Project Rifter #2

Project Rifter Part #2
So how’s it going with project Rifter? Rubbish; thus far I have lost the first 6 Rifters for exactly 0 kills in return;

#1RR;
Lost this one going in on a missioning Domi and Raven. A swarm of drones is clearly too much for this Frigate. I tried to get out but as my warpdrive engaged the hull buckled. I think sticking my hand in a meat grinder would have been more fun.

#2RR;
Great fight with this one. I harassed this chap at a gate and he engaged! Brilliant stuff as I already had a comfortable orbit around his Brutix. His drones did most of the damage but they were dispatched swift enough. As I started chewing into his armour my modules intermittently switched of due to cap issues. My down-fall however was that I bumbed into the gate, breaking my orbit and being alpha’d soon after.

#3RR;
After running away from Lady S a few times I decided our duel might as well be done now, knowing his Rifter skill is far superior than mine. The result was expected however I did get him into structure. He was nuet fitted and made short work of my cap, again a NOS would have given me an extra cycle. Also the T2 Rage rockets did near enough no damage.

#4RR;
Chased this chap around for 10 minutes or so, until I found him waiting for me at the gate. He 3 volleyed my Rifter at 23k distance and for lols killed my pod too. How rude.

#5RR;
Excellent fun with these two guys in a Punisher and a Nacy Slicer. I was waiting for them in a Faction Warfare Plex but made the mistake of scramming the punisher first. This allowed the Slicer to get into a comfortable 20 k orbit. The Punisher lived with a mere sliver of hull. Close but no cigar.

#6RR;
Trying to get into a fight sometimes is not as easy as it may seem, and after some time roaming I commandeered my 6th Rifter to meet up with a (unknown) Interceptor and …oops a Myrmidon? The Inty warped off swiftly but the Myrmidon didn’t. I failed to get away in time and instead engaged his 2 sentry dones?! and some other assorted rabble. To be honest my heart wasn’t in it and I just watched number 6 fade into oblivion.

So I have made some pilot errors here and there, but on the fitting side of things I am considering a recall on the remaining vessels to refit them with a NOS. I am confident that Lady S is thinking ‘I hate to say I told you so’ with a big grin on his face. Perhaps I should not have been so stubborn and listened in the first place.

Lucky number 7?
Perhaps so; Hermit and Jabajools organised a little roam and I volunteered Rocket Rifter #7. A bit of a messy roam but I did finally draw first blood for the good of the Project.

No solo achievements perhaps, but some kills nevertheless. This missioning drake was swiftly probed out by Hermit and even faster than that; Lady S got the tackle in his shiny Daredevil. To make sure everyone would sleep a little better that night we ensured everyone in fleet got in on the kill-mail. We did attempt a ransom on the pod but our patience ran out so he got the express way out of Evati.

A few jumps in to our roam our lead scout Lady S quickly found some targets worth scanning out, initially a Drake and a Mealstrom but by the time we had probers in the system they had both disappeared.

Another vessel appeared on scan in Ualkin and with hopes of it being the Mealstrom; Lady S and myself warped in for tackle only to find it was a Hurricane instead. It would have to do and I set to work on the ECM-drones this poor fellow deployed. With the rest of the fleet hot on our heels the Cane didn’t last long.

The trip home was a little unlucky for Jaba, losing his drake (and our 30 mil loot) to a gate-camp. You win some you learn some I guess…

What next
All in all the Rifter is not my favourite ship just yet. I need some sexy kills in it before I can fall in love with it. I have started a partial recall on the Rifter fleet and am refitting them to have a NOS.

A quick thank you to the all that left comments on the previous post and those that have helped or advised so far. Even THE rifter Drifter, Mr Wensley put in his 2 cents.


More on Project Rifter soon…

Watch this space

Project Rifter #1

Project Rifter

The Rifter; apparently the most coveted frigate in our universe, or so everyone keeps telling me, over and over again. For the last 46 days I have skilled up specifically for this vessel (all support skills to 4 or 5) to finally try it myself. Made famous by a lot of high profile players but non more so than Wensley, the Rifter Drifter. His Rifter guide has been a great help and I have studied it well.

