Wednesday, July 1, 2015

Sometimes you gotta take the shot

I'm in my new home. A fresh system to stalk in. As first order of business I do some scanning around. It's always good to be acquainted with your surroundings. It's been so far quite successful day, with me scoring a Megathron kill 2 minutes left to downtime. If that's not a will of BOB, then I don't know what is.

I resolve a c2 connection two jumps out. Looks like someone is busy killing sleepers.


I find confessor at the one of anomalies. It is slicing through sleepers like butter.


You probably think "Great! Free kill, go get him".  Not so fast. I have done some scouting in the system and I've seen some ships appear and disappear on scan. I was lucky enough to time it right and spot one of the pilots. It was from a Probe Patrol, a corporation that is a part of Low-Class wormhole alliance. Another well known entity in the community.  Confessor pilot is a guy from Brave Collective. Both entities are quite big and not related in any way. While I believe Confessor is just farming, I am quite confident that Probe Patrol has spotted him and may try to gank. Problem with such big corporations, is that they can bring a lot of people and support. Even if I pilot multiple ships, I can't compete. My strength lies in surprise fast attack. It has to be over before enemies have a chance to reorganize. Plus, to cover two jumps with my Dominixes might just give enough time to do that. I don't know where they are from. They can be from my home connection for all I know.

I decide to wait. After all, I haven't watched this system for that long. Patience is key and I want to observe a bit more before making decision. I watch Confessor finish one site and move to the next. There are only few of them left and he is going through them very fast. If I was to try to gank him, I have to set my Domi fleet en route.

Confessor is not that lucrative target. It goes just over 35 mil in Jita. With fits, I probably can expect to get 50mil kill. A mere battlecruiser is worth more. However, I have not had a tactical destroyer kill yet. I might end up being ambushed by Probe Patrol. They might not take many people to kill a Confessor, but if they suddenly see a Proteus, I'm pretty sure people will swarm me like mosquitoes on open flesh. But today I have this particular feeling. A feeling where I don't give a shit and might as well go out with my guns blazing. If I am to be ganked, it is BOB's will and so be it.

Risk and reward


I get ready. My Proteus is in position and Dominixes are on the way. It will be tricky to catch this Confessor. It is a speedy little fucker. It means that I will have to time it right and wait for the right opportunity to grab him within scram range. That means my Domi fleet has to stay on the wormhole to be ready to jump when needed. That also means them being exposed. With Probe Patrol flying around I want to avoid that. Since it is a c2 class and confessor is just a destroyer, my Proteus can tank like a boss. Once my Dominixes enter warp to the last wormhole, I don't wait for them to land and try to get the Confessor. I warp as close as I can, decloak and try to tackle him.

Now a wonder of a coincidence happens. Just as I decloak, I see few Astero ships decloak with me, the very same second. Holy shit. I check window of one of my Domis and see some of ships sitting on wormhole. Mostly small cloaky stuff, with some combat recons and a t3. I have a pretty good idea what they are doing. They are ganking the same bloody target. I quickly jump and initiate warp. I don't get tackled. I guess these guys are as surprised as I am. Perhaps even more. 3 Navy Dominixes showing up out of nowhere has to ring some bells.

Back on my Proteus screen, I see shit is about to go down. I get point on few things, but all of them keeping range. I am not pointed, so I guess they are unsure what to do with hostile Proteus.


My Dominixes land and so I see a Loki decloak. Same guy I saw at the wormhole when I jumped in. I guess he decided to follow. He was the only ship within range so I tackled the hell out of him.


Loki was primary. Not that I had much of a choice. Everyone was keeping safe distance and seeing that they are not equipped to deal with my Domi fleet, they left their Loki friend behind. My heart was pounding like crazy. I will not be at rest until I am back at my safe spot cloaked up. Loki is down, With my shaking hands I scoop loot worth scooping and warp back to the wormhole. Ironically, I warp to the same one that Probe Patrol was. I could have safed up in the same system, but I want to go back to my new c4. Everything happened so fast, I think I still have time to get out in one piece. I come back without problems. Warp to my safe and cloak up and reflect on my gank.


A budged Loki, made for tackle and risky situations. I guess losing this ship didn't sting to the wallet that much. 3 day training time loss is probably more annoying. It was quite an experience. What started with a small fry gank turned out into solid t3 kill. Had I not risked it, I would have watched Confessor pilot getting killed and called it a day. Speaking of Confessor pilot, I believe he managed to get out alive. I was not paying attention to him in all this chaos, but checking his killboard, I couldn't find any loss. Good for him.

7 comments :

  1. The thing that keeps impressing me most is your ability to effectively fly 4 ships at once.

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    1. I have a hard time doing two. Though, in fairness, flying 3 of the same ship helps... same capabilities, same commands, same limits in case of disaster.

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  2. @Raziel, I know right. I try dual box and end up pointing myself half the time.

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  3. Define "effectively". I also have pointed, neuted myself, have locked and shot wormholes. It is a mess, but if you fight less than 5 enemy ships on overview, it is manageable. More than that, and you have issues to be efficient.

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  4. I just don't even try any more. Sure, I could do it, bit it feels less fun to me, more like work.

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  5. @Bex. I cant agree with you. I only use 4 accounts to gank. Afk stalking imho is activity that feels least like work. And being able to kill strong targets makes it fun and worthwhile

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    1. Sure, it's each to their own. In my defence, I am old and broken, struggling to walk and chew gum simultaneously.

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