Yup, I’m going to start blogging again. Working on my first post currently, something about Fanfest 2011.

Sorry for the two year gap to anyone who still cares.

Firstly this is a place for me to take some time out and write up stories from my perspective, I’m not going to lie or embellish at all, I may be vague in areas that I don’t want public but I’m not using this as a propaganda tool and I refuse to let others do so. Of course everything I write will be slanted with my own personal perspective, but thats kind of the point of blogs, I always try to be respectful especially where its due to foes, and some of the nicest fellows I met at fanfest this year were from Tri. If you wish to get your own perspective across by all means start your own blog or do me the decency of replying with the same respect I have shown you.

Its put me in a difficult situation, I don’t want to restrict freedom of speech on my blog in the replies, and I don’t only want to let replies though which agree with my perspective, but i’m not gonna allow personal attacks, attacks on me or outright insults be posted when there is little merit in them.

To the handful of people who thought that this was the place they could come to and make personal attacks on friends of mine consider this your reply. Your not welcome here.

In light of Eddz recent CAOD post I will address one specific attack. When I say “KIA won’t be going anywhere” I mean its is my belief the entity is strong, morale is high in our active fleet pilots and believe it or not we are having fun, we were enjoying this fight for the most part.

Internet spaceships, serious business…..

Firstly let me apologise, I realise the blog hasn’t been upkept as much as anyone would like, sadly real life must come first and as such I haven’t been in the game, let alone blogging about it as much as I would like. That said I did start writing a few posts, one post fanfest review and one on the state of 0.0 warfare and hopefully I’ll get them finished this week. In the mean time, heres a little story about the perils of lack of sleep and then playing eve in expensive ships I hope you enjoy it.

Imperius was sat in his quarters looking into the bottom of a empty bottle of single malt, his newly cloned tongue burning with the sensation of the strong alcohol against it, one of the weird things about being cloned is how all your senses are heightened for a few days all of your nerves and senses being brand new, and not having felt the sensations before. It had been one of those weeks and this drink was justified…..

Imperius is an experienced pilot and one that is usually proud of how few mistakes he makes, meticulous in his planning and execution, even anally retentive. Usually very little is left to chance, so this week had come as a shock to the system….

Firstly some background.

Mr Cuddles was a Phoenix class dreadnought, he had seen many battles from the massive capital fleets of Tortuga in the south to the capturing of space in Geminate for KIA. It was the first capital I trained for, the first capital I undocked in and I had begun to believe he was unkillable, after all who would want to kill a ship called Mr Cuddles. And even if they did his powerful defence systems and shielding wouldn’t easily be overcome, I had even gone to great lengths to make modifications to my own biology to give him the greatest chance of survival possible through the use of Implants.

If your not aware KIA is currently involved in a large scale conflict against Triumvirate alliance. When BOB came north with their Max campaign Tri were riding their coattails and made the good tactical move of killing some of the weaker NC (Northern Coalition) members while the stronger members were battling for their own survival. This lead to the collapse of Hydra alliance and to a certain extent Pure.. And Tri moved into Vale of the Silent the region next door to KIA’s Geminate held space.

This situation was far from acceptable, plus there was other areas of self interest to be considered which lead to us moving to Vale of the Silent en-mass to try to evict Tri along with our friends and allies in TCF. As well as helping the NC against our old enemy the GBC by keeping Tri off their backs.

Now we are all upto date,

It was an evening like any other, I was tired from work and wouldn’t have all that much time because of RL issues I’m having to contend with, but I had taken what time I could to slip into Mr Cuddles and join the fleet, I was aware that tonight was going to be different, Tri had been taking the initive of late and had a change to take Sov in a few of our Vale systems.

We were going back on the offensive and would be hitting them hard, as the Cyno went up we jumped… right into TVN the belly of the beast, earlier on in the day a Pandemic Legion battleship gang had gone spoiling for a fight and managed to take down the Cyno Jammer in system with little resistance. We were going to take advantage of the situation, we knew that Tri had a lot invested in this important station system.

One by one our impressive fleet made up of KIA, TCF (who I believe were mainly in support craft but I did see some of their dreads) ED (Etherial Dawn), IRC (Intrepid Crossing) all with a vested interest in removing Tri. I hadn’t seen so many dreadnoughts in one place since the end of Tortuga and very efficiently we moved from one pos to the next and the next knocking them all into reinforced, there was nothing Tri could do despite calling in their allies Atlas alliance and The Establishment. The first day went well and we were recommended to end the night in system at a safe spot.

