War

[eldaec]

It's like saying you don't get us people who shop at Sainsbury's or you don't get people who fly Ryan Air.

I don't get people who fly with RyanAir.

[Endie]

Check this out, an argument about what goons really are? 

hahah Goons!

Indeed. This is the war thread! Isn't there any WAR in the EvE universe these days?

There is a massive amount going on, and at least three big developments, one very foreseeble and two others apparently not well known yet, are going to occur over the next week or so.  Also one smaller thing that I am delighted by on a personal level.

As to why this thread is quiet?  One contributing factor is that it was, as more than one person has pointed out before now, close to being my interactive eveblog from 2007 onwards.  Since some senior people in the f13 forums decided I was persona non grata I've lost interest.  I tend to use the Kugutsumen.com Eve Uncensored forum to get my info for anything that the GIA and Corps Diplomatique don't flag.

[tgr]

I'd mostly decided to stop updating here, since it usually ended up with mindboggingly boring updates, but Endie pointed out a juicy one, which I investigated a bit.

Take this fight: http://www.killboard.it/?a=kill_related&kll_id=157585

Notice the efficiency rating, and "ships killed", then look at the PL column. Just to save you guys the work, here's my quick analysis:

http://www.killboard.it/?a=kill_detail&kll_id=157579
Nick Curso and Acan are on the killmail.

http://www.killboard.it/?a=kill_detail&kll_id=157581
Nick Curso and Acan are on the killmail.

http://www.killboard.it/?a=kill_detail&kll_id=157590
Jena Jamson and Acan are on the killmail.

http://www.killboard.it/?a=kill_detail&kll_id=157601
Strawe, Acan and Jena Jamson is on the killmail.

http://www.killboard.it/?a=kill_detail&kll_id=157594
Acan is on the killmail.

http://www.killboard.it/?a=kill_detail&kll_id=157600
Acan is on the killmail.

http://www.killboard.it/?a=kill_detail&kll_id=157584
Strawe and Acan is on the killmail.

Adding those up means they lose 22.8b from their side, which means they're left with 0.55b killed, vs 45.08b lost, which gives IT an efficiency rating of 1.2%, and PL+Friends an efficiency of 98.8%.

The fascinating thing is, what Acan usually seems to have done, is throw Remote ECM burst I on the caps that are killed. That sounds like a real productive thing to do.

A few of the others do the same thing, but I can't be arsed to summarize who does what, as some of them are registered as "unknown". That's either remote ECM burst as well, or in the case of strawe (I think it was), probably drones.

[Stabs]

Isn't the whole point of ECM burst to whore killmails? Does it actually have a game effect?

[tgr]

I suddenly noticed what the module actually does. It's an area of effect module, centered around the designated target. So there might technically be a use for it.

Not that it seemed to help much for anything other than KM whoring.

Edit: still, that just means it's that much more embarassing, as they're now below the 19.7% of KIA after they lost the titan.

[Phildo]

It's incredibly useful for rescuing tackled supercaps in lowsec where a few seconds without being locked might be all they need to warp out.

[Stabs]

The Southern Coalition launched a major assault on H-W which is the NC staging post in Tribute. I'm told titans are on the field of combat. I'm told it began at 8am this morning (presumably Eve time).

At the moment SC hold the field as EU timezone suits them better than NC. The real test for them will be later when it's 4am their time and the Americans are coming to rescue the system.



DOTLan is showing 235 ships and 124 pods killed in the last 3 hours in H-W.

If the attack succeeds it will be a blow for NC as a lot of people have ships there and won't be able to get them out. I'll try to get along there later and add my lasers to the cause.

[Numtini]

Yeah, I was listening in on coms earlier, sounds like a big one.

Apparently IT pilots have no mothers.

[Stabs]

Apparently IT pilots have no mothers.

PL blew them up   

[Endie]

Apparently IT pilots have no mothers.

