Now this, this is power. Grace, speed and monumental alpha. Or, if you prefer, the ability to bombard pilots with short range ammunition from fifty plus kilometres. You can configure this ship so many different ways, as with many Minmatar based boats. It is a testament to the engineers who devised it.
Yeah, I've got another faction pirate battleship. The Machariel.
There aren't many ships that you can configure in such a variety of uses, and still maintain viable combat potential.
In essence, I am using the ship as a larger Vagabond, it can't reach the same speeds albeit, but in comparison to similar tonnage vessels it excels. Capable of running at over 2.4km/s, aligning like a cruiser and spitting out 800 plus turret DPS with amazing tracking with the ability to pick your damage type, it really does blow you away a little bit. If you couple this with the price of blueprints at the moment, it means you can quite happily get the hull for as little as 650 million ISK. It then doesn't take much to equip fully, even if you sprinkle it with faction modules.
Although it is fundamentally a fairly flimsy ship, it is by no means weak, like its smaller cousin, the vagabond, it excels at hit and run, but it has more than enough hit points to take down battleship class vessels before it needs to disappear. Even if it is only to reappear, moments later.
It is possible and viable to run an armour based configuration on the ship, it is, in essence, the perfect gang ship, enough low slots to mount a full armour complement, enough mid slots to encompass all the necessary electronic warfare paraphernalia and support modules and a full rack of guns complete with remote armour suite. Yet it seems almost a crime to constrict the ship in this way. It is like taking a bird of prey and clipping its wings. It is still capable of being dangerous, but in a more limited fashion. It is a ship designed to soar free, on the wings of angels.
Thursday, March 04, 2010
Tuesday, January 26, 2010
Bloodletting
I really should stop spending ISK. It doesn't bode well when I have 79 million ISK left in my wallet, despite the number of ships I have, even if I am owed 250 million. But it has been a long time since I spent anything near 2 billion ISK on a ship and fittings. The only ship that has cost me that much was my first Proteus class Strategic Cruiser, at 2.1 billion for the hull, that was expensive, but then again, in The United, I could afford such baubles.
The reason I have spent so much on one individual ship, not even a capital vessel, doesn't really make much sense. I sold the Vindicator "Rogue Process" after reviewing its combat performance. Having tested it against another Vindicator, I found that the configuration wasn't to my liking, it was impressive, but I didn't like flying it that way. So I swapped it for a Bhaalgorn.
It is not the first time I have flown a Blood Raider vessel, I have previously flown a Cruor, a nasty little ship in its own right, but recent changes have made it less than desirable to fly, for myself at least.
But the Bhaalgorn is something else entirely, whilst the entire Serpentis line all function fairly similarly, the Blood Raider line needs the slot layout of a battleship to reach its full potential. The cruiser and frigate class are nice but having the ability to equip a full complement of energy destabilizers, turrets and backing these up with an impressive armour suite combined with the long range stasis webifiers means that it becomes a behemoth. Shame the price tag means that taking it out solo will just turn it into a massive target.
The reason I have spent so much on one individual ship, not even a capital vessel, doesn't really make much sense. I sold the Vindicator "Rogue Process" after reviewing its combat performance. Having tested it against another Vindicator, I found that the configuration wasn't to my liking, it was impressive, but I didn't like flying it that way. So I swapped it for a Bhaalgorn.
It is not the first time I have flown a Blood Raider vessel, I have previously flown a Cruor, a nasty little ship in its own right, but recent changes have made it less than desirable to fly, for myself at least.
But the Bhaalgorn is something else entirely, whilst the entire Serpentis line all function fairly similarly, the Blood Raider line needs the slot layout of a battleship to reach its full potential. The cruiser and frigate class are nice but having the ability to equip a full complement of energy destabilizers, turrets and backing these up with an impressive armour suite combined with the long range stasis webifiers means that it becomes a behemoth. Shame the price tag means that taking it out solo will just turn it into a massive target.
Thursday, January 21, 2010
Let slip the dogs of . . .
WAR! We started it, and we're so gunna finish it. We've declared war on Razor and Wildly Inappropriate. They have numerous Titans, a huge capital fleet and the numbers to crush us with impunity. So we're gunna do what we do best, be utterly infuriating.
They might catch one of us from time to time with blobs rolling through, sure, that's inevitable, but we can fly whatever we want against them, we can use drones, and they no longer have the advantage of sentry fire. That's how you even the score, by playing to their weaknesses, we have many strengths we can play to, but they can mass larger numbers, so hit and run, get in and out, enjoy flying the smaller things for a change, it's rare we actually take anything out smaller than a battlecruiser, or without the resistances of a Tech 2 cruiser. If we play to their weaknesses we can run rings around them for minimal losses.
It doesn't sound like much of a difference, playing to their weaknesses as opposed our strengths, but in the eyes of a pirate, it makes all the difference.
At least that's the theory, we'll see how it is in action. Some of our guys are that used to flying the larger ships that they make simple mistakes flying the smaller things. It's a learning curve, but then, what is this universe if not a learning curve. IF we aren't learning we aren't improving our knowledge, and no-one can know everything.
This was brought home to my very recently when I persuaded one of my associates to partake in the dubious art of blowing up NPCs in return for ISK and specialist items in high-security space. The basics are easy, equip a ship with the ability to tank a large amount of DPS for anything upto and beyond 30 minutes without running out of capacitor, whilst laying down enough firepower to destroy the ships whaling on you. The subleties however are far harder to grasp.
