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Category Archives: EVE Online

Eulogy for a Spaceship: Republic Fleet Firetail ‘Zephyr’

10 Monday Mar 2014

Posted by EBannion in EVE Online, Gaming

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Aethra, EVE Online, Gaming

 

 

First, let me introduce what I intend to be a regular feature here, ‘Eulogy for a Spaceship’. I keep a number of various ships fitted for player-versus-player combat, and I try to make sure to learn from every engagement. As happens to anything used in combat, all ships are eventually destroyed; they deserve recognition for their faithful service, with links to the Battleclinic Killboard record of each fight. So, without further ado, the first Eulogy:

‘Zephyr’, Republic Fleet Firetail

Firetail - ZephyrThe Firetail is one of my favorite hulls, and this ship was an excellent example of why. Fast and agile, it could chase down and pounce on most other ships. Its small size and agility meant that it could orbit very close and very fast, and its excellent tracking meant that it would take advantage of that by maintaining an extremely high angular velocity.

‘Zephyr’ had a number of successful engagements:

Bunny Sando’s Thrasher and Capsule, total value: ~2.6m ISK

Bunny SandoThrasher 731x731

Thrashers have excellent tracking and a huge amount of damage potential, but suffer from the inability to fit much in the way of a defense; the key to killing one in a frigate is to get close fast and outspeed their tracking, because even with their tracking bonuses, their larger signature radius means that you can apply more of your damage potential than they can. That strategy worked well here, and the destroyer wasn’t able to hurt her very much.

agurina’s Federation Navy Comet, total value: ~34.5m ISK

agurinaFederation Navy Comet 871x871The Gallente Navy’s cognate to the Firetail, the Comet also has high speed and agility. Much like the projectile weapons that the Firetail uses, its hybrid guns have two varieties: railguns and blasters. Railguns are typically long range weapons, taking advantage of the extremely high rate of fire and accuracy to compensate for their lower damage. ‘Zephyr’ had two advantages in this fight: its speed and ability to close rapidly kept the railguns from hitting very well, and its Energy Neutralizer was able to drain the Comet’s capacitor and disable its primary weapon. Ultimately, this proved fatal to the opponent.

CapsulaMortem’s Tormentor, total value: ~11.4m ISK

CapsulaMortemTormentor 704x704The Tormentor is one of the Amarr Empire’s basic frigate designs. It is capable of high damage output, and its energy weapons use less capacitor than many similar ships. However, it suffers from a lack of tracking speed, and as with the hybrid weapons of the Comet, its damage can be nullified by draining the ship’s capacitor. Further to the detriment of this particular ship, its active armor tank also required a high amount of energy. Thus, its power sapped and its guns outsped, it quickly turned into a brilliant explosion and a cloud of debris.

Gennesu’s Breacher and Capsule, total value: ~2.9m ISK

GennesuBreacher 820x820The Breacher is the Minmatar Republic’s primary frigate-sized missile platform. Its ability to launch many rockets or light missiles in rapid succession make it quite dangerous to many ships. However, the Firetail’s small size and high speed make it quite resistant to the damage dealt by those weapon systems. Without a particularly hardy defense, the Breacher quickly broke apart under Zephyr’s guns.

Caedmon SilverFalcon’s Atron and Capsule, total value: ~1.9m ISK

Caedmon SilverFalconAtron 891x891The Atron is one of the most common frigates in the Gallente Navy. Its populatiry and ready availability are the best explanation for this quite under-equipped specimen. Taking a ship into a warzone with so many empty equipment slots essentially guarantees its destruction, and this was not an exception.

bp nagazie 2’s Rifter, total value: ~5.7m ISK

bp nagazie 2Rifter 832x832Fast, agile, and sporting a relatively high number of weapons, the Rifter is the mainstay of the Minmatar Republic’s frigate fleet. This particular specimen was equipped with heavy armor and larger guns than Zephyr, which proved to be its undoing. It was unable to keep up or to bring its weapons into position to get any damage applied to her, and it too burned quickly. Most of the value in this particular engagement was in its cargo hold, rather than attached to the hull.

bp nagazie 1’s Bantam, total value: ~88,000 ISK

bp nagazie 1Bantam 776x776There isn’t much to say about this engagement except that a ship with nothing equipped to it really shouldn’t be in a warzone.

 

Vorgat Zog’s Condor, total value: ~8.5m ISK

Vorgat ZogCondor 851x851The Condor is similar in design intent to the Breacher, though its Caldari designers favor solid construction and strong shields rather than the Minmatar’s focus on speed. This particular ship was also equipped with a secondary defense, electronic warfare equipment that impeded the opponent’s ability to track its movements with their guns. Unfortunately for him, Zephyr’s excellent tracking was far in excess of that needed to hit it and so it buckled quickly under the barrage.

Total victory value: ~67m ISK

Total loss: ~23.2m ISK

Final ratio: ~3:1

Sadly, there isn’t much to learn from Zephyr’s final engagement; her destruction was more due to inattention on the pilot’s part. Undocking in the border system of Aranir, she was nearly immediately engaged by between five and ten enemy pilots and quickly destroyed. If any moral can be taken, it is to be prepared at all times for the enemy, even when you expect to be safe.

That’s it for today. Remember, keep your eyes open and your guns warm!

 

 

 

The Tree Of Life

28 Friday Dec 2012

Posted by EBannion in EVE Online

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Aethra, EVE Online, Gaming, The Butterfly Experiment

Again, we see that Aethra Sunder is seated in a well-cushioned chair, reclining with a mug of coffee close at hand. Through the station’s observation windows, the curve of a massive greenish-blue gas giant filled half of the sky.

Standing out starkly against the colorful background, the ships arriving and departing through the station’s primary launch tube were a shabbier lot than she was used to.

Neighbors notwithstanding, her host’s coffee is divine.

She ponders the possibilities of having a state-of-the-art drug synthesis facility housed in the same building as a pilot’s bar. She gently swirls the liquid in her mug as she peers at it intently. Seemingly satisfied with her inspection, she downs the last drops and stands smoothly, turning to greet her lead technician.

“Ma’am,” he nods deferentially. “The preparations are complete, and we await only your command to launch.”

“How is the crew dealing with our newest employers?” she asks.

He looks surprised. Immortals, especially capsuleers, tend to develop a sense of detachment from those whom they term ‘ephemerals’, individuals who only lived one lifetime, in one body. Those few who felt more affection for their short-lived brethren often turned to roles which required both interpersonal skills and immortal perspective often found that their unique skills made them indispensable to their more aloof employers. It was rare