Death and Rebirth

Death is the personification of change.

Moving from one state of being to another.

A cycle of activity.

Renewal.

I have come full circle and am ready for more instruction.

My tool the Incursus ;

My instructor/s; My brother and sister pilots.

The Dojo; The chaotic space of faction warfare and neighbouring low security systems of New Eden.


My first lesson...

Mastery of the One Inch Punch.

[Incursus: One Inch Punch]

Damage Control II
'Refuge' Adaptive Nano Plating I
Small Ancillary Armor Repairer, Nanite Repair Paste
Magnetic Field Stabilizer II

1MN Afterburner II
X5 Prototype Engine Enervator
X5 Prototype Engine Enervator

Light Neutron Blaster II, Void S
Light Neutron Blaster II, Void S
Light Neutron Blaster II, Void S

Small Hybrid Burst Aerator I
Small Hybrid Collision Accelerator I
[Empty Rig slot]


Hobgoblin II x1

All or nothing.

To strike with the speed and the force of an avalanche.


Brother and Sister pilots, I welcome your instruction.

4sh

The Tao of Tracking

If you are like me, hopefully you are not, or if you are, we are only a minority, you have read a lot of very good guides, seen flash animations, had it tirelessly explained to you in crayon, or just flat out beaten into you buy your brother and sister pilots the in this great big sand box we call New Eden. If you could not guess by the titles of this entry, I am talking about tracking.

But in my case, it never really sunk all the way in. The universe has a funny way of showing you how things work. 

Tonight the mighty Hayabusa blessed me with victories and defeats. Hayabusa had cleverly placed lessons in each of them for me to unravel. The lessons are never in plain sight, they wait there for you to show your new level of understanding. Or they simply slip away without the dim light of reasoning, and crawl into dark places waiting to be discovered again. Now as I have said before, I am a poor student, but I do try. Tonight I have unearthed some truths about this science or art called tracking. I will share with you how my mind has come to grips with these new truths.

In these two fights I learned how your ships flight path can affect the accuracy of your guns. The first fight I found that my damage was quite poor overall, no doubt due to the tracking disruptor, but as my brother pilot achieved an orbit at his desired range, buy which time he was in structure! my damage was reduced to almost nothing. With his auto cannons slowly eating through my shield buffer I became more and more desperate to apply the great damage of my blasters to his crumbling structure. I tried changing my orbit, with my web allowing me to somewhat dictate range. No luck there. A little more shield gone, and him still slowly bleeding structure, but the damage race was evening out. Why could I not finish him off!

Finally with victory falling slowly into the rifter pilots grasp I decided to align out for a quick pod get away. It was then some thing amazing happened. I started to once again to damage the rifter. I over heated my afterburner to keep his orbit stunted to a straight line trying to close range on me. Then it clicked.

He had lost his sideways motion and was easier for my disrupted guns to hit! I was also lucky I had null loaded at that moment as I had pulled a fair bit of range on him.

So our frigates tearing into each other until the last pieces of super structure began to buckle and melt. I emerged the victor buy the slimmest or margins.

Thank you my brother pilot for the great fight and the important lesson you taught me.

The next fight, a rifter crossed my path again, I was given another chance to learn, and also to put my new found understanding to the test. I spiraled in again and applied as much damage as I could with a tight orbit. When we became locked in a circle of plasma and shells, again I noticed my damage falling off. So in order to test my new knowledge I aligned to the sun and pulled some range. This time careful to watch my speed so as not to out range my guns. Once again as the rifter began to fly a more straight path to keep range, and my damage increased!

No tracking disruption this time just the speed of my brother pilots ship at certain range making him harder to track. My guns could not follow him fast enough to get a solid hit.


Later I had the chance to fight a brother pilot in a ship I am sure was fit almost identical to my own. He flew away the victor, and I was left to sift through the wreckage of my ship for the lesson from Hayabusa.

I had been chasing a Thrasher. Knowing that it was a larger ship with a bigger signature radius I loaded void  ammunition, hoping to dictate range and take advantage of its higher damage when fighting this fearsome frigate killer.

Instead I found myself in battle with my doppelganger. It was over very fast, I could not get my guns to apply anywhere near the damage I could have if I had regular navy antimatter loaded. His more accurate blaster fire collapsing my shields and sending me off in my pod. I did try to reduce his sideways motion by burning in a straight line again, but the difference was minimal. Another great fight, and important lesson. Thank you for your instruction!

This will certainly not be new to most people who read this. It's just my attempt to put my lessons from this evening about tracking into words, and to ask my brother and sister pilots for clarification if I have erred in my understanding of these few points.

Last of all I will link this great tracking guide. It put me on the path to understanding. I have not walked to the end of the path as yet, but i seem to be moving forward.

Eve Tracking Guide   Big thanks to the guides creator/s.


 

Steeper paths, greater rewards?

The swallows dance is complicated and fast. I need all my concentration to watch him and learn. His lessons are unforgiving, the slightest misinterpretation or faltering step, and a reprimand is given. Heed his words and actions, and rewards fall from his beak.

So what has Master Swallow taught me?

# The swallows needs room to move, cage him and he cannot dance.
# His movements are careful although fast, turn too hard and you throw yourself into the path of your enemy.
# Sometimes it is better to let the prey hit your beak, rather than try to hit your prey whit your beak.
# One does not always need to fly your fastest, fly only as fast as you need to.
# Often it is better to let you prey fly off.
# Keep one eye on your prey, and one on your surroundings.

