Tying this into EVE, my current interest is in developing my PVP skills. I refer not only to my training (which has now been organized into a four month gunnery support and spaceship command skill regimen), but rather more to accumulating the knowledge and experience necessary to be a competent pilot. I have found that this is something that a lot of pilots neglect, either because they do not grasp the importance of piloting skills, or they believe such skills to be unnecessary. Granted, a ninja salvager does not need expert piloting skills to salvage a mission, and a ninja ganker does not need expert piloting skills to bring down a mission bear. After all, most mission bear ganks are won in the fitting window, and only grossly poor flying on the part of the ganker will allow the mission bear a window to either win or run away. Most of the time, if the ganker understands how to apply a point to the mission ship and what distance to orbit at, the ganker will win simply by virtue of having a ship fitted specifically to kill the mission ship, and the mission ship will lose by virtue of having a ship fitted specifically to kill rats.
But though PVP piloting skills are not necessary for a ninja, that does not mean that they are worhtless. Quite the contrary. No gank is perfectly safe. There is never a situation where you, as the ganker, have perfect information and can deduce exactly how your target will act. If you flip the can of a Bantam, and the Bantam pilot flies off, unless the pilot is days old, you cannot know for sure whether he will: (1) abandon the can and not return, (2) return and continue mining, ignoring your theft, (3) return in a mission fit ship and try to kill you, (4) return in a PVP fit ship and try to kill you, (5) return with a group of corp mates and try to kill you, or (6) do something completely unexpected. You can speculate as to what the Bantam pilot will do, and the hope is always that he returns in a ship ill-fitted for a PVP engagement, but you cannot know until he warps back into the belt, and the moment he does he has the advantage, since he knows what you are flying and where you are.
Having well developed PVP piloting skills can turn the tide of a gank gone bad. If you’re flying a frigate, and your target returns to the belt in an assault frig, proper piloting skills can give you the edge you need to win the engagement, or at worst they may give you the leeway you need to make your escape.
With all of this in mind, I spent last Saturday cruising the belts around Caldari Space, looking for fights, looking for the chances to learn.
I was in a Rifter the whole day, not only because it is the ship I can best fly at the moment, but because it is the best T1 frigate in the game for solo PVP. If I’m going to fly a frigate, I might as well fly the best. My fit was thus:
[Rifter, Belt Cruising]Veterans will recognize that this fit is not the classic Rifter fit, but a slight modification of it, with a missile launcher in place of a Nosferatu and Collision Accelerator rigs in place of Burst Aerators and Ambit Extensions. Why did I make these modifications? Because I made the same mistake that so many people make, not only in EVE but in many other games: I valued raw damage above all other stats. By adding the launcher and the different rigs, I increased my theoretical DPS from about 65 to about 80. At the time I believed this to be superior. I have since learned that lesson, but let’s not jump ahead.
Highs:
3x 200mm Autocannon II
‘Limos” Rocket LauncherMids:
X5 Prototype I Engine Enervator
J5b Phased Prototype Warp Scrambler I
Experimental 1MN AfterburnerLows:
200mm Reinforced Rolled Tungsten Plate
Small Armor Repairer II
Damage Control IIRigs:
2x Small Projectile Collision Accelerator I
After cruising through several empty systems, I happened upon a belt occupied by two ships belonging to the same corporation. The nearest ship, a Cormorant, was sitting right next to a jetcan. Never one to pass up the opportunity, I burned on over and flipped the can, giving aggro to both pilots. They immediately warped away.
Hoping that they would return with something worth fighting, I put myself into a medium orbit around my can and waited. Beginner tip: never sit still. Often against bigger ships, the greatest advantage you have is your speed, which lets you outrun large caliber guns. Sitting stationary negates your greatest advantage.
Sure enough, my initial target returned in a Caracal, locked onto me, and launched a volley of missiles that did about ten damage to my shields. I at once deduced that this was the pilot’s mission running ship, and after about six volleys from my guns, the Caracal’s mission running days were over. Upon inspecting the wreck, I found that my suspicions were correct, as her hold contained salvage, several thousand missiles, and ten Militants.
While I was rummaging through the wreck, (and figuring out how to make sure I collected the mission objectives), the other pilot – remember they were corp mates – landed in belt in a battleship. What kind of battleship it was I cannot say for sure, although my hazy memory tells me it might have been a Hyperion. In any case, I warped away at once.
