Monday Night DIAF Fleet - 8/8

Anyone who has read this blog previously will know, one, that I hate FC'ing and two, its summer so most of the Shadows of the Federation are out sitting in beer gardens, laying on beaches and not generally playing Eve Online as much. Therefore I have to FC. Well technically I don't have to, but we're short on FC's and organised and planned fleets are in short supply. Roll on September when people return to Eve!

So it's my 2nd Monday Night "Die in a Fire" fleet and we form up in our home system.

We have seven in fleet and the drink is flowing (for the FC anyway, not feeling too well as I type this the morning after), so we undock to see what the composition looks like. All BC's and looking good! A Crow undocks a few seconds after us. I don't know if he didn't have an insta-undock or was just trying to be cocky as we didn't have any fast tackle. For whatever reason he tried to burn off. He didn't get very far....

http://sotf.eve-kill.net/?a=kill_detail&kll_id=10338469

So we drop GCC and head off. Our scout is bouncing around Sahtogas which has a few people in it. Whilst waiting on the Sahtogas gate a Manticore jumps in. We'll never catch a Manticore with BC's will we? Yes, yes we will.

http://sotf.eve-kill.net/?a=kill_detail&kll_id=10338655

Well we'll never pod him without fast tackle will we? And podded.

I saw a Cyno up so went to investigate. As I'm in warp the cyno drops. Bugger! It is also at that point I start REALLY hoping the cyno is at station and not at a deathstar POS. May be I should have thought about that before warping in! I land and I see a Heron and Merlin on station (phew). I'm a bit far out (didn't think it was a great idea to warp to 0 on a cyno) so burn towards them. Merlin warps off, Heron sat there.... 40km, 30km 20km, FIRE! Instapop!

http://sotf.eve-kill.net/?a=kill_detail&kll_id=10338845

Just as that happens a Maelstrom battleship lands on the guys left in the previous system. He jumps in and we all warp to gate. A Drake follows quickly the Maelstrom. We point the Maelstrom and he aggress'. Drake decloaks and one of the guys gets a point (but he'll burn back to gate surely whilst we are concentrating on that battleship?). Maelstrom is active tanked and he kills one of our Hurricanes piloted by Jared. But he dies before anyone else goes down.

http://sotf.eve-kill.net/?a=kill_detail&kll_id=10338738

Now onto that Drake.... he's not burning back to gate! He's not trying to make range so he can warp off either. He appears to be flying parallel to the gate and not doing anything? Interesting tactic, confuse the pirates? It didn't work....

http://sotf.eve-kill.net/?a=kill_detail&kll_id=10338759

Took down the Drake's Pod too. Ahhhhh noob missioner!

Oh well, 5:1 on kills so far plus a couple of pods. ISK wise it's even better with that 158m Maelstrom.

We jump into Mormelot as local spikes. So we burn back to gate just in case. A few seconds later a BS blob with command ship and two logistics land on us. I calmly give the order to "RUN!!!!!!!! FLEE FOR YOUR LIVES!!!! RUN AWAY! RUN AWAYYYYYY!". We scatter (mix of jumping back through the gate and warping off. They sit on the gate for a minute and as soon as they confirm we're not lemmings they move on. I assume with that fleet composition they were off to bash a POS or for a fight with another BS blob rather than gate camping.

We get out to Black Rise and it's quiet, and getting late. So we swing 180 and start heading home.

A Horder jumps into us on Schoorasana. Same corp as that missioning Drake we killed earlier.

http://sotf.eve-kill.net/?a=kill_detail&kll_id=10339316

And that was pretty much it, most systems were deserted on the return leg and we had a pretty clear run to Kamela.

Another sucessful roam. About two and a half hours, only one loss (a Hurricane) and a few kills including a tier 3 battleship. Yup, I'm happy with that.

So in summary:-

Kills - 6
...of which were top tier BS - 1
...of which were "WTF is that noob doing?" - 1
...of which were "We really shouldn't have been able to catch him"  - 2
Pod kills - 2
Posts in fleet chat of "Red Shirts Demotivational" - 6ish
Number of those that made you go "Giggity" - 2 (or at least I really hope only 2. Otherwise you have a sick fetish!)
Number of Jumps - 45ish
Number of times the "Brave Sir Robin Manoeuvre" was used - 1
Blobs seen - 1
Empty systems passed through - Far too many :(
Sober FC's - 0
Number of Gallactica's in fleet - 0
Number of Lexx's in fleet even though Monday night was chosen as that was his "Eve-O Night" - 0

Monday Night DIAF Fleets

Due to the time of year, I'm on reduced hours for the next month. Therefore I get an hour and a half in bed extra. Suddenly evening roams with my corpies are now a possibility as opposed to me having to log in some backwater system halfway through. I can now stay up until the EU guys and gals are going to bed.

Problem. It's summer and we're quiet in corp. We've got 2/3 primary FC's active currently. Only one thing for it. I'LL have to FC!

But you said you hate FC'ing Drackarn! What about your blog Confessions of a FC'ing Hater.

Yes. I hate FC'ing, but if it's the only way I can get in a fleet when I want a roam, then I'll do it.