Frigate hulls have really got hold of me over the last couple of months. Assault ships and faction varieties have been great fun to fly and scored me some very sexy kills. However they have come at a cost too, my average Worm, Comet, Ishkur or Enyo fit costs 30 million isk plus the hull. To give you an idea I have lost 5 Comets, 2 Worms, 5 Ishkurs and 3 Enyo’s. Yes auch… This has brought me to practise with something of a cheaper variety, and lots of them.

Enter the Rifter…



Fitting my Rifters
I have spent hours going through kill mails finding the fit that suits me best, poured myself over Battle Clinic and EFT. The first thing that struck me is that the Rifter is very versatile; the fitting options are near endless. Project mentor, Lady S, described it as a loose sock.

There are so many different options however I wanted something a little bit more of a ‘standard’ flavour, so I can really give it my all and make amendments to later versions after my first experiences. If for my style I require more tank or gank than I can make adjustments as required.

I ran a little poll on my blog to see what everyone else would recommend. Your votes are much appreciated and these are the results;

Gank or Tank Rifter?
A) 200mm Plate, DCU, SAR 26 (54%)
B) 400mm Plate, DCU, Resist Mod 2 (4%)
C) 200mm Plate, Gyro, SAR 14 (29%)
D) 400mm Plate, Gyro, Resist Mod 6 (12%)

What is your secondary weapon on your Rifter?
A) Rocket Launcher 17 (39%)
B) Nuet 9 (20%)
C) NOS 16 (37%)
D) Salvager 1 (2%)

What size Auto-cannons do you fit on your Rifter?
A) 125mm 3 (6%)
B) 150mm 25 (58%)
C) 200mm 15 (34%)


In the end I went against even my mentor’s advice and chose the following fit;



With the help of the Bastards logistic backbone I purchased 50 Rifters and the fittings as displayed above. With cargo hold essentials such as garbage, spirits, tobacco and test dummies I spent about 450 million isk.

The biggest reason I never skilled for Minmatar ships is because the ammo thing is very confusing. This is where Lady Shaniqua steps in... Over the past months we have joined forces and killed off some impressive targets, however when not fleeted Lady S is just as likely to shoot me, I guess.

I asked Lady for help on the Ammo issue, knowing that he (Lady S is a he) is a very skilled Rifter pilot. After a patient hour explaining the differences and recommending Barrage, Fusion and EMP as the minimum types to carry with Fusion loaded primarily, I went back to Jita.

I purchased 250 rounds of T2 Rage Rockets, 500 Rounds of T2 Barrage, 1000 Rounds of Faction Fusion and 1000 Faction EMP Shells per ship. Wow that is a lot of ammo…

As described in a previous post I make fitting packages for all my ships. This is what a Rocket-Rifter Package looks like;



My business-associate spend hours getting 50 Rocket Rifters in containers and then a few more hours distributing the numbered packages to my other hangars in Ardar, Old Man Star, Egghelende and Hevrice. The main bulk of the Rifter fleet remains in my home system Evati.

The plan
The idea behind Project Rifter is pretty simple; lose all 50 of them. I intend to undock in Rifters only until I run out of them, engaging anything and everything and learning from the outcome.

In the process I hope to become a skilled Rifter pilot and know the limits and limitations of this sexy thing. I shall post about my experiences and try to keep track of what happened to each vessel, what they killed and how they died.

Wherever possible I shall Fraps any fights I get into and produce a short video.

The maiden voyage.
The amount of time and effort spent on this project already has made a maiden voyage something of epic proportions. There have been a few occasions where I felt like cheating and taking one out for a spin before the last skill (Minmatar frigate 5) completed…

I ran into Venom Orchid and would have taken out a Rifter to travel the 20 jumps back to her new home together would it not have been for both our RL lives cutting our travel plans short. On another occasion I turned down a duel (what me?!) as I had no other frigates available than the Rifter. I stuck to the plan...

