The super secret epic CDM is coming along nicely but I can’t disclose too much just yet. I can however tell you the date of the fight will be 11th October 2009 and as we get closer to the date I shall drop a few more hints…

I had some issues with the comments on my blog and wish to thank Manasi and Kirith for there assistance. I hope to have it working again now on posts made after this. So for anyone that tried to post a comment on CDM 12 & 13 please comment on this post instead.

A short post for me this week but I have bags under my eyes that could contain a weekly food shopping trip. Diafbkvazzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzz……….

Friday 18 September 2009

Ramblings #4 Comments don't work!!!

HELP!

For some reason my comments dont work, anyone have a suggestion?

nshhkdvr@gmail.com

Thursday 17 September 2009

Celebrity Death Match #13 Hallan Turrek

Hallan Turrek – Merciless Mercenary (17th September 2009)

I had the merciless mercenary in my sights for some time. It had become clear that our online times varied to the point I rarely saw his green lit up image at the bottom of my datapad.

When it did a few weeks ago and I was scheduling some more Celebrity Death Matches I had the least success of my CDM career. Chribba turned me down for the fact he could not afford to beat me, he has a clean reputation to uphold. That very same day I had been denied the opportunity by Mr Turrek. Being a mercenary and on war contracts for most of his time he had no space on his busy schedule to meet me.

He did however keep the possibility of a meeting open if he would get some time away from the front line. As I follow his blogs loyally I spotted a reference at the bottom of one of his posts last week.

The blog ended with;

PS: And Nash, I'm on R&R, so hit me up if you see me online. We'll see what we can do.

Sweet, I thought, as I immediately changed my bio to read the match was pending, not declined.

This morning mid chores, and skill-queue update I spotted his stern face in my ‘TO CONVO FOR CDM’-list. Without hesitation I requested the conversation. ‘Aha’ Hallan started. ‘Yes, I come calling’ I replied.

I had only met Hallan Turrek once before but his cold and short replies had become familiar. He talks when he has to but says the minimum the conversation requires. A real man, who does not waste time on frivolous conversation, getting to the point quickly.

He indicated he was preparing a ship and instructed the meeting place was to be in the Dodixie area. I logged and re-logged to do the first Celebrity Death Match with my to-be-main Nashh Kadavr.

Without further ado I set of from my temporary (hopefully permanent) home Evati. I had spent most of my week getting some combat vessels ready and have found the Kestrel setup I like the most. The little buggers have been good fun to fly and above all are affordable. Most of my ships and modules have been purchased lately as my production line has halted. Also some upcoming events have forced me to spend many 100’s of millions of isk and thus the wallet size is decreasing rapidly.

I don’t mind however; it only increases the tension when taking a ship out and makes it all more exciting.

Hallan indicated he was not going to stay up much longer thus I had to get a move on. I got briefly interrupted by the mother in law unplugging the router. She clearly does not understand the importance of spaceship battles versus hoovering.

I apologised for the interruption but Mr Turrek had waited patiently and had found the location he wanted to meet. The fight was to be at the sun in Ethernity.

On route Hallan had requested a specific rule, one I had already anticipated and did not require a refit. There was to be no ECM. My fight with Venom Orchid still echoing bad vibes through the celebrity community…

On arrival and meeting at the sun we were to take from each others can then take 30 clicks distance from one another. A classic duel, very cool, with our backs to pressed firmly together we started to create a gap between us. Saving every ounce of capacitor this took a little longer than it could have done but it gave me time for some screen shots.

When the space between his Rifter and my Kestrel reached 30 k I turned and made steady pace towards the foes vessel. I expected him to settle in a tight orbit and thus I selected an orbit slightly wider.

Without delay I locked and fired. Every rocket valiantly screamed to the target but fell short and exploded mid space. The bright sun filling my screen forced me to switch camera angles regularly but on closer inspection it was not me wanting the wider orbit, it was him…

‘Crap’ I uttered in our chat window. My shields where taking a steady pounding. Rocket bays had emptied and reloaded the Faction Thorn Rockets automatically. Overheating my afterburner and some manual forced approaches still did not allow me to get within range.

There was only one option left; run… I aligned to a celestial and burned away from my foe in the hope I could create enough distance and give my shield a chance to heal. Epic fail is the only way to describe the effort. The mercenary’s microwarpdrive had me where he wanted me and stripped the remaining sliver of shield.

