Perception & Willpower

To welcome in the new patch, we decided to do a bit of good old high sec entry system pirate gate camping. Our fleet assembled into battleships, battlecruisers, and heavy interdictors, with the order of the day being artillery fit Maelstroms. I boarded my Maelstrom, Alpha Dog, and joined fleet. Our actual fleet consisted of four Maelstroms, an Armageddon, an Abaddon, an Apocalypse, a Megathron, a Drake, a Devoter, a Phobos, and a Rifter (more on this rifter pilot later).

This was my first time flying a Maelstrom in actual combat, and let me tell you, I think I’m in love. The key to the artillery fit Maelstrom is the grotesque amount of damage the ship does per volley. It’s absolutely punishing, even if you can make a coffee run to your local Starbucks between  its shots. Our first victim of the day was a poorly fit Caracal. We warped onto the gate from our pounce, and when the Caracal decloaked, my Maelstrom was the first to lock and the hapless victim disappeared into oblivion with a single volley from the 8 massive 1400mm Howitzer Artillery IIs fit onto Alpha Dog (out of curiosity, I looked it up, a 1400mm shell would be 4.59 feet in width). The only other ship that got on the killmail was the Phobos who made the initial tackle.

 The next victim to jump into us was a Hurricane battlecruiser. Suffering a similar fate, the Hurricane only lasted as long as it took the Maelstroms and Apocalypse to resolve a lock. This scene would play out during the night multiple times including, impressively enough, on three Drakes, whose massive tanks always present a challenge. They too fell near instantly against the volley power of the Maelstroms, with the damage inflicted so suddenly that the shields on the Drakes never get a chance to regenerate.

 The prize catch of the night however, came a few minutes after the Hurricane kill. Our fleet had moved off the high sec entry gate, chasing yet another Drake that had come in from a different gate into our system. Almost at the same time as the FC was about to give a jump order to continue chasing the drake, my associate, who was sitting in the High sec side of the Ichoriya gate, reports a Providence freighter and a Scorpion battleship jumping into Akidagi.  The fleet scurried, aligning and warping back to the Ichoriya gate at optimal ranges, tacklers in front. As we landed one by one, the huge freighter was already commencing its alignment to wherever it wanted to go. “Point!” one of the HICs called on coms, and we rained down all sorts of pain on the helpless freighter. It exploded into a satisfying ball of fire, its massive wreck floating in space, just a shell of the once great hauler. The best part of killing a freighter or hauler is always the fortune cookie/cereal box excitement of finding out what it was carrying. Our freighter victim didn’t disappoint, as he was carrying a few fitted ships in a package, including a Drake, Falcon, Cerberus, and Worm. After a few anxious minutes of guarding the wreck, we were able to bring in our own friendly freighter and scoop up the loot. The loot of course, was later split among the Corps in the alliance, and the Black Storm guys got a share of it. Unfortunately, the night ended on a bit of a sour note, as we were chased around by a fleet of 30 from Dead Terrorist alliance. Alpha Dog, was caught while our fleet advanced in a different direction, and was sadly destroyed. Thankfully, she was the only ship caught by the gang, and her destruction allowed everyone else to get away. She died a hero I tell you.

Oh, and about that Rifter. The pilot of the Rifter, was James Wolfen, a new capsuleer, and a new recruit of Black Storm Cartel. Earlier in the day, James nabbed his first kill ever when he helped his alliance mates catch a Caracal. His second kill ever? The Providence freighter of course. Congratulations to James for that, I think he may be a pirate for life now.

 Providence Kill: http://blackstormcartel.eve-kill.net/?a=kill_detail&kll_id=6695060