The maiden voyage had originally been reserved for a Celebrity Death Re-Match with Ga’len. Many months ago Ga’len pummelled me in his Rifter ‘The Bleeding Rose’. He left me the ‘The Bleeding Rose’ as a present as long as I would fight him again sometime in a Rifter. It was his gifted vessel I first strapped myself into. To my great surprise and joy his fit is near enough the same as my chosen fit! Ga’len has unfortunately retired and could not be convinced to come back for a one off CDM. His ship shall remain in my possession and will be kept safe from harm.

I thus offered for the maiden voyage to be a duel with Lady Shaniqua however with 4 hours remaining on the 46 day skill plan I buckled and undocked ‘#1RR’ to lose it mere minutes later to a Dominix and a Raven in a mission.

But that’s for the next post…

Watch this space…

Celebrity Death Match #2 Wensley

Wensley - Rifter Drifter author and pirate extraordinaire (13th july 2009)

I logged on for some space adventure but ended up being a docked for about 2 hours, unable to leave due to mixed war target and star-fraction fleets camping the station I was docked in.

Having added Wensley the pirate to my address book the previous week and spotting him online I hesitated for a moment but then convo’d him, uncertain if he would be as welcoming and friendly as the hellcat had been last week, nervously clicked through and almost instantly the convo screen came up; ‘hi’. I complemented him on his blogs briefly but didn’t waste his time longer than necessary and requested the duel I wanted.

Wensley explained he has had a slow day and fancied a break and agreed to meet me for a 1vs 1 fight. He had no ships in the area and was not keen on spending large amounts of isk for a Battle Cruiser duel I requested, because of my late good fortune I had no second thought about buying him a ship knowing full well that that very ship would be likely be my own death.
After making his way to Kamela he fitted his Hurricane as best he could with the modules available in the system and spend a mere 50 mil which I gladly transferred to him.
I made my way back with one of the Drake Battle Cruisers I have parked in the local vicinity and set off to meet him. On route (slightly worried about war targets killing me on the way) the rules were briefly discussed; no warping off, no pod-killing. No problem.
Wensley was parked at his safe spot and fleeted me, on arrival in system I initiated warp to him at 20 k… ready steady … As soon as the warp bubble collapsed around me I started targeting his ship (noticing my overview was not setup right and had to find him in space) and let rip, my T2 short-range-high-damage-missiles pounding into his shields not long after. Ok; set orbit at 20 and release drones… his shields melted quicker than expected and he hadn’t got close to his optimal yet. Wensley mentioned in the fleet-channel he should have fitted a microwarpdrive instead of afterburner, kicking himself… I tried to keep him at some distance but this barn door did not have any propulsion assist at all, as I went for full shield setup only. His T1 ammo tickled my shields just a little while his shield had now vanished. I started to feel some comfort in that and had some hope that I may even win this fight when;…crap, ECM-drones? I did think of them myself but didn’t bring them in the end…o man, half shields, still 10 seconds for this ECM disruption to end…ok ok, stay calm it’ll be ok, relock, fire, check drones, ok its back on. His armour now half gone, my shield about a quarter of their initial strength and his drones get another lock wiping out my targeting system…’o dear’… I spill into fleet chat, ‘I thought I was winning this’... my shield now exhausted I wont stand a chance surely... 10 seconds later; re-lock, fire, check drones, trying desperately to get some distance between us but his speed is much higher and I have no chance of getting away...my armour half gone but Wensley is now deep in hull and requests a rematch before the fight was even over. I think about it for a split second but decline, ‘I’d rather have the Wensley mail’ I say, feeling like an asshole when I read it back... his hull collapses on itself in a rather small inverted explosion... I can’t believe I won!

I quickly check the kill-mail and my heart sinks a little, for he clearly didn’t fit what he is able to fit and I have been handed this victory on a silver platter…
I presumed he insured the ship and clearly hasn’t lost any isk, as the ship had been paid for by me… and before I can ask he offers to fight again in Cruiser Class hulls, I immediately accept, park up the Drake (in haste leaving my drones behind) and pod my way home to pick up a Caracal. On route I remember my encounter with Shae Tian and how I lost that fight with a similar setup, I consider changing to a passive tank but my impatience got the better of me and I fly straight back in an active-tanked caracal.