There are more lessons to be learned, of that I am sure.

I am a poor student, I am easily distracted, I am headstrong and impulsive, but I try. The universe and my brother and sister pilots understand this and are always there to instruct me and sometimes, I to instruct them. My experiences of the past couple of days have shown me a pattern of balance, the movement of energies, that try throughout infinity to calm the chaotic forces that rise again and again. To achieve that careful precious state between creation and destruction. A sate every pilot in New Eden is familiar with.

But the path is steep, and I, as previously stated, am a poor student. Forgive me Master Swallow for stumbling now and then. Your ephemeral dance is hard to observe and master, I am a creature of force. I relish in the tearing of armour plates and hull, the hot plasma of hybrid weapons fire, the close dance of rivals or predator and prey. I am a cumbersome brute with blinkered eyes. But I try, and I will keep trying to master your delicate dance, to-and-fro, in-and-out. I do see how you dance, I have moments of insight and adeptness, but they all too often slip through my fingers and place me in the hands of my worthy opponent.

This is when I look hard for my lesson, and there is always a lesson there for you if you look hard enough.

The path is steep, the lesson hard, how great will my rewards be?

The Dance of the Swallow

Like many pilots in New Eden, I find my self confounded by my brother and sister pilots who have mastered the art of Kiting. I admit to being frustrated and some what despondent at times. I had until recently just given up on trying to fight and concentrated on escape when being kited. Most of the time unsuccessfully.

Since joining with the Screaming Haybusa I have come to realise that the universe and my brother and sister pilots have been trying to teach me a valuable lesson.

I must meditate on this problem and come to understand and master the Dance of the Swallow.


The swallow is a small, swift, and fragile bird that feeds in mid air. Darting to-and-fro with an almost magical ability to catch prey on the wing. It reaches amazing air speeds and preforms jaw dropping maneuvers to do so.  Much like the seeming magical piloting abilities of accomplished Kiters who prey upon the cumbersome brawlers of New Eden.

First I needed to see what knowledge was out there. So some Google sorcery of my own turned up some very helpful guides.

Magical Kiting 101 by Petrus Blachshell. In two parts Petrus shows us the wizardry behind Kiting and how to use these principles to thwart the would be Kiter. With links to Kiting fits and other great posts on the subject by renowned pilots of New Eden this is the top pick on my must read list.

Eve Tribune's Interceptor Maneuvers 101  and older guide and not specifically for Kiting/anti Kiting, but all well explained and new to me :)

An older article on Kiting in a Hurricane by Skira Ranos.

Fighting Kiters by The Valatie

A very good lay speak video illustrating anti kiting tactics. For those of you who like videos more than words The Valatie is building a very useful resource of pvp how to knowledge. Well worth the look.




 So, after reading and re-reading this and a few other helpful guides and sources of information put out there but many generous pilots of New Eden, I shall purchase and fit a small armada of cheap frigates designed for kiting and throw myself into battle.

I hope that after further education by my brother and sister pilots I shall, through this trial of fire, come to understand and begin my own mastery of the somewhat black art of Kiting.

I will begin my education in the Atron.

With a fitting something along the lines of;

[Atron, Kiting Atron]

Local Hull Conversion Overdrive Injector I
Fourier Transform Tracking Program
Magnetic Vortex Stabilizer I

Warp Disruptor II
DDO Photometry Tracking Disruptor I, Optimal Range Disruption Script
Limited 1MN Microwarpdrive I

125mm Prototype Gauss Gun, Federation Navy Antimatter Charge S
125mm Prototype Gauss Gun, Federation Navy Antimatter Charge S
125mm Prototype Gauss Gun, Federation Navy Antimatter Charge S
[Empty High slot]

Small Auxiliary Thrusters I
Small Auxiliary Thrusters I
Small Hybrid Burst Aerator I








Let's see how I go...

The Screaming Hayabusa

Rumor spread faster than the debris of a dying star, the great Miura Bull, New Eden hero, renegade, upstart noble of the bourgeoisie, pirate, lover, messiah, and renowned exploder of spaceships, had donned the trappings of an aesthete and founded an order dedicated to spaceboat violence.

Many made the pilgrimage through the dangerous space lanes to seek the infamous Bull, many left empty handed or with looks of despair, or anger, fueled by misconception or inadequacy. The strictures of this new order, or cult as many conservative funded media channels would have us believe, were harsh and very explicit. The majority of pilots found them laughable, or naive.

Observers noted a look of peaceful joy on those few who stayed to talk with the Bull. 

Thus the Screaming Hayabusa were born.

I was one of those few who made the pilgrimage and stayed to listen at the feet of the Master. There I learned that all of my restless wanderings through New Eden in search or ephemeral signs or feeling had not been in vain. It was a trial, a journey of spiritual, physical, and mental conditioning leading me to this moment.

Had I not taken these first confused stumbling steps, I would not have been ready to hear his words.

I solemnly vowed to adhere to the strictures of the Screaming Hayabusa. I set myself on the path of violence, so that death and my brother and sister pilots could help me refine my fighting spirit and make me worthy of the rewards of Elysium and the passage through the Red Door.

My initial studies resulted in a meditation on the strictures of the order. I have recorded it in the form of the Haiku, or Hokku as they were known in a more ancient time.

a flame in the void
golden fields are glimpsed through red
not yet, fight again.

The Bull was pleased.