11 May 2010

Farewell Arbalast IV


So long, old friend
After almost six months of combat, my hurricane class battle cruiser, 'Arbalast IV' fell to a camp in Todifrauan. I was racing towards another system to assist z0de but our intelligence was faulty and I got neatly grabbed by a BC camp. As soon as I saw the ship types, I knew that I would be doomed - after all, this type of hard-hitting BC gang, able to tank sentry fire, speedy with good DPS, I was familiar with and respected.

Considering we were practising with a HAC and Recon gang for the AT8, it was nice to be back rolling in the BC ship class, even only for a few hours! So why do I love the hurricane battle cruiser so much? It is the combination of speed, firepower, cost of ownership and versatility that appeals to me. The fit in the kill mail above is my standard fit, it has become less effective since the nano-nerf (where we had propulsion rigs) but it can still move and shoot with gusto. The tank isn't designed to last long, just long enough to kill something equivalent (or slightly bigger) before you're into armour. Of course, against a fleet of 7 BCs and a falcon - it wasn't going to last long but one can't win everything can you?

Death of a Paladin
This week, I was very pleased to see a Paladin class marauder on our kill board. TheHermit, Nashh et al were going to ransom the pilot for 1B isk but in an apparent rage, he disconnected his capsule from his ship in the hopes that it would cause the ship to emergency warp. Unfortunately, it came to no avail but the loot drop was tasty enough.

EVE-Uni had a bait brutix in III-1 and we went in with a rifter and griffin, just for lols. It was so obvious but I went in anyway and warp scrambled him and also slapped a tracking disruptor onto it. The brutix didn't have any drones or decided to keep them inside. I quickly rattled through my ammo hoppers and knocked the brutix down into armour. Since the brutix was an armour tanker, it was now that the pilot would call for help. A mere few seconds after this thought, local jumped and yes indeed, EVE Uni came rolling in. With my griffin wing-man (TheHermit) and I, we chuckled and hit the warp button as an ares, arbitrator, taranis, rifter and others came screaming into the space around the bait brutix. To be honest, if we had a close range gank cruiser (thorax or ruppie) we would have probably smashed it down before help arrived.

Hindsight and 20/20 eh?


KISS - 80's theme roam
The Bastards have always tried to keep things interesting, after all it is important for retention if nothing else. Persephone (that 80s rock chick!) has stepped up to FC this roam. I can't wait to see the results. There are other roams coming up with a distinctive musical theme: our Tusker alliance mates want a Country and Western themed roam while someone (Sule? Zombie?) said that Rolf Harris songs would be an ideal theme. I turned off as soon as he said 'two little boys...' The imagination boggles.

It isn't just enough to name the ships after songs and singles to match the theme, oh no. One needs to make an active effort to engage with the theme. In the past, our star trek roams had all pilots resort to using well known Star Trek quips ('The Dilithium Crystals cannae take it anymore!', 'It's life Jim, but not as we know it', 'Fire photon torpedo', and the best 'KHAAAAANNNNN!!!!!')

Am sure you get the idea. So peeps, give me some ideas. Am open to anyone's suggestion for such roams. It's good for us and good for a laugh.