Again on arrival in system I warp straight to him at 20k and as the warp bubble slowly fades I switch on the T2 invulnerability fields, shield hardeners and damage control. As soon as my onboard targeting system lets me, I lock and commence fire, launch drones and orbit. His Rupture, fitted with a microwarpdrive, speeds towards me and opens fire, shields go down for both of us rather fast and I switch on the T2 shield booster. Knowing my capacitor will only hold for 1 minute 48 seconds I was hoping his armour would break quickly. My shields start to regenerate slowly as his armour slowly dissolves. ‘Lock drones! lock’ he angrily mutters in our fleet-channel, me finding some confidence in his frustration... then as my shield finally give way and don’t recharge as quick as he takes them away from me his ECM-drones finally get a lock on me... ‘he is already in hull, come on!’ I tell myself… but I do no damage for twenty seconds and receive several well placed bursts from his Republic Fleet EMP ammo loaded autocannons pulling me deep into my structure, ‘o crap this is over’ I say over the communications channel… As my lock resolves and my launchers have just reactivated... he lets me know with some frustration he has run out of ammo... BOOM! His hull buckles and shrieks as it gets torn apart in a bright, swift flash of light, leaving little but debris. I quickly check my hull, 16% left. Close, very close.

He offers kindly to trade me back the gear he bought with my isk but I offer for him to keep it, as a ‘thank you’ for making my day and slip him an extra 10 million for his time.

I still have mixed emotions about the 2 fights, I think I may still have won the first even if he would have fitted a microwarpdrive and T2 guns, however the second I would have lost big time if he would have had a little more ammo and T2 guns. Maybe we can do this again some day. ..

Later that day I was camping a gate in a Manticore Stealth Bomber and Wensley jumped through! He uncloaked one of his famous Rifter Frigates and paused for a good few seconds…I considered uncloaking and taking a shot but knew, Wensley in one of his 50 Rifters, would certainly rip me apart. Before I could make the decision myself, Wensley warped to his next gate of destination. Half kicking myself for not trying just for a laugh, half glad as the outcome would have been in his favour. I should just take the two Wensley kill-mails and be satisfied….

Related links/posts;
(I havent figured HTML out yet)
Wensleys version of events; http://www.rifterdrifter.com/2009/07/day-one-in-the-project-rifter-house/
Tusker Kill board #1; http://tuskers.killmail.org/?a=kill_detail&kll_id=3733432
Tusker Kill board #2; http://tuskers.killmail.org/?a=kill_detail&kll_id=3733434

What to blog about

What to blog about;

This blog account will be used to give me a chance to write about my experiences in the MMO Eve-Online. I have been playing Eve-Online for about 2 years off and on now and currently have 3 active accounts. I have been inspired by the Capsuleer application on my I-pod touch to start blogging after reading some of the stuff the guys write in the blog pack. My goal is to get myself in the blog pack itself but more on that later.

This is a quick first post to let you know what I will be blogging about. There are a few formats I really like but I don’t know if they will work for me so for now I have split it in the following categories;

Weekly Update
Just a weekly update about the stuff that I have been up to.

Celebrity Death Match
In this section I will be giving my version of events after challenging Eve-Online celebrities (as such) to a 1 vs 1 duel. Some have already happened however this blog did not yet exist, hence they are backdated. Some are pending and lots more are coming. Now you may say who are eve celebrities? Well for now I have picked pod pilots in the news or pilots that have made themselves standout by what they do for the Eve community or by their high ranking of some sort.

Closely followed to this blog will be the first Celebrity Death Match posts including fights with famous pirate Wensley and the Hellcats lovelies Shae Tiann and Mynxee.

Work in progress is a fight with Bastard CEO Flashfresh which should be fun as the fight will be with comedy fits; Cruiser class hull with Battleship sized guns.

Fiction
Fictive story’s related to the Eve universe. I already have one in the pipeline but need to tweak a few bits before I post the final version. (I still need a volunteer to proof read it).

That’s it for this post, more to follow very soon…