Lucky days and close calls

I thought I was in for a lucky streak this week when I won 10m isk in a prize draw and then my blog entry for the Women in Eve contest got picked as one of the winners. I also pulled Germany and Brazil in the SOTF footy sweepstakes, woot! (This was before the crummy Germany v Serbia game, bleh). So perhaps my luck would continue into the week?

Tuesday troubles
A Caldari plexing fleet was spotted in the system of Evaulon and after a lot of scanning and warping about, trying to pinpoint them for an ambush, we ended up with our fleet sat on the Evaulon gate in Aldranette whilst they sat at optimals waiting for us to jump in on the other side.



We eventually made the decision to just jump and go for it. I grabbed a point on a Federation Navy Comet and tried desperately to keep it in place but relying on the orbit at range command sent me straight into all the other targets who seemed to be making a beeline for our tackle.

Perhaps if I'd reacted manually a little sooner I could have saved my ship but as it was I went down pretty fast along with another Ares and a Nemesis. Annoyingly the Comet got away unscathed however our fleet did end up with a nice bunch of kills so taking one for the team was a little less painful.

http://www.gallente.eve-kill.net/?a=kill_related&kll_id=6882580


A night with Eddie
On Thursday I hopped online to find an MDP fleet was out, lead by Eddie Valentino of Bi-Polar Bears. I grabbed an Ares and caught them up just in time for a Myrmidon catch before we got wind of a Caldari fleet a few jumps away. We burned to catch them up and intended to intercept their suspected route but were spotted on the way. We had to make the unfavourable decision to jump into them on their own terms or risk having no fight at all and after the experience of Tuesday I wasn't particularly looking forward to it.

"Husband and Wifey" type real-life coms made my job of helping Rashmika target support ships much easier but the task itself was still somewhat tricky. Each time I pointed a target about 10 ships started red-boxing me and I know other tackle in the fleet were having a similar experience. My speed and agility kept me alive as I tried to keep points in place for as long as possible without sacrificing myself before they went down. Even so the dps started to hit and I had to bug out about 4 times. My armor crept down to around 50%, adding to the intensity of the fight and each time I bounced out I wondered if this return would be where I headed home in my pod. Fortunately I had no hassle from webs or scrams and I don't think I was even pointed. On my final bounce-back there were just a handful of enemy ships remaining and I had the luxury of being far down the priority list.

It was a most enjoyable scrap. Eddie is an intense, headstrong and possibly slightly crazy FC. He has high expectations of the people flying with him but his fleets never fail to get your pulse racing. To come out on top in an engagement with him (I've re-written that 3 times and it still sounds wrong) is always a fantastic buzz.

http://www.gallente.eve-kill.net/?a=kill_related&kll_id=6898660

Reeling from our little victory we looted up and headed home when someone got a convo from the Caldari FC offering us Round 2. Get in!

Once back in Nisuwa we put together a rather tasty fleet consisting of Battleships, ECM & Logis plus some lighter support. Hopeful that this would be a mostly stationary fleet I decided to swap my Ares for my Nemesis.



We headed for Tama and my squad was sent to the Nourvukaiken gate (Caldari high-sec). I bounced to a safe then back to the gate at range and got set up for the fight, eager to test my ship in a more suitable environment than my previous attempt.

But... no sign of the Caldari. It was dead, it was late and I was getting tired. I contemplated being snuggled up in bed, covered in warm duvet and resting my head on soft pillows, some warm flesh nearby to warm my feet on, mmmm... my eyes started to droop... when suddenly and from out of nowhere a war-target landed right top of my bloody ship, knocking both our cloaks off... AIIEEEE!

Coming back to my senses it took me a moment to remember that I was no longer in my Ares and that the target was only in a Cov-Ops. Someone else in the fleet quickly called point and the unlucky pilot went pop rather quickly.

[ 2010.06.17 22:04:43 ] Oppon's Pull > dam u stealth bomber =)
[ 2010.06.17 22:05:21 ] Rashmika Clavain > /emote shakes fist
[ 2010.06.17 22:05:28 ] Eelis Kiy > u scared the f**k out of me :)
[ 2010.06.17 22:05:41 ] Oppon's Pull > U scared me more i think, given th end result
[ 2010.06.17 22:05:52 ] Eelis Kiy > only coz my mate got a point heh :D
[ 2010.06.17 22:06:16 ] Oppon's Pull > either way, nice grab
[ 2010.06.17 22:06:30 ] Eelis Kiy > aye, unlucky landing!

