DVIG Recruitment

My Corporation, Deep Void Industrial Group, has begun a recruitment drive for industrial/mining pilots. As you may know, we are based in EF-F36 in Syndicate. This is an entry system to a very quiet constellation. Our alliance, TABOO, is allied with another alliance in the pocket, AL3XANDER. Between all the corporations in the coalition, we have 23/7 occupation of the area.

Deep Void in particular is a US TZ corp (00:00 to 04:00 Eve time), but will also satisfy early morning AUS players.

If you are a miner that wants to get into some juicier ores, or wants to begin PvPing all that we ask is that:

• You can fly mining barges (at least Retriever).
• You can watch intel channels and avoid silly losses.

We take in new PvP pilots regularly and have support/mentoring available. We try to promote a friendly and family environment. We have a good laugh about very silly mistakes (like lighting a cyno 600 km from a station), but we are much more interested in positive criticism and crafting good players. We run Newbie Training events.

Currently we have a few players doing industry for the whole coalition and are nowhere close to meeting demand. We have a wide selection of Cruisers and Battlecruisers that we manufacture and which are quickly purchased. Right now our bottleneck is mineral supply, and the corp will gladly purchase ore that you mine. We even organize mining fleets with the appropriate support vessels. We have plans to do Invention for common T2 modules, but one step at a time :)

If Industry isn't your thing, we are always looking for combat pilots interested in solo or small gang PvP. We have very light requirements:

• 2.5 million Skill Points.
• Willingness to lose ships.
• TeamSpeak 3. 

As general newbie training advice: Aim for T2 guns on the cruiser or battlecruiser of your choice.

Please contact Phox Jorkarzul, Hasugo Numani, or Arorcyn Garnak with questions or applications. Join Deep Void Public in-game channel if you want to chat.

DVIG's killboard, if you are curious.

(If you looking to start your Eve career, I can offer you an extended 21-day trial.)

A Tactical Error

Several players were itching for a fight last night, so we mustered up a rag-tag fleet of two Hurricanes, an Armageddon, Thrasher, Brutix, Nemesis stealth bomber, Falcon, and a Blackbird. The FC heard dated reports of a couple people running a complex about six jumps from our home system. I reported that the Star Map shows no activity in the system or adjacent ones, but the FC insisted we go after them.

While we were heading toward our destination, there was an enemy fleet of Drakes and Harbingers near us. The FC decided to ignore them and press on.

When our scout got into the system and reported it as empty (surprise), I gave some new possible destinations to the Fleet Commander. For those wondering, the Star Map can display a myriad of statistics, one of which is Average Pilots in Space in the last 30 Minutes.

Our scout found three people in our target system running a complex. We didn't have probes to scan them down, so we paused hoping for a chance to gank them. Unfortunately for one pilot, he jumped into us with a cargo full of Deadspace modules while we were waiting on the gate.

Our marauding band of pirates moved on, looking for more fights. It is a bit late at this point, and a few people drop, leaving us with 2 'canes, 'geddon, Brutix, Falcon, and Blackbird. Our scout informs us that the Drake/Harbinger gang we found earlier is in our next system; and they have more people.

Eventually they warp to the gate and begin to jump into us. I consciously make a terrible decision, opting to load close range ammo in my Hurricane and stay relatively near the gate in order to maximize my damage. This is bad because I'm supposed to be a kiting ship. I have shields, but they wouldn't win any awards.

One of the Harbingers spawns 8500 meters from me, locks me up and puts web/scram on me. I am unable to use my MWD to pull range and thus quickly die.

They have 4 Drakes, 3 Harbingers, and a Falcon; easily dispatching the rest of our fleet. GFs in local, and we head home. Luckily our Falcon pilot made it out alive.

Lessons learned:

• Do not willingly opt for a brawl when you are a skirmish/kiting ship. Derp.

Smothering Urge to Run Away

I'm at bit pissed at myself.

I was a mere three jumps into my first solo roam in a Cyclone battlecruiser, and I run into a tiny little gang on a gate: Vagabond, Stabber Fleet Issue, Jaguar, and Stiletto.

The overwhelming thought in my mind was to GTFO. I should have been thinking about killing them. I was mostly worried about the SFI, as I know they can kill Cyclones solo.

As I am burning back to the gate, the Vagabond rams right into me to bump me away. The Vagabond. A ship that should never get within 10 km of me. Right then and there I should have scrammed him and smoked him; they are paper-thin. Instead I leave my MWD overheat on, desperately trying to get to the gate.