So we form up in some BC's and the like. I asked for something fast with a bit of range. Nano-Arty Canes were popular. We head out and soon we get stuck in Tannakan. Our +1 finds a camp in Sahtogas on the Tannakan gate, a battleship fleet with a couple of logistics and at least one T3. I quickly get us to a pounce and consult the maps. No way around, the alternative would take us through high-sec. And as we are "-10 flashy ebil piwats that go G'aaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaar" that is a bit of an issue. So I opt for the Reverse-Reverse Brave Sir Robin tactic. We jump into them and I wing warp us to the out-gate. Assuming that the T3 and Logi don't have points and the BS would be too slow in locking us. We all land safely on the outgate and jump out. We make a few quick jumps to put some distance between us and then slow it down again.

Why CCP? Why? Why did you name these systems like this? How do you pronounce Schoorasana when you've had a drink? Just please never, ever name a system called "Owtgayt". That will really screw up my gate calling!

Our +1 finds a Drake off gate in Gratesier. He gets a warp in and we land smack bang on top of him. Surprise!

http://gallente.eve-kill.net/?a=kill_detail&kll_id=10283633

We warp to the out-gate and suddenly a 'Geddon jumps into us. Before he can warp off he's pointed and webbed. He red boxes us! No lasers? A full neuting Armageddon. He tries to milk us dry so he can warp off but he cannot do us all before he goes down.

http://sotf.eve-kill.net/?a=kill_detail&kll_id=10283649

And podded. Erm Mr CEO, what was the fine for podding and not ransoming? CEO - "It wasn't me!", FC - "Really, I saw lasers and your the only one in a Amarrian ship?", CEO - "Oh yeah, that was me!".

Next up we find a lone Scorpion in Mormelot..... A lone Scorpion? Really? Ah, there are his 4 battlecruiser mates. We have a bit of a stand off. They camp gate with drones out. Now this is the big question for me for the night. "Should I have engaged?" We had 5 BC and a recon (non-jammy). They had 4 BC and a Scorpion. If we'd jumped in, primaried the Scorpion and took it down before it jammed too many of us, could we have won? It was a very close call. If we hadn't taken the Scorpion down then he'd have easily jammed half of us and we'd have all died in a fire! They didn't camp long and whilst I was still debating what to do, they warped off.

So off we toddle. Get to Ladistier and of course the "...always pays his debts" comment is made!

Whoa! 50 in Old Man Star! Big group of Russians, neut gang, and Gallente Militia blob. The neut gang lands on the Lad gate and we bounce to a planet and warp back at range. Mrymidon has jumped in. Obvious bait is obvious. Our scout is watching the rest of their gang on the other side of the gate at 0. But we're slightly at range from the gate. We start shooting the Mrym. We're aligned, I'm ready to wing warp us out when their gang jumps in... any second.... any second now..... erm, that Mrym is dying fast.... they'll be jumping aaaaaaaany second. Pop!

http://sotf.eve-kill.net/?a=kill_detail&kll_id=10284198

Worst... bait... ever. As he dies his mates FINALLY decide to jump in and we warp. They chase but we're too fast and safed up. I wonder if that Mrym pilot has been messing around with their FC's wife?

We enter OMS and it's busy. We wave to passing Gallente Militia blob with some familiar old faces. They land on the gate, we're at a on-grid pounce. They have five times our numbers and send some 'ceptors our way. This was my second "Should I have...." for the night. I assume everyone has seen the CCP Eve promo video "I Was There". Posted here just in case...

I warped us off as the 'ceptors approached. But would a few canes have insta-popped those 'ceptors? In the promo video the 'ceptors burn 200km and get the Gallente fleet the warp-in on the sniping enemy. In real Eve, would a few 720mm shells have smashed them to bits? What if I'd called it and we hadn't popped them. What if they got points on us and the 30 man blob warped onto our heads and killed us all? We could pop them couldn't we....? I took the "safe" option and we lived. But could we have got a couple more kills with the risky option?

It's 00:10 for me and 21:10 back in the UK. We're 18 jumps from home. Time to head back.

We reach the out-gate in Ladistier when our +1 reports a Omen Navy Issue jumped into us, POP!

http://sotf.eve-kill.net/?a=kill_detail&kll_id=10285105

Our CEO may have had a couple of cans too many at this point, he overtakes the cloaky eyes and goes +1 in his Zealot. This is pointed out as a bad idea however he says not to worry as he's in "The Paper Thin Zealot of DOOM", apparently!

The Fleet starts getting like alliance name as we all burn home. System after system is deserted.

However as we start nearing the last few jumps it starts to get a bit more blobby. Two of us land on gate (which was reported as clear 20 seconds before) the same time as a decent sized Amarr gang. They are jumping on contact so we about turn and warp off pretty smartish, they camp us for a bit, jump back in to us, warp off, and we sneak past. Another small blob is found right at the end, we sneak past and dock up.

Fantastic job from our "up" scout and our "down" scout (no, I'm not naming names on a public site). Excellent webbing and a good fleet all round. A few kills, no loses! Well done guys.

Fleet Summary:-

Kills - 4
Killed Pods - 2
ISK made from Ransoms - ZERO (because....)
Number of times our CEO insta popped the pod even though HE introduced a fine for doing that - 2
Number of drink cans opened in front of an open mic for "ka-tish" effect - 3
Losses to players - 0
Losses to NPC's - 0
Losses to wife aggro - Technically one as he had to dock up half way though ;)
Should have I done that?'s by the FC - 2
Pictures linked n fleet chat that everyone agreed they wanted to trade in their current wife for that one - 1
Rating of Online Interactions (I'll do it if PEGI won't) - 15 (it wasn't THAT bad for a change. Defo not 18)