I logged as it was getting late shortly before being reminded that I had aggression meaning that I wouldn’t simply “disappear” from space and could be attacked, quickly I logged on to see that Tri had scanned me down and were attacking me with a handful of falcons, this is the thing with Tri. You cannot make a mistake because the moment you do they will capitalise on it. I managed to Cyno out to our staging point and figured I’d take the opportunity to refuel and rearm prior to going back into the fight. I did so and jumped back into TVN before going to bed. This was my first major mistake and I should have probably seen it as an omen, I was too tired, I was making silly mistakes with expensive ships, I’m usually better than this but I wanted to do everything I could for KIA even though I probably should have been asleep.

The reason you log your Dreads/Carriers off in a situation like this is that taking down Cyno Jammers takes precious time and energy and BS, we were aware that Tri had recently purchased an Avatar from someone in BOB and that The Establishment would be helping with their Titan. Taking down Cyno Jammers in this situation with conventional craft can be a total nightmare, with our dreadnoughts in system we wouldn’t need to fear Titans and if anything they would have to be careful using them as a sizeable dread fleet would melt a titan in a matter of a few mins.. We had to capitalise on the fact they were already in system despite the risk.

The next day we grouped up to kill the towers as they came out of reinforced, we were aware that Tri had the password for the Tower we were using as a base, it doesn’t take a master spy to gather that kind of intel when you are including so many alliances and groups in an operation to find out information such as that.

We managed to reinforce a couple of other towers, but our support fleet got DD’ed twice and already was outnumbered by the Tri fleet, they had (understandably) called in everyone they could to help defend, and tweaked their stront timers so the towers came out in US TZ where they are much stronger in numbers than we are it was the weekend however and we were planning to stay as long as was needed to get the job done. The fight started going not so well with capitals being bubbled and harassed by support fleets on hostile pos’s, our support fleet having to run around rescuing people and being massively outnumbered, the order was given for all capitals to get back to our now reinforced staging pos. It was getting late, the night had been really good fun although not everything had gone our way, but RL was calling me and I had to go, I had fully intended to be around for the 2-4am poses that came out of reinforced but it was clear we wouldn’t be killing them tonight. As we logged off I was told that I had aggression again and that Tri were trying to bump me out of the pos, I logged on in a panic to find out that someone was mistaken, I didn’t have aggression and I was safe, but when I arrived at the friendly pos, it was full of hundreds of reds trying to bump me out.

They couldn’t lock me as long as I was in the pos (a situation they were trying to change by bumping me) so I decided that considering the situation it might be best if I cyno out and come back on the first return cyno we run, I choose to jump to a distant KIA cyno beacon, and get informed I don’t have the fuel, confused I try a closer one, again, I’m just short of the fuel required, this was very strange as I was sure I had calculated the fuel required then done my usual thing of packing in a few thousand extra units, just in case. A couple of KIA pilots when they initially tried to jump into TVN didn’t leave their initial system, TVN just refused to load for them and when they relogged they were back where they started but their fuel had been deducted. I’m unsure if I was victim to a weird lag related bug or just messed up my calculations but again mistake number 2 had been made.

So here I was alone in TVN in a dreadnought, my only safe pos bubbled and reinforced and full of hostiles, unable to jump to our nearest beacon, I started finding out where I DID have fuel to jump to and planning to move a pilot there with a hauler or blockade runner full of fuel so I could jump in refuel and jump right back out into the action again, as the fight had moved to Q3…. When that pilot finally arrived I attempted to log on, my system went weird and my client crashed. I realised I may have warped into a deathtrap without the POS password and decided to stay logged for a few mins hoping that if I had I would be transported to a safe before any real damage is dealt to me…. Upon relogging I see my wallet up ~750 mil isk. The basic insurance payout of a Dreadnought.

Disheartened, I decide to call it a night, but upgrade my clone before anything else goes wrong and head back to empire, before logging off assuring my corp mates its all cool and that I’ll have another dread the next day…. Sadly that’s not where my worst week in EVE ends….. The next morning I log on, I buy the nearest Phoenix which happened to be in system even though I had to pay a few hundred mil over the odds to get it it was easier, and I’ve always said that the best way to make money in EVE is to take advantage of two things, other pilots stupidity and or laziness, its how I made my isk, but bearing in mind that the cheapest dread I saw on sale was 6 cynos away I felt I was getting a bargain.