For a brief moment I remembered my fight with Roc’s Firetail. I pictured a tall man holding a midget at arms length whilst kicking him in the groin…

Without a Damage Control the armour and hull where left unprotected and vanished like snow dropping in a live volcano.


A good fight it was indeed, very frustrating but played well. Mr Turrek explained he did some research himself and had prepared an artillery fit Rifter for this occasion.

It brings new problems for me to think that I have brought the same setup to this fight as I did to various ones before it. Clearly an opponent spending a little time on preparation will find a more suitable fit to fight what I am likely to bring.

I had really hoped to beat Hallan, not because it’s Hallan but because he flies under the Noir banner. With 10 minutes to go before the Alliance Tournament my friends in the Bastards got the order to stand down and where informed that a different Alliance was to be the reserves called upon to participate.

I had hoped to bring a smile to the Bastards faces by beating a member of Noir. Instead I was beaten black and blue and sent home with my tail between my legs.

Hallan, although tired, perked up a bit and we talked for the remaining minutes before downtime. A genuine nice guy and it has been my pleasure to lose against a clever and formidable opponent.

I hope to get an opportunity at some point in the future to meet him in the wild and take my revenge…


Related Links/Posts;
Mr Turrek’s Blog; http://amerrylifeandashortone.blogspot.com/
Noir Kill Boar; http://noir.pinacoderm.com/killboard/?a=kill_detail&kll_id=5562
CDM Kill Board; http://818-k.eve-tools.net/?a=kill_detail&kll_id=19

Monday 14 September 2009

Celebrity Death Match #12 Spectre3353

Spectre3353 – Carebear Tear Extractor (13th September 2009)

Spectre, loved by some, loathed by others, none more so than his victims.

I have been following Spectre’s blogs for some time, with his unique style and with increased attention to his blogs I figured it was time to give him a call…

It appears I am most known as ‘that Celebrity Death Match Guy’, which suits me fine. It means I am not cold-calling. As soon as a pilot in Eve receives a convo of a person they do not know they check their bio…

After a short pause my convo request got answered with the now familiar; ‘you are that Celebrity Death Match guy!’. To which my reply was simply; ‘yes, and you sir are a celebrity’.

It has become the norm for celebrities to choose; location, hull type, any additional rules etc. To my relief the location was only 14 jumps away. To my dread however the ship type was to be Cruisers.

My CDM statistics clearly show my win/loss ratio in cruisers do not stack in my favour. However the choice is not mine and I accepted.

Even though a lot of time had been spend on Eve last week I had not managed to get a Cruiser to Egghelende.

Just after posting my weekly update, the first without a CDM, I decided to drop of a ship (via Jita) in the agreed system. I had spent a little time on the super secret epic CDM coming soon and planned to log for the night.

As always things don’t work out as planned; on arrival in Egghelende with Spectre in local I thought; ‘hell, why not’.

Just before my much needed beauty sleep and Spectre’s dinner we agreed to fight there and then.

Spectre undocked and warped to a safe-spot as I waited, slowly feeling the nerves build up. On his signal I undocked myself and aligned the ‘Caldari Navy Caracal’. I named the ship after the famous Caldari Faction Cruiser but I was strapped into something far from that.

After some losses in rigged Caracals (some pre-rig change) I decided to change my flavour and bring a Gallente Thorax. Electron Blaster fit, I set off on the long warp jump towards the ruthless pirate.

Heartbeat racing I cringed as the warp bubble collapsed. A Vexor, crap, the last thing I wanted to appear on my overview.

Readers may know I am a Caldari pilot mainly and indeed with a badly fit Thorax I had little chance. I fitted the Thorax with the best EFT had to offer on a Tech 1 level and with some named or Tech 2 mixed in. I figured with the high DPS I could still put out I would stand a chance against auto-cannons and/or missiles. However a skilled Blaster pilot was undoubtedly going to rip my first Thorax apart.

Drones burst out of their holds, their counter parts already filling my screen in bright flashy red. Lock, afterburner, orbit, scramble, web, FIRE!

Circling each other closely like birds of prey we fought over who was to be the bird and whom the prey.

Shields split and parted with the rest of our ships, his sooner than mine. Armour held for a moment but my inferior skills were now showing and rapidly overtook the decline of his integrity. My blaster skills at a mere minimum where to be my downfall. His armour dented as mine buckled, misshaped and contorted ready to break. I sighed as his mixed drones took the last of the armour and slowly began biting away at the soft structure. There was nothing left but the inevitable…


Unfortunately I could not provide the merciless cold-blooded man with the tears he so craved. I had enjoyed myself and deserved to lose.

