Thorax cruiser

I've been spending a few days trying to sort out an effective equipment setup for the Thorax Cruiser.  I'm currently going with 5 railguns, along with a microwarpdrive, a scrambler and a webifier, as well as armour, repairers and damage control.  I'm yet to test it in combat, but initial tests are going to be against some Angel Cartel rats lurking around in asteroids somewhere...  I'll use that test to decide if I need to replace one of my guns with an energy draining device, if my capacitor battery is used up too quickly by combat.

One of my hauling clients has been generous enough to provide me with 'instant bookmarks' for all the sectors in Molden Heath, the region that I currently fly around.  instant bookmarks, or instas, allow you to come out of warp right on top of your destination point, rather than 15km from it.  This allows you to immediately jump if it's a gate, or dock if it's a station, thus avoiding any pirates that might be there waiting for you.  It takes a few seconds for them to get a lock on you, and by then you've already jumped away or docked. 

It's a very valuable resource, and one which I'm absolutely excited to have!  It cuts down on travel time immensely.  I can be in the slowest ship, but with instas I become the fastest ship, because there's no actual out-of-warp flight time.  As soon as you come out of warp, you jump or dock.  I love it.

Those damned Angel cartels...

Me and my trusty Tristan frigate have gone through a lot together. Until last night.

I was doing well, patrolling a few sectors, checking out the asteroid belts where Angel Cartel pirates like hanging out. Sometimes I found a couple of Angel frigates, which were easily despatched. And then I found an asteroid belt which had 3 Angel cruisers. It gave me pause for a bit, but I decided to give it a go.

I moved up and engaged them, and with some careful management of my armour repairer, was able to maintain my armour defences without too much of a problem. I finally destroyed all 3 of the cruisers. After waiting a bit for my shields to regenerate, I moved onto the next asteroid belt.

This one had 4 Angel frigates. Considering that I'd taken on 3 cruisers, how hard could 4 frigates be? The hierarchy of ship types is that the smallest ship is a frigate, which moves up to a destroyer, followed by a cruiser, and so on. Theoretically, taking on 4 frigates is easier than 3 cruisers.

But it does depend on the weapons they have, and whether or not you can get within their optimal range and thus be relatively unaffected by their attack. This is often easier with cruisers than it is with frigates. Unfortunately, I'd forgotten this fact last night as I engaged the frigates.

I had a hard time maintaining my armour defences (my shields were vapourised quickly, which is normal, as my main defence is my armour), but I managed to do so while destroying one of the frigates. I turned my attention to one of the remaining 3, but by this time they had my range, and my armour was seriously being hammered. In a matter of seconds I went from 80% armour to 60% hull... not a good thing!

I immediately tried to warp away from the battle, but it was too late. In the time it took for me to align for warp to my chosen destination, they were through my hull, and from out of the explosion came my pod. I sat there, looking at the shattered debris of my lovely Tristan as the Angel frigates moved away, back to their asteroid belt. I could hear them laughing to each other over the comm systems.

With a sigh, and a heavy heart, I warped to a station in the next system that had a ship of mine available. It's always safer flying a ship than a pod... While there, I decided to try the Thorax cruiser again. I've had the Thorax before, but wasn't that excited about its effectiveness. I've come a reasonable way since then, having learnt better skills and tactics, so I bought another Thorax. I spent a while equipping it before falling asleep with a wrench in my hand. I'll continue the fitting tonight.

The lesson I learned is that I need to start warping away as soon as my armour is at 50%, rather than hope my armour repairer will catch up on maintaining it... it won't. If the armour has been chewed away to 50% or less, then you're about to be screwed. Warp immediately!

Unless you're in a flight group, of course, and your presence is required to achieve the group's objective. Then your sacrifice may be required. If you're alone though, heed the wisdom of one who has learnt the hard way. I hope you can learn without the same pain.

And so it continues

Ok, it's been a while since this blog was updated. It was originally associated with Purify, but I've moved the original entries over to this new location where they're going to stay from now on.

A lot has happened since the beginning of June. Praetor Sarum, the CEO of Purify, resigned from his position and left the corp. I was interested in stepping up as CEO to replace him, but the board of directors chose someone else, as was their right. I was still new and inexperienced in the ways of EVE. My next step was to follow Praetor as he started a new corp, and work with him on building it. However, after talking it over with him and finding that he didn't know when he was likely to start a new corp, I decided to start my own.

It took a few weeks to happen, because I had to train up a number of corp administration skills before I could create it. And then there was the name of it. What to call it? I went through a LOT of names. In the end, it came down to BLACK SCORPION LTD. It reflects the Black in my name, and the Scorpion comes from what I believe is a very intimidating creature with a powerful sting. Ultimately, that's the type of presence I want the corp to have in EVE.

So I set up the corp, built the website, and then started recruiting. At this stage I have one member, but two others are interested in joining. I'm looking forward to a slow but effective growth, with the corp comprised of pilots that are interested in roleplaying their characters and furthering not only their individual goals, but the goals of the corporation.

And the goals are simple.

Black Scorpion Ltd wants to help CONCORD make EVE safer. Accordingly, it involves itself in anti-pirate activities in Empire space. However, this doesn't mean we just go around killing pirates in PVP (player vs player) actions. Black Scorpion is more than that. It's about helping those that need or ask for help.

Black Scorpion is there to help escort traders and miners through low security systems. To help rid systems of pirate activity. To help newcomers complete important missions. To help pod pilots improve their chances of finding success in this dangerous galaxy.

Members of Black Scorpion are 'brothers in arms', united in their goal of saving the galaxy, one system at a time. Each member, from the new recruit to the CEO himself, plays a very important part in the achievement of Black Scorpion Ltd's goals. As such, Black Scorpion Ltd wants only those who are committed to the idea of ridding the galaxy of the thieves, the scumbags, the lowest dregs of all the races.

So I'm looking for pilots who want to help. If that means you, get in touch with me and we'll talk about your interest.

I built this blog today to help document the activities of myself and my corporation. To the right there, you can see a list of links to my corp website and recruitment post. You can also see a list of corporations in EVE that are allied to Black Scorpion Ltd, along with a link to their website (if they have one).

I hope that this blog will have some interesting stories on it for you to read in the months and maybe years to come.