But sadly the worst week in EVE wasn’t over yet, I went to Jita of all places to go shopping for my new capital mods, and I had neglected to notice that we were wardecced a couple of days before, on my return trip RL took my attention away from eve for all of 30 seconds and rather than dock up I sat at a gate in that time I was scrammed and killed losing a couple of hundred mil in mods. My last mistake of the week, well so long as I only have a week like this every 2-3 years I guess i can be forgiven.

I feel that a lot of what happened over the last week was my own fault, and I haven’t been up to scratch for the most part due to a lack of sleep and RL responsiblity but the worst part of it is being irritated at yourself for making stupid mistakes, especially when your not used to doing so, so let this be a lesson to you. Playing eve in expensive ships when over tired over worked and over stressed can be expensive. But you know what despite it all I’ve had a hell of a lot of fun and ISK is easy to come by, I’ve not been set back terribly and I wouldn’t change it for the world.

The night my dread died in TVN a handful of other KIA capitals were killed in Q3 sortly after, its where I was planning to head to when I logged on. It seems that even if I was in the right place at the right time I would have likely lost my dread, sometimes the lord of the die doesn’t look favourably upon you and its just your time to die, last Saturday I don’t think anything I would have done would have kept Mr Cuddles alive.

Good fight Tri & Friends, keep us on our toes please I’m loving the challenge. It certainly wasn’t the massive win you guys tried to make it out to be, but enjoy your propaganda for a few days, KIA won’t be going anywhere. Remember dreads are just ships, like any other and we fly em to use em and lose em like any other.

Mr Cuddles Mk2 Is now fully fitted and ready to roll and will be buying a third in the coming days, I’ve decided with my current streak of luck its probably best to have a backup.

Imp

EDIT: Lossmails

Mr Cuddles: http://killboard.kia-clan.info/?a=kill_detail&kll_id=29643

KIA Dread losses : http://killboard.kia-clan.info/?a=kill_related&kll_id=29659

First let me apologise for the lack of updates this last week, I started well with 2 posts on my first day but since then I’ve been rushed off my feet IRL and had little time in game at all let alone time to write about it. I’ve been getting ready to go to fanfest as well as sorting out some RL drama which always seems to strike when you least expect. I will be continuing the blog and I have a couple of half written posts I’ll try to finish before I go jetting off to sunny old Iceland. And thank you for your patience and kind words of support thus far. I assure you I will continue.

Imp.

At a few hours notice a hot-drop is called by KIA Leadership and I’m over in our constellation with only my carrier as I had gone shopping earlier in the day. My Dreadnaught (a Phoenix named Mr Cuddles) is away in a staging post we have for our Vale campaign, so I had began making plans to jump over there and slip into the dread.

As I’m doing one of my corpmates Zapp suggests that we take our new toys out to play. Both Zapp and I had acquired a Wyvern Mothership at around the same time and they were yet to see action, a situation I was itching to change. Personally I was a little nervous deploying such an expensive asset without knowing who/what we were fighting, so I mention it to the evenings FC who gives me the nod to bring it along which is all the encouragement I needed.

We form up our caps in our space, in no time KIA and TCF caps are cynoing in large numbers while our support fleets are bridged instantly a dozen or so jumps by a TCF titan. I can hear them being ordered to get within range of a KIA titan in our home constellation so that they too can be dropped on the unlucky souls on the other end of the next cyno which opens.

The forces gathered were most impressive with at least 2 Moms, 15+ carriers and 30+ dreads as well as our substantial light support fleet. We tensely wait for a cyno broadcast and the order to jump, at this stage it’s a waiting game, the FC explains to the fleet that we are waiting for a reinforced timer to run out and to relax for a few mins. Time ticks on by then the cyno is broadcast, I smile as I see the destination, I’ve hotdropped to there before, in a BS though a titan bridge, some GBC (Greater BOB Community) BS were shooting a neutral pos last time, I wondered whos day we would be ruining this time as I order my Wvyern to fold space and cyno a few light-years to the destination.