Merciless? Cold-blooded? No not really. Spectre’s evil character is merely the façade of a nice geezer out for a laugh. We chatted briefly as both had important stuff to take care of (dinner/bed-time).

The carebear-tear-extractor explained his choice of ship was not his usual as he would normally go for a nano-setup to complement his snake implants. I laughed, slightly embarrassed and explained my implants where missile related. A brief mention on his side that the fight had been unfair but I corrected him and explained that truly all is fair in love and war.

It had been my choice to pick the Thorax with inferior fittings, and wrong implants. It had been my choice to fight an experienced PVP’er. Spectre beat me fair and square. However upsetting… How stupid of me. That Bstrd Spectre…

A tear welled up as I logged for the night…



Related links/posts;
Spectre’s blog; http://evenewb.blogspot.com/
CDM kill board; http://818-k.eve-tools.net/?a=kill_detail&kll_id=18

Sunday 13 September 2009

Weekly Update #5

Weekly Update #5 (7th September - 13th September)

Surprisingly I got a lot of eve time in this week but it didn’t turn out to be as productive as I expected.

For the most part I have been doing logistics in preparation of an EPIC CDM coming up in the near future. This particular CDM is super secret for the moment but I will keep you informed on the progress and will divulge any information as soon as I can.

I have also managed to bring in some more ships into Evati as it has turned out to be the place the hang out at the moment.

Some good events other than the Celebrity Death Matches are coming up soon and I fear this month will be expensive. Again I will keep details to a minimum for the moment but the resulting blogs will be worth a read.

Other than that I have posted the last chapter of my fiction story this week. Drawings to accompany the story are (slowly) progressing and are imao worth the effort.

I appear to a have gained some more followers to my blog which is always nice. And it appears that non-bloggers also appreciate some of the stuff I have posted sofar; as I got a few friendly shout outs in local.

A lot of my week has also been spent on reading up on the many blogs now featured in the blog-pack. Some less interesting than others but for the most part brilliant reads!

This is possibly the shortest post I have made related to the amount of hours spend on Eve in any one week but unfortunately it hasn’t been that eventful. And the stuff that is eventful I can’t disclose at the moment or the outcome is uncertain and I don’t want to jinx myself…

Friday 11 September 2009

Bio Funnies #3

Podding means never having to say I luv u

Wednesday 9 September 2009

Fiction #1 "You win some, you learn some" Chapter 4/4; ‘Ransom’

Chapter 4/4; ‘Ransom’

'Good to see you are still with us' Flashfresh said. 'What the fuck happened to you?' 'Oh, don’t ask' Nashh replied. A Silent stare followed; the answer clearly insufficient... 'A moment of weakness, I am sorry, it won't happen again'. 'Good, ensure it doesn’t' Flash responded firmly as he turned to a small gathering of pirates at a table in the corner. 'Come with me, we have business to discuss'.

As the pirate commander and rookie get to the table Gorgoleon slides Nashh a mug of beer, silently staring at him. 'Thanks' Nashh nodded and sat down.

'Attention bastards!' Flashfresh bellowed. The table fell silent. 'I have reliable information from a business associate and close friend of mine of the planned route of an Archon class freighter'. Nashh’s eyes lit up…

'I intend to intercept it here', pointing at the tactical map spread on the table. 'I want a tackling team at this side of the MV-618 gate and a high damage tactical squad at moon 4 in case we need it'. 'A nice clean run gentlemen no fuck ups, we go in, get what we want and get out you hear?' 'Aye, yes sir' the Bastards mumbled in reply. 'Right then, Gorgoleon, Happy San and z0de will be tactical squad, N00bish and Jmaar you will be the eyes and back-up tackle team in ME-213'. 'Nashh you are with me'. We have less than fifteen minutes, so let's roll people! Ship up and move!

The Bastards jumped of their seats and made their way out of the bar, exited like teenagers shouting 'yar!'