Photo from Corelin at Mad Haberdashers

When I jump through, I'm followed by the SFI who appears 24 km from me. "Great," I think, "I should be able to warp off since the SFI only has a Warp Scrambler (max range ~10 km)." As I am aligning, I get pointed. "wtf? He has a Warp Disruptor?" That signaled to me that the SFI is not fit as a close-range armor fun-machine, but instead a poorly-fit baby-Vagabond. Meaning: shields and wants to kite me.

This part is a little blurry as I am managing the overheat on my MWD, two cap boosters, and a shield booster. But I think I went for the SFI, trying to scram him, and then I mismanage modules, doubt myself, and head back to the gate.

More ships keep coming in. A Talos. I jump again. Now a Tengu. Somewhere in there I burnt out my MWD.

My calvary finally gets into system, but without a MWD, I'm a sitting duck. I hold my jumpcloak as long as possible, but it wears off, and I go down. Looking at the killmail, I forgot I had ECM drones too. /facepalm

There are only about three rescue pilots (they aren't fleeted...), and when they see all the additional ships that have arrived to kill me, my friends decide to go home. The invaders follow them.

I ask about a fleet and fighting them, but no one seems interested. Instead we undock two carriers and scare them off. My buddy manages to kill a Daredevil, which is a pretty nice trade.

I'm less-than-impressed with my alliance's show of force rather than camping the out-gate and fighting these interlopers. After a few minutes, I grab a Thrasher and head out alone again, but don't find anything to shoot at.

Lessons learned:

• When camped, take a moment. 
• Look for opportunities to fight; not all hope is lost.
• I need to set autoreload on my cap boosters.
• Remember what my ship is supposed to do and supposed to fight. In this case, I am looking to kill kiting ships that get into my scrambler range, which is exactly what happened multiple times, and I did not capitalize on it.
• Lock things even if I can't fight them right away.

Mining Party Crasher

I'm alone in a shield Rupture, looking for some fun in the sun. I dispatch a Thrasher without issue and find a ratting Myrmidon that I try to catch about six times before he's fed up and logs off.

The star map shows a bit of activity in a dead-end constellation about 10 jumps from me. When I get there, there is some chatter in local about missioning and salvaging, and I suspect these guys were doing an exploration site or mission, and I just missed them (not that I would be able to scan them down anyway).

Directional scan shows about four Hulks, a Retriever, Mammoth, and Drake. "Definitely at a POS tower," I resolve. I point d-scan at the belts anyway, and to my complete surprise they are at a belt! Holy crap a mining operation!

I warp to the asteroid belt to land about 40 km away from the closest Hulk. I dodge some rocks, lock and point the mining Exhumer, and kill it as the Drake starts to fire at me. The rest of them warp off, but I wouldn't be able to tank the Drake anyway.

I burn away, scanning the stations to see how safe they are. I notice a Hulk at one of the stations and warp there. He is sitting outside, but I dock up quick to repair my shields. When I undock, the Hulk is right next to me. I switch ammo and overheat my guns; this guy should enter station when he starts taking damage. But he seems to be AFK, so I get another Hulk kill.

The Drake comes to the station too late to save his friend, and I dock when my aggression timer finishes. I'm feeling pretty good right about now, and think, "If these guys are dumb enough to mine in Syndicate and not dock up when a neutral enters system, then I doubt this Drake pilot is that much of a threat."

I let him shoot me a few times just to see how much damage he is packing--it is quite a lot. Shield Ruptures are not that tanky, but I figured the cruiser definitely had a good run, and podding myself would be an easy way home. I open fire on the Drake, and we have a good brawl, but I expectantly blow up.

Since this Drake seems to be their only active defense, I grab my Stabber Fleet Issue and head back to their system. The SFI has an extraordinarily small signature radius which lets it dodge damage from cruiser-or-larger guns. It is typically fit with an active armor tank to maintain its small signature and speed. It has enough mid-slots to fit both a Microwarp Drive (MWD) and Afterburner (AB), AKA "dual-prop[ulsion]". The MWD provides a 500% velocity bonus at the cost of increased signature. It is used to get in close to the target. Once there, an AB can provide a noticeable increase of velocity at no signature penalty. ABs are very good at mitigating missile damage--the damage of the Drake.