As I arrive at the destination I realise there are more hostile dreadnaughts than I expected to see, I have a slight doubt in my mind that bringing my new ship along was such as good idea as the name of the first primary is called. My hanger crew had already prepped armed and fuelled 20 fighter craft and they were buzzing around me, their pilots awaiting my orders, in a moment my thoughts are sent to them, they all activate their MWD’s at once and begin heading towards the primary, a fearsome dreadnaught class vessel, their combined damage output ripping into its shield and armour before moving quickly and obediently without faltering to their next target. I notice that a few of them have taken mild shield damage, and think to myself how much I admire their pilots resolve, doing whatever they are ordered without faltering. Fighter craft are piloted by normal pilots, not pod pilots, if they die thats it for them, no clones no second chances, they must have balls the size of a moon, or it could just be that I pay well.

As I’m admiring the handwork of my fighter crews an alert goes off, EnIgMa a member of my corp has taken damage and requests assistance, I lock him quicker than I had expected for a ship of my size and put two capital shield reps on his little Hictor. Don’t want him to die, he’s keeping the prey from running and boy they don’t seem to like it with him taking chunks of shield damage every now and then before my shield transferrers can cycle more shield to him.

At this point I have a small error in my ships systems, with primary and secondary targets not showing up on my overview, no matter what I did I couldn’t seem to fix the issue, loading other settings or refreshing the view entirely having no effect.

I start targeting blind and hitting what I can, at this stage the battle is already won, the first thing I lock is a Falcon, I usually hate fighting against these cruiser sized craft which manage to lock down large parts of fleets, but I’m in a mothership, I’m Electonic warfare immune, so just for irony’s stake and a sense of revenge I hit it with my capital ECM burst (A mothership only module) as my fighters rush to catch up to it, ripping him apart in no time. My apologies to any friendly support near him who suddenly found their locks dropped but I on this maiden voyage I wanted to play with so many toys I haven’t before.

We win the battle hands down with only a couple of small support losses and hold the field killing 7 neutral dreadnaughts and 4 carriers, it appears that a couple of other carriers were lucky enough to get away from us after taking heavy damage. The locals whos pos we have made a habit of saving show their appreciation by renaming their pos “KIA and TCF Roxxor and you Suxxor” which makes us all smile.

At that point the order is given for us to jump home, I happly cyno out thinking that I have to get the KIA engineers to look at my overview issue to ensure it doesn’t re-occur at a more vital time.

All in all a great battle I enjoyed immensely with some good FC’ing, and a great inorgrial flight for Lilith, my Wyvern may her life be littered by such victories the frozen corpses of our enemies.

Imp

Battle Report Killboard Links :

http://killboard.kia-clan.info/?a=kill_related&kll_id=26922
http://killboard.tauceti-federation.com/?a=kill_related&kll_id=97308

I’ve decided I’d start blogging a little after writing an AAR (after action report) for my alliance, I realised that it told a story of an event which will only happen once that way and the memory of it will live on in the mind of the pilots that were there, each having their own perspective each perception unique and each battle important in their own way, especially to those taking part in them.

I thought I’d share what has been declassified or is no longer tactically important to my alliance with you, the general eve population. I hope you enjoy my stories and reports, I do it as a record of where I have been and what I have done, both for myself, my comrades in arms and you, the casual bystander.

What can you expect from my future blogs? Well battle reports, stories, general ramblings, comments on EVE Online developments in general. I’ll probably straddle in character and out of character styles with little or no consistency, but I’ll do my best to be informative, entertain and generally make you want to subscribe to my RSS feed.

So who am I?

Well throughout pretty much all my career in EVE I’ve been in Mercenary organisations this has meant that I have served in many conflicts, large and small all around EVE and been involved in any number of battles that will be forgotten by all but those that were there. I’ve found myself on the frontlines of all kinds of battles small and large. From battles in Empire as a smaller scale mercenary, to Fights in the south against GBC allies such as RISE, or against Outbreak in the employ of IAC and lowsec wars as a solider of fortune influencing smaller territorial disputes.

I’m proud of being involved in some of the most ambitious events of the south and the Great War as part of Tortuga with its triumphs and ultimate failure. To where I am now, incredibly proud part of KIA Corps Directorship fighting in the north around Geminate, Vale and Tribute again fighting in some of the biggest and most important battles in the galaxy, seeing things that some people never get to see or only read about in the CAOD forums where a battle of another kind takes place, one that I’d rather not be part of.

I don’t claim to be the most eloquent of writers, or the best story teller, but I shall do my best and will give you an honest record of events the best I can from my perspective. I hope that some of you will find them entertaining, and perhaps another way to get a view on events away from the smack in the forums.

My name is Imperius Blackheart and this is my story.