The purposefully straggling z0de grabs Nashh by the arm, pulls him close to whisper in his ear; 'don't fuck this up teachers pet, or I'll shoot you myself'. Nashh jerks free his arm, grabbing z0de by his throat, squeezing, one hand already on his holstered blaster. 'Just don't get in my way pretty boy and you'll be fine' he says in a calm low tone, thinking of her as he says it…

Left gasping for air, z0de composes himself. As Nashh walks off into the direction of the hangars he clears his throat and takes a moment to sort himself out, brushing off imaginary dust from his leather jacket. He quickly looks around to see if anyone saw what just happened then makes his way to the hangars himself muttering incoherently...

The Pirates undocked together scaring the handful of people outside the station enough to dock immediately. Nothing worse for a peaceful pilot than seeing your head-up-display fill up with the flashy red of doom. The journey was short and the pirates set themselves up in their positions. The wait didn't last long.

'They're here' Jmaar spoke softly in the fleet channel as if not wanting to be heard. 'Stay cloaked' Flashfresh instructed, 'when they jump, jump with them'. There was silence as the star-gate activated. The behemoth held its cloak as it came through on the waiting pirate’s side of the gate. Its captain already knowing its fate by looking at the red pulsating signatures of Flash and Nashh’s interceptors. The gate burned brightly twice more.

'Let’s do this Nashh' the pirate fleet commander said, too late. Nashh had already activated all his modules and his microwarpdrive pushed his crow straight towards the giant space transporter. 'Point' Nashh coldly reported, as did N00bish, now orbiting the target. 'Roger' Flash confirmed, 'take his shields and I'll hail them...what the f..!?'. ..

'Nashh! Nashh! Respond! Nashh!'. 'No point boss' z0de interrupted, he is no longer in his ship, he has boarded the freighter..'. God damn him! 'Hold fire, I repeat hold fire, I am going in after him....'

Nashh knew the layout of the freighter like the back of his hand. Most of his youth, and his adult life for that matter had been spent onboard his dads. As he ran up the first set of stairs the docking bay lights flashed again. Someone was coming after him. He didn't stop; this one was his. The opportunity he had wanted for so long.

Along the long corridor to the control room the thought of taking over the ship occurred to him. 'Not this time' he told himself…

A peek around the last corner revealed an armed guard with a slaver dog. The precious cargo had apparently warranted security on board but not an escort.

'd-don't come any closer!'
the guard stuttered, clearly an amateur. He let loose the dog and waited anxiously as it disappeared around the corner. A high pitched 'yelp' did not help his nerves.

Nashh slowly stepped around the corner and started steaming towards the sweating and shaking guard. The man was in shock and could barely lift his blaster. At point blank range Nashh did not rush; taking the guards weapon with his left hand, whilst raising his own with his right.

He tilted his head slightly, his scarred eye burned with anger. Without any other emotion he pulled the trigger, exposing the inside of the guard’s skull leaving a pink mist where his head had been. The lifeless body fell to the floor.

It was his first human kill, but he didn't feel any better or worse for it, there would be more…

'Nashh!' Flashfresh came bolting around the corner half tripping over the dogs remains. 'What the fuck are you...' Flash stopped and looked somewhat perplexed from the headless body back to Nashh’s void gaze.

'You are along to watch and learn young pirate..'. 'I know' Nashh interrupted 'but this is something I have to do' he continued calmly as he took the more powerful ion rifle out of Flash’s hands.

The renowned pirate’s mouth opened slightly and his eyes widened as Nashh turned around and put the ion rifle against the wall next to the control-room door. The rifle was powerful enough to blast a hole through the wall and the armed guard on the other side.

The door unlocked and the captain stepped back as he opened it. Nashh stepped in just as the second guard’s corpse folded over…

'a-anything you say'
the captain uttered, sweating profusely. 'I know' Nashh smiled an evil smile. He had memorized the words a long time ago, and with his CEO watching he got to say them himself, finally...

"You are kindly requested to pay ransom in return for your precious ship and pod, if you do not pay up in ten seconds you shall surely perish...’

’My name is Nashh Kadavr, remember it...’

Ramblings #5 Frappsed

The Weekend Warrior Mr Tony has posted the following youtube video;

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=9jZLSFMt9iM

Very cool! Thanks again Tony!

Monday 7 September 2009

Bio Funnies #2

(Your addiction to eve online perfectly hits your marriage wrecking it for half the stuff you own.)

Sunday 6 September 2009

Weekly Update #4

Weekly Update #4 (31st August – 6th September)

I haven’t been on Eve as much as I wanted but still a busy week yet again. On the 1st of September the new bloggers for the blog pack were due to be selected and to my elation I found the following comment underneath CDM #11;

CrazyKinux said...
Welcome to the EVE Blog Pack. Look for a post about it soon.