PL blew them up   

Boosh

As an aside this is Mother's Day in the US but not in Europe.  Here in the UK it is during lent, for instance

[Numtini]

Big cap fight going on in H-W again today with NC really taking a beating. Looks like loss of 50 or so caps for less than 10 of the South's.

[Stabs]

Exciting times in H-W. It seems this battle is the key to the NC-SC conflict.

I'm quite sure that Pandemic Legion's guerilla actions in Delve helped spur the South into action but a lot of planning and preparation has gone into this assault.

IT and friends absolutely dominated in AU and EU times and held their own last night in US time. The clock is ticking for the key station in H-W, if this siege is successful then a significant part of the North's assets will be lost.

It seems that right now the battle is turning.

We hold the field and finally managed to secure the station so that pilots trapped there can undock. At least 100 pilots were trapped, possibly nearer 200. All the ones who have been online in the last couple of hours have got out now.

We've cleared the warp disruption bubbles from the D7 gate making it easier for us to get people in. They were ROL so I imagine the Russians will put them back up tomorrow.

We're busy destroying Southern assets. There are about 35 Reds trapped in one of their POSes with a large angry mob outside. We have a load of battleships shooting it and are "rapecaging" it. This charming term means putting warp disruption bubbles all around it to make it hard to escape from, like a do-it-yourself gate camp. 924 in local of which 255 are hostile.

The North hold the field!

Whether we can do enough damage to break the siege tonight I don't know. It seems to take a lot of shooting and many people are running out of ammo. The station says REINFORCED 20h 45 m. I think that means they can start shooting it again at 22.20 Eve time. That's a time when both Americans and Europeans naturally play Eve so it could be very hectic tomorrow evening.

I've had a fun night shooting both ships and the bubbles. I had planned to get sent home by now so I could resume learning at an implant-enhanced pace but I've accidentally and rather unexpectedly survived. Haven't got a killing blow though, I think there's a finesse there that masters of kill-stealing have and I currently lack. Still it's tremendously exciting and not all that laggy for me. Other people have complained of not being able to load though.

[Stabs]

Woot!

I was about to go to bed and an Atlas titan wandered out of its safe POS. Beehatch in a Leviathan.

It was a mad experience but I managed to shoot it. We killed it over about 20 minutes while he attempted to log off then changed his mind and logged on to a black screen of death.

Marvellous quote from our fleet commander DBRB:

"Of course I'm excited, I'm eating pizza and I'm killing a titan!"

[Numtini]

I missed it by about ten seconds.... was just warping in and got to see the BOOM.

That will definitely raise morale.

[Stabs]

Heh, i edited my post because the boom wasn't as big as I thought. I actually was at the sun, having warped out but it was so laggy all I saw was a big red glow.

Good luck, I'm off to bed now!

[tgr]

Aww maaaaan. I miss out on the most fun fighting.

[Stabs]

OK, I finally get why lag is annoying. I've been at a black screen for 40 minutes. I'm trying to enter the game and my ship is parked at a pos in H-W. Maybe it's under attack - it would be a great coup for IT if they could knock out this POS where a lot of us have our ships parked.

I still think Eve is an absolute blast to play, especially these big null sec fights but I can finally appreciate that if you were nearing burnout anyway looking at a black screen could be the final nail in the coffin.

[Numtini]

Someone on Kugut said the node had crashed, don't know. But last I heard the NC had a big numbers advantage. I get out of work at 4 eastern and am sitting in a safe. At least I hope it's a safe. I marked it last night when the lag was equally special.

[tgr]

I don't think the node crashed, more like a frontend node dropped tons of connections or something. I've tried to log back in ever since, probably getting close to 2 hours of blackscreening so far.

And apparently my character's stopped his training as well, even though I specifically added sharpshooting to 4 just an hour or so before everything went to shit. \o/

[Numtini]

Got home, logged in, 20 seconds later I was warping to fleet, a minute after that I was on my first killmail.