I think the poor pilot had been just as rudely awaken as I had.

Sadly this was to be the last kill of the night, for me anyway. The Squids left Nourv through a different exit and we went off to chase them but it was soon clear they either had not had the same type of fleet in mind or were simply unable to get enough x's for Round 2. They disappeared back into high-sec and we trotted off home, slightly deflated at having nothing to throw our shiny fleet at.


Nisuwa falls... viva la Gallente!
On Friday afternoon I noticed messages on our corp forum calling for assistance in Nisuwa, which had finally gone "vulnerable". This meant that after months of frustrated efforts from the Gallente plexers we finally had the chance to flip Nisuwa into Gallente control. Of course this would have to happen at 2pm in the afternoon when most of our corp and allies are at work, doh. It was a difficult time of day for me also, my daughter was home and I had promised to bring the playdough out, but bunker shooting, and in my home system, would possibly not require too much attention at the keyboard. So I hopped into my Nemesis, joined the fleet and started shooting.



I find it interesting that of all things in FW it's often bunker popping that brings everyone in the militia together, even those who are not so big on plexing. We were light but had quite a mix of corps and FDU pilots and I'm pretty sure some Minmatar support also. I kept half an ear on coms and it was also nice to hear a few Aussie accents for a change. The bunker was going down nicely but at around 50% armor the suspected Caldari fleet came out of Nourvukaiken.

Kudos to the Caldari, it was a pretty nice fleet to put together so quickly, at such short notice and at that time of day. As they entered Nisuwa we headed back to station and docked up, there was some chatter of shipping up to take them on but a distinct lack of volunteers, I wondered how many of our fleet were sat at work whilst in this fleet.

The Caldari hung about for a few minutes and then moved off the bunker and eventually left system. Before long they were back in Nourv. We headed out to have another go at the bunker which had just started to regenerate shields. It's worth mentioning that the Caldari may well have had no idea how far into armor the bunker was, as only Gallente militia could target it.

We got the bunker to about 85% into armor when the Caldari were spotted heading our way again, this time they seemed to have shipped down a bit and lost some numbers. Again we docked up although we did loose a few ships this time round. More chatter ensued on shipping up but again it was pretty quiet in terms of volunteers. Ironic really, 2 Caldari fleets in Nisuwa in the space of 15mins and no one around to fight them. Perhaps we need more Australians in the MDP eh.

The Caldari eventually headed home again and we resumed our efforts on the bunker, it finally dipped into hull and after a few seconds up came that lovely message... This system has been won by the Gallente Federation... Nisuwa was ours at last.

I said my goodbyes and promptly docked to go and make playdough animals...


Friday Fumble
Returning on Friday evening I joined a newer FC's fleet which had been roaming round Blackrise before playing guess the safespot with a war target in Heydieles. For most of the fleet this meant a lot of sitting around and waiting so when one of the scouts reported a Caldari Cruiser/Frigate gang heading down the pipes we decided that would be more fun to chase than the guy in Heyd.

Our fleet was, to my initial frustration, rather spread out as different squads had been in different places when the call to move up the pipe came. However this probably worked in our favour in the end as we arrived in dribs and drabs before reaching the final gate and jumping through together. I suspect if we had all been together from the start the fact we outnumbered them would have been more obvious to the Caldari scouts and they would have likely turned tail and buggered off home.

As the fight kicked off I found myself suffering de-ja-vu with my Ares drawing more attention than it particularly wanted. It was a swift engagement, and as the last few targets started to bail I grabbed a point on a well known enemy pilot in a Zealot, who then starts burning off.

I was on an awkward orbit and on the edge of my (overheated) range when the scramble hit, so grateful that someone else called point just before mine fell off. Burning towards the target I re-established my point just as my friend lost his but now the Zealot started to red-box me. Swinging about and with my microwarp drive resulted in my armor vanishing in 1 or 2 hits. The Zealot finally became primary target and my fleet's dps focus turned onto him, I crossed my fingers that the fleet would take him out before he took me down with him. My hull had started to drop when I heard multiple friendly points being called and so I bugged out to a planet, he exploded just as I left. Intense!



http://caldari.eve-kill.net/?a=kill_related&kll_id=6905096 (taken from Caldari site as unrelated ships mixed in on our board).

So, perhaps my lucky streak saved a few Ares for me this week? Or perhaps I need to drink less and concentrate more on what I am orbiting into hmm...!