O yeah! That’s right! Find me on an i-pod near you soon! I am so chuffed and hope to do my bit for the blogging community.

Celebrity Death Match;
Finally I got to meet the one and only Flashfresh. The duel I have been looking forward to for some time; cruiser with comedy fit. I am proud to say I have won the fight but even more proud to say I have joined the Bastards for some fun a little later in the week.

Unfortunately Chribba and Hallan Turrek have both declined to participate in a CDM. Chribba explained that even if he would agree to fight he would lose on purpose. A shame but I understand the man has a clean reputation to uphold. Hallan, like a true celebrity, declined as he is too busy. Unfortunate but I hope he finds time at some point in the future.

I have agreed however to fight Spectre in a cruiser duel in the upcoming week. I fear with my CDM Cruiser record I am to lose but fingers crossed. RoninData has also agreed to fight but the details are to be discussed. I am hoping for another fun Bastards expierence and will keep you up to date as soon as I hear from him.

Fiction;
A reader who has kindly left encouraging comments on my blogspot challenged me to a duel this week. I gladly accepted the challenge from Squizz. I have decided to write my next fiction story about our encounter and hope to post it before too long. I can however let you know the skilled pilot defeated me in a frigate duel and also in a rookie-lol-fit fight just after.

Pirating and stuff;
Nashh is skilling hard for Battlecruisers so I can join in on the gate and station action but I had some fun with Lau this week;

I joined the Bastards after my fight with Flashfresh on Tuesday and had a great however unsuccessful time. I did also get an invite to join them again.

Wednesday I got involved in a little scrap outside the Bastard base and assisted in the destruction of a Drake. Only to have my kestrel blasted out of space by a small blob.

Friday I made a 32 jump round trip to pick up one of my Drakes and dropped it off in Evati. I had a brief chat with legendary pirate RoninData and we agreed to do a CDM at some point soon. He gave me a warm welcome back into Evati and subsequently destroyed my Battlecruiser with his wingman Jarit. No hard feelings though; all is fair in love and pirating. Flashfresh picked up the killmail and eve mailed me not long after explaining he has set me to blue to avoid future incidents. YAY! I am blue to the Bastards.

I had just finished a 15 hour shift on Saturday and logged on briefly to update my skill queue. A frigate roam was about to set off according to the Bastard channel. O noes, I thought, its 3 am, I really should go to bed… of course I didn’t…

Mynxee was also in the fleet and before I knew it we roamed through low and nul sec. Nothing but some annoyances for the first hour and unfortunately the fleet started to decrease in size. Some pilots logged, Mynxee got shot and podded. The killers paraded her famous corpse which was worth a chuckle. She rejoined the fleet not long after.

The fleet was cool calm and collected throughout. No shouting and downed pilots didn’t scream but accepted their fate and picked themselves up after. A very good experience yet again and topped of with a few kills in the end. With the remaining 6 frigates we destroyed a mining (AFK) Rokh Battleship. A pod ransom was tried but after no response the inevitable happened and that got destroyed too.

A few jumps later we managed to get a Caracal kill but lost another frigate in the ensuing battle. I had to park up in a local station and log as 6 am is definitely past my bedtime… It was worth the argument with the missus.

Cant wait for next week…

Related links/posts;
CK Blog pack post; http://www.crazykinux.com/2009/09/new-to-eve-blog-pack-did-you-really.html
CDM #11; http://nashhkadavreveblog.blogspot.com/2009/09/celebrity-death-match-11-flashfresh.html
Squizz Kill #1; http://kb.eve-primary.com/?a=kill_detail&kll_id=5843
Squizz Kill #2; http://kb.eve-primary.com/?a=kill_detail&kll_id=5853

Ramblings #4 Eve Blog Pack

This is just a quick post to explain what I blog about. I have been accepted into the Eve blog pack this week (thank you CK) and will give a quick run down of what you can expect from following my antics. I have tried to keep my stuff under certain headings to make it easier for myself to keep track of what I am doing and for any readers to see by the title if they want to read the actual post or skip the particular subject I have posted.

Celebrity Death Match
By far this has proven to be my most successful part of blogging so far. I this section I explain my side of the story after challenging Eve celebrities to a duel. Various have already happened and there are lots more coming. Watch this space…

Weekly Updates
At the end of every week I post about what I have been up to in general or what achievements I made.