I'd like to say my knowledge of PvP has allowed me a deeper understanding than a pilot who has come newly to the idea, but in reality it doesn't help as much as I thought. I can equip ships to tank insane amounts of damage, but then they lack the damage to quickly remove the aggressors. In reverse, it is relatively easy to upgrade the damage potential of a ship using certain modules, or to upgrade the ship as a whole and use heavier weapons systems. Maybe it is because I see myself as a veteran now that I dislike being unable to tank a handful of ships. However, there is only one mission to date that I have had to cancel, so maybe I am doing something right. I was told afterward that very few pilots are able to tank the mission solo, and it requires a large investment of ISK in the form of specialiased ships and faction modules, so maybe I am being to harsh on myself.
They might catch one of us from time to time with blobs rolling through, sure, that's inevitable, but we can fly whatever we want against them, we can use drones, and they no longer have the advantage of sentry fire. That's how you even the score, by playing to their weaknesses, we have many strengths we can play to, but they can mass larger numbers, so hit and run, get in and out, enjoy flying the smaller things for a change, it's rare we actually take anything out smaller than a battlecruiser, or without the resistances of a Tech 2 cruiser. If we play to their weaknesses we can run rings around them for minimal losses.
It doesn't sound like much of a difference, playing to their weaknesses as opposed our strengths, but in the eyes of a pirate, it makes all the difference.
At least that's the theory, we'll see how it is in action. Some of our guys are that used to flying the larger ships that they make simple mistakes flying the smaller things. It's a learning curve, but then, what is this universe if not a learning curve. IF we aren't learning we aren't improving our knowledge, and no-one can know everything.
This was brought home to my very recently when I persuaded one of my associates to partake in the dubious art of blowing up NPCs in return for ISK and specialist items in high-security space. The basics are easy, equip a ship with the ability to tank a large amount of DPS for anything upto and beyond 30 minutes without running out of capacitor, whilst laying down enough firepower to destroy the ships whaling on you. The subleties however are far harder to grasp.
I'd like to say my knowledge of PvP has allowed me a deeper understanding than a pilot who has come newly to the idea, but in reality it doesn't help as much as I thought. I can equip ships to tank insane amounts of damage, but then they lack the damage to quickly remove the aggressors. In reverse, it is relatively easy to upgrade the damage potential of a ship using certain modules, or to upgrade the ship as a whole and use heavier weapons systems. Maybe it is because I see myself as a veteran now that I dislike being unable to tank a handful of ships. However, there is only one mission to date that I have had to cancel, so maybe I am doing something right. I was told afterward that very few pilots are able to tank the mission solo, and it requires a large investment of ISK in the form of specialiased ships and faction modules, so maybe I am being to harsh on myself.
Vindication
As you can guess, once again I have a new toy. *she grins* In addition to the second nightmare gracing my hangar after I gave away the first one as a birthday present to an ex-CEO, I now have that pinnacle of Serpentis technology. Yes, I own a Vindicator class hybrid Gallente/Minmatar battleship. And it’s glorious.
From the colour of the hull to the additional turret slot, the increased webifier amount and the additional damage available to you, it is a ship built solely for one purpose. To kick the proverbial crap out of any other similar sized vessel.
There has however, been some debate as to the configuration of the vessel. Amongst the members of my corporation there had been a divide as to whether is it more beneficial to fit dual large armour repairers and the accompanying guns, or to roll with full gank potential and look to your wingmates for support in making your armour go the wrong way. I am still undecided despite my ship being configured for the former due it having a Tech 2 rig upon the date of sale. It was a steal though, it has to be said. 1.1 Billion ISK liquid, some faction assets and a couple of blueprints for some carriers. In total 1.2 Billion ISK, which I thought was very fair considering the current prices of the Vindicator base hull. What makes it even sweeter is the fact I got it from a ship dealer who are typically notorious for running the prices high.
In all honesty I probably wouldn’t have bought the ship if we weren’t due for a faction battleship roam. *she sniggers* It should be funny, none of us are expecting to survive, and seeing as how we have probably close to 15 Billion ISK rolling out, it should be funny. I have already said if my ship survives the roam I will suicide it, most likely into some active system where I can ensured of dieing horribly. If Tama or Amamake don’t work I will jump into Jita, that should be good fun.
From the colour of the hull to the additional turret slot, the increased webifier amount and the additional damage available to you, it is a ship built solely for one purpose. To kick the proverbial crap out of any other similar sized vessel.
There has however, been some debate as to the configuration of the vessel. Amongst the members of my corporation there had been a divide as to whether is it more beneficial to fit dual large armour repairers and the accompanying guns, or to roll with full gank potential and look to your wingmates for support in making your armour go the wrong way. I am still undecided despite my ship being configured for the former due it having a Tech 2 rig upon the date of sale. It was a steal though, it has to be said. 1.1 Billion ISK liquid, some faction assets and a couple of blueprints for some carriers. In total 1.2 Billion ISK, which I thought was very fair considering the current prices of the Vindicator base hull. What makes it even sweeter is the fact I got it from a ship dealer who are typically notorious for running the prices high.
In all honesty I probably wouldn’t have bought the ship if we weren’t due for a faction battleship roam. *she sniggers* It should be funny, none of us are expecting to survive, and seeing as how we have probably close to 15 Billion ISK rolling out, it should be funny. I have already said if my ship survives the roam I will suicide it, most likely into some active system where I can ensured of dieing horribly. If Tama or Amamake don’t work I will jump into Jita, that should be good fun.
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