Sitting in relative safety, I considered my options. A battleship is a battleship, after all, and I was a rookie pilot in a frigate. On the other hand, fortune favors the bold. If I died, I was out 6 million for the Rifter. If I killed, it was worth far more. I threw caution to the wind, and warped back to the belt at 70 km, hoping that would give me enough of a distance cushion to figure out a strategy.
The battleship was still there. I set myself to orbit at 10 km and closed in. I hoped that, flying at 1000 m/s at that distance, his guns, whatever they were, would miss me, and I would have time enough to run if things went bad in a hurry. Sure enough, as soon as I got into range he locked me up and opened fire.
And then his ship exploded.
Unbeknownst to me, and obviously unbeknownst to my opponent, the corporate aggression timer had run out. The timer was still active for the Caracal pilot, since she had returned first and started shooting at me, but the corporate timer had never been reset, and it had run out while I was out of the belt thinking about what to do. So, as you may have guessed, as soon as the battleship opened fire, CONCORD appeared and ended the fight before it began. Alas, because I did not realized what was happening, I didn’t think to return fire and try to get on the killmail. Hence why I don’t know exactly what kind of ship it was, nor do I know exactly how it was fit. I know it dropped some rather expensive heavy missile launchers, a moderately expensive railgun, a surprisingly expensive tractor beam, and 3,362 Nova Heavy Missiles.
There was more in the wreck, but I couldn’t carry it all, and when I returned after dropping off most of it in the nearest station, I found the original Caracal pilot back in the belt scooping up everything that was left. The pilot invited me to a conversation, and I seized the opportunity to make just a little more money.
Instancia Nardieu > are you happy now?All told, that encounter netted me about 30 million, after the sale of all the stuff that dropped off the Caracal and the battleship.
Sertoria Kumamato > Well, you did take the rest of the stuff from that Hyperion, so that's unfortunate.
Instancia Nardieu > ??
Sertoria Kumamato > If you want your Militants back, I'll put them on private contract to you at the Urlen VI station,
Instancia Nardieu > that would be nice if you would do that
Sertoria Kumamato > Sure thing. 5 million sound fair?
Instancia Nardieu > ok wait a moment
Instancia Nardieu > which station?
Sertoria Kumamato > Urlen VI, Chief Executive Panel Bureau
Sertoria Kumamato > One sec, let me get there.
Instancia Nardieu > iam here
Sertoria Kumamato > Okay, set up.
Instancia Nardieu > how does this work ._.
Instancia Nardieu > tradeing?
Sertoria Kumamato > Go to the top button the left, then under business, Contracts.
Instancia Nardieu > ok
Sertoria Kumamato > Then under Available Contracts, clear all the fields, then under "Availability" choose "Me." Then Search. It should come up.
Instancia Nardieu > ive done. you have the 5 millioon
Sertoria Kumamato > So it seems. Pleasure doing business.
Instancia Nardieu > ok. bye
Sertoria Kumamato > Bye bye
But aside from the ISK, this experience yielded several important lessons:
As I harped on back at the beginning of this post, after every engagement, whether you win or lose, it is paramount that you LEARN from the experience. Now, I am not saying that you must approach every aspect of EVE Online as some kind of academic lesson. You’re not going to be graded. But you are going to be tested. Every time you undock the other denizens of New Eden test you. Every time I flip a can, I am testing whether the target knows how to handle that situation. If the pilot fails the test, the pilot loses a ship. Every time I flip a can, I am subjecting myself to a test as to whether I can handle the ramifications of that flip.If your target warps off, be ready for him to come back in anything.It is important to quickly assess the damage potential of your opponent, and determine whether he or she can kill you.Watch the aggression timers, and make sure to keep track of corporate aggression versus individual aggression. Remember that you can exploit this.People will CONCORDOKKEN themselves. This sounds impossible, because you get a pop-up warning you that it will happen, but people will still do it. Be ready to piggy-back onto the killmail when it happens.
The failure, or inability, to learn from experience is the hallmark of the Scrub, and the Scrub is the primary target of the can flipper and ninja ganker. Scrubs produce tears like spiders spin webs: it’s inherent in their nature.
We learn so that we do not become a Scrub, and so that we may exploit Scrubs now and ever after.
Next time: I lose ships! God damn it!