Fiction
I have written a four part fiction story and have already posted the first 3 chapters. I intended to post the last chapter on Wednesday but have not been able to do so. Instead I shall post it this coming Wednesday. The story is about Nashh joining the Bastards pirate corp. This never actually happened but as I said this is a fictive story. Flashfresh the Bastard CEO has kindly proof read the story and helped me make it more authentic. I will repost the full story including some artwork in a couple of weeks. A second story is in the making so if you enjoyed the first one keep your eyes peeled for the next...

Ramblings
Mid week rambling’s about stuff I want to get of my chest or simply stuff I cant find a better place for.

Helpdesk
Guides or advice from me. This is a tough subject as most guides have been done and redone many times. I add my bit though…

Bio Funnies
Simply copied and pasted quotes from pilot bio’s I have come across in space and laughed out loud at.

Eve Blog Banter
My responses to the famous Eve blog banter. This is a tough one and I haven’t participated to any just yet but I hope to put in a good effort on the next one.

So now you know what to expect from me, I hope you enjoy it! Remember to leave me some comments; good or bad they will only improve what I do!

Wednesday 2 September 2009

Celebrity Death Match #11 Flashfresh

Flashfresh – Chief Bastard of the Bastards (1st September 2009)

I say Chief bastard but Flashfresh is surprisingly nice for a villain of the highest order. The famous Bastards are well known for their fearsome combat reputation kept in check by a strict pirate honour code. Various Bastards write blogs themselves and together with the Hellcats they fill an important part of the Eve community.

The first fiction story I wrote is about Nashh Kadavr joining the Bastards. This never actually happened and I had taken some liberties in writing about the Bastards and Flashfresh himself. Risky perhaps yes, but Flash has been very good about it; not only being ok with it, he has even read the story I emailed to him and helped me make it more authentic!

I got talking to Flashfresh soon after my fight with Mynxee, I was slightly nervous but the pirate commander had been very accommodating. He took time out of his busy schedule to talk to me about the new ransom-board the Bastards are working with and the unique loot registration system. At the time Flash did not have time to catch up for a duel but agreed to fight me as long it would be in a fun Bastard way of doing it. Of course I agreed to whatever he would want but cringed when he suggested; ‘Cruiser hull with a BS sized weapon’.

We agreed to meet towards the end of August as both of us had a holiday planned before then. We followed the conversation up with a few emails to agree the terms of the fight;

1: T1 Cruiser Hull
2: Fitting needs to comprise of a BS sized gun (online)
3: No other fitting restrictions
4: No warping off (to the death)
5: No pod-killing

Now if I have any readers they will know I fly Caldari only and I suggest just for the hell of it you open up EFT and try to come up with a fit. That’s right; it is not possible. This meant I had to find a ship I could still do some DPS with and have enough powergrid to fit and online a large weapon. Some shopping around and I ended up with a Rupture and immediately started skilling for one.

It needed 5 Tech 2 Reactor Control Units to do anything at all so my low slots had been taken care off. I fitted a Tech 2 Siege missile launcher and decided to arrange the rest of the fittings around that. Shields where simply not an option after fitting two Tech 2 Target Painters and choose a mwd instead. To be able to run this permanently I fitted the high slots with 2 Heavy Missile Launchers and 3 NOS’s. As I didn’t expect to last too long I added four small drones and one medium. All gank no tank.

By the time I could fly the ship I had already purchased the modules and the hull ready to fit and fight. The duel was to happen Tuesday 1st August 21:00 Eve o’clock.

On arrival in Evati with my comedy fit I was hoping not to get shot out of space and making someone laugh at the ridiculous setup they would find in the kill mail.

We spoke over a private chat and agreed to meet in a neighbouring system and as I jumped through the gate Flash just jumped through the other way! I laughed out loud and said ’at least you know what I am flying!’. The pirate must have just missed me as he didn’t spot my vessel uncloak as I aligned to dock.

Instead of a fleet being formed I got an invite to the fleet Flash was commanding at the time. Holy crap, I thought, I am in a Bastard fleet! The names already familiar to me as I had spent some time in Evati waiting for Venom. My time there ended up being spend watching the Bastards.

The pirate CEO kindly introduced me as we met at a safespot to bookmark. Flash instructed me we where to get our ships and after a countdown we were both to warp to the bookmark. Very cool, a bit like a street car race Jaxx stuck his hands up and counted down; \o/…5….4….3….2….1…/0\ GOGOGO!