When I get back to VLGD-R, they are all docked up. The Drake pilot eventually undocks in a Raven battleship which I am excited about because I should have no trouble tanking the even large missiles of the Raven. I tried to pull him away from the station so that his friends don't undock once I engage, but he doesn't seem interested.

Slowly more battleships and battlecruisers dock and redock at the station. Their final composition is two Drakes, a Myrmidon, and a Megathon. My plan to to warp around and get them separated enough that I could kill one before the others got too close. I'm looking to isolate one between 60km and 140km. After 150km, they can warp to their fleetmate.

I warp back and forth between the sun and the station, but other than slowly fly out to try to intercept me, they aren't that interested in chasing. I call them out in local, and that seems to work. They follow me to the sun, but either some of them don't warp, or they all warp to the same distance--I can't get them into the position I want.

There is some more warping back and forth, and they eventually get the idea to anchor a bubble between the station and sun. I easily avoid it, and even try to shoot it down, but the Myrmidon was guarding it, and I was afraid he'd point me when I got too close. They all go back to the station or a distant bookmark about 250km from it.

At this point another pilot undocks in a Thrasher. He doesn't seem to be aware of this dance that is going on, and he goes to the bubble and sits there. So I intentionally warp to it, kill him, and warp away before they all land on me.

I warp back to my bookmark above the station to see what they are doing. There is a Drake sitting on the Thrasher wreck, and the rest are at the undock or the 250km bookmark.

I'm going to attempt to use the bubble against them. I warp to the wreck and burn away from the other ships, putting the bubble between them and me. The Drake webs and scrams me, and my overheated AB is pulling range, but here is where I messed up. I think my scram fell off the Drake, so he can use his MWD to catch back up. When I saw him gaining range again, I gave up, and thought I couldn't pull range. I took my drugs and turned on my guns.

Everyone else was caught in the bubble and slowly making their way toward us. There was some minor mismanagement of my cap booster, but I nearly took out all the Drake's shields before I went down. Without shields, the Drake would have died quickly, and then I would have put my attention on the Myrmidon. I like to think that I was really close to killing all four of them :)

We danced around in system for about an hour before the final showdown. It was a lot of fun for me, definitely learned some things. Afterwards, I receive a convo request:

Hasugo Numani > hey
Moridin Nae'blis > I salute you sir
Moridin Nae'blis > thats a pretty tough ship you had there
Hasugo Numani > yeah, i was trying to split you guys up
Hasugo Numani > tiny sig, battleships don't hurt it :)
Moridin Nae'blis > frustrated the shit outta me i tell ya lol
Hasugo Numani > haha
Moridin Nae'blis > well GF, im off to bed
Hasugo Numani > gn
Hasugo Numani > gf
Moridin Nae'blis > o7

Campsites Abound

This post isn't going to be anything too exciting, but there are pictures! I installed Irfanview at the suggestion of Kdansky, and it captured a few screenshots of my night.


I'm on a little solo roam with a Rupture cruiser; nothing too fancy. I head toward FD- because there is some activity on the Star Map. I jump into 10 in local with some nasty stuff flying around system.

I figure that they are camping the PF- gate, so I decide to venture to lower Syndicate via X-B instead.

Welcome party in X-BV98

Well, my hunch was dead wrong. I hopped right into another gate camp. I burn back only taking minimal damage...

Minor flesh wound

I warp to the station and repair, setting my destination to A-SJ8X instead; I'll stay in upper Syndicate tonight.

Along the way I spot a Cruor frigate on scan and at a station. I warp in a distance to survey. I never fought a Cruor before, but it has damage, neutralizer, and web bonuses. He heads right toward me at over 2000 m/s and his friend undocks in a Myrmidon, which spooks me to warping off.

I resolve to try to fight the frigate anyway, but when I jump back into the system, they are docked up and don't want to play anymore.

When I reach A-S, there are 7 in local. Nothing on scan, so I dock to see who is inside. When I undock, there is a Sensor Boosted Drake to lock me up and prevent my escape. I dock and redock about 20 times, thinking they'd get bored, but I've unfortunately created a perverse game of Whack-a-Mole for them. They bring out a few more ships:

They know I'm going to continue to play station games with them, so they bring out some more firepower in attempts to alpha me right into my pod.

When I see the second Oracle on the field, I conclude that it is time to log off (and write this post!).

I should have went for that Cruor; it is worth over 3x my Rupture, and I think I would have had a good chance kiting it. Instead I got camped in.


In Lucky News, a corpmate found a Snake Delta implant from a belt rat. So... congrats to him /spiteful