What lag?

[tgr]

Lag? I have no idea what you're talking about:

(PS: that number went up to 394h before the client just locked up.)

[Stabs]

Couple of snippets from JustAnotherFatGuy on the SA forums:

If it makes you feel better(it made me) the titan pilot was pretty much in tears on comms.

Local at 2000, the whole nodes fucked yet we keep logging in

[tgr]

The titan guy from yesterday, who logged in and out and back in and back out again?

A recording of him dying would be priceless.

[Stabs]

Hordes of slavering goons are baying for a MP3 over there as we speak.

Anyway I'm in H-W now and for the first time in days instead of saying;
Sovereignty: Morsus Mihi (vulnerable)
it says
Sovereignty: Morsus Mihi

Now I'm no Eve expert but I believe that means:



WE WON!

[Phildo]

That just means the SBUs are dead, but either the I-Hub or outpost could still be in a reinforcement cycle.

[Sparky]

I thought killing SBUs automatically put the attackers back to square 1.  But I gave up trying to understand sov mechanics with Dominion.

[Phildo]

Killing the SBUs means that the I-Hub, TCU and outpost cannot be shot any further, but since the outpost and I-Hub come out at different times, it means that one might still be in reinforced.  And even if they're not, they still need to be repaired which is probably extremely difficult under fire and in high lag.

[Simond]

I thought killing SBUs automatically put the attackers back to square 1.  But I gave up trying to understand sov mechanics with Dominion.

So did CCP. 

[Stabs]

I've just been in H-W for about 4 hours. The system is NC's, no one to shoot. We are destroying their POSes and repairing our own stuff.

I was in a sub-BS fleet hoping to catch strays, random people logging in. Just about nobody turned up, I think the SC has been told not to log in. I imagine at some point they'll attempt a mass breakout.

I asked in fleet and in alliance if we'd won and was told we have (at least as far as the battle for H-W goes). It was a big commitment for the south and they may not want to make another major, titans on field, assault again.

If they do I'm ready with my harbinger, now re-named "Titanslayer".

[Stabs]

double post

[Phildo]

What about EC-?  As I understand it, that system was in danger as well.

[tgr]

Last I checked, it was 1 fight away from being taken, but I don't really care about ec- except for the fact that it's the NC's, not the SC's.

Stabs: btw, I am envious. I went to bed 3 hours before that kill, thinking "naw, there's nothing that I can do here, might as well stand down and actually be a human being at work tomorrow". I still need to get in on a titan kill, it's the only large non-carebear type of ship I haven't shot at before it died.

[Phildo]

EC-, or apparently FIO, would be the first stations to fall outside of Cloud Ring.  You should care about them, because taking them back will be harder than defending them was.

[tgr]

I do care, of a fashion, but that's more or less just because I want them to NOT be in the SC's hands. As long as we're within JF range of Jita (or some other hisec/lowsec system of choice so we can have resources shipped up), then it doesn't really matter that much to me personally. I still get my supplies, so I still get to fight. vOv

That doesn't mean I won't x up to retake/keep the station, because hey, denying the SC anything is our main goal here now.

[Stabs]

I would love to see EC- freed up. My previous corp left newbies to their own devices, delivering replacement ships in Torrinos and mustering in H-W. I only lost a couple of ships in the pipe but at the price of days and days stuck somewhere, usually Torrinos, unable to move. Brick Squad's gate camp in EC- is actually the main reason I left my last corp - I couldn't get past it alone, no one who was past it wanted to come back and break it, so the only thing I could do was log off and come back in a few hours to see if it had become clear.

I've since discovered new routes into 0,0 but it remains one of the best routes into NC space. If we lose it freighters have to come through low sec.

@ Tgr, thanks it was my third kill in nullsec, not counting module kills. Our alliance leader thanked me personally when I logged on.  Also my corp offered me a free Harbinger