Mid warp Gorgoleon said; ‘A Moa I bet’ and just before landing I managed to explain I couldn’t fit one. My heart was pumping at great speed. The 7-7 score could swing in the celebs or my favour tonight…

As the warp bubble dissipated, my lock resolved slowly. My primed launchers fired instantly, hurtling mixed sized Tech 2 ammo at the foe. I willed my ship into a 5k orbit and engaged the mwd. To ensure I could keep this speed up I activated the 3 NOS’s and started sapping his energy. The mixed sized drones buzzed from their hold and added to my firepower.

I had originally intended to attack his drones first as I figured the majority of the damage would come from them but in the heat of the moment I locked them and did nothing about it.

My drones on the other hand simultaneously had there shields removed. What the..! Crap, a smartbomb? I quickly pulled my drones in as for me also the drones made up 50% of my DPS. I knew however that my mixed sized NOS’s would have sucked his capacitor dry and re-launched them immediately.

I had not looked at the stats yet as I had been concentrating to much on the huge array of different sized weapons and drones. A quick glance at his ships status at the top of my screen revealed he was toughing structure compared to my shields barely hanging in there. Without mercy I overloaded all the racks and prepared to record the moment…



‘YEAH! Woot!’ I belted into the fleet channel. I think the Bastards where as stunned as me and the onlookers muttterd; ‘you where crap Flash’. Still buzzing from the fight and the win I docked my ship unlikely to ever to use it again. We laughed some and exchanged ‘GF’.

It was getting late for me and after the last couple of long days (and short nights) in RL I should probably have gone to bed. I was still in the Bastard fleet however and I didn’t want to miss this opportunity and asked to stay with the fleet.

The Bastards accepted my request under the condition that I would play bait. Bait for the Bastards? ‘Yes please’ I answered and immediately boarded the Drake I had in Evati.

Some belt ratting later and a little support lend in the form of collecting Bastard loot. I managed to lose the Drake to a gate camp. Unlucky maybe, but it was the result of a misunderstood order and a wrong decision in jumping into a welcome committee of 15 Battlecruisers and Battleships. I managed to get my pod out however and quickly made my way back to Evati to jump into a gank Kestrel.

The hour and a half spend in the Bastard fleet had merely resulted in the loss of a Drake (including a full cargo of Bastard loot, sorry) and a missed chance on an Attack Frigate. I didn’t care at all however and I must say the experience has been very good. The Bastards had shown extreme professionalism by the way they knew their way around and the way the fleet conducted themselves.

Flash is a very calm, cool, collected kind of fleet commander and his instructions were relayed smooth and stress free. I kindly received an offer to return to Evati and join the Bastards on another roam some day, and I surely will.

I hope to spend some time with The Black Rabbit Academy to gain vital pirating knowledge but await the time the Bastards re-open recruitment…

Related links/posts;
Flashfresh’s side of the story; http://i-pirate.blogspot.com/2009/09/you-are-crap-you-therefore-deserved-to.html

Bastard killboard; http://www.the-bastards.com/kb/?a=kill_detail&kll_id=12152

Celebrity Death Match Killboard; http://818-k.eve-tools.net/?a=kill_detail&kll_id=17

Tuesday 1 September 2009

Ramblings #3 Statistics

After the first ten Celebrity Death Matches I saw it fit to post some statistics;

Celebs fought; 9
CDM fights; 14
Score; Celebs 7- Me 7
Ships lost in process; 9
Isk lost in process; 590 million isk
Jumps made for CDM; 799
Longest wait for a celeb; 15 hours
CDM Sec Status drop; -5.1
Comments on CDM blogs; 26
Celebs that posted a blog after winning; 6
Celebs that posted a blog after losing; 2
Frigate CDM fights; 7
Frigates destroyed; 4 (3 x Rifter, 1 x Punisher)
Frigates lost; 3 (3 x Kestrel)
Cruiser CDM Fights; 4
Cruisers destroyed; 1 (1 x Rupture)
Cruisers lost; 3 (3 x Caracal)
Battlecruiser CDM fights; 3
Battlecruisers lost; 1 (1 x Drake)
Battlecruisers destroyed; 2 (1 x Myrmidon, 1 x Hurricane)

If there is any other stats you would like to see please leave a comment and I will post new stats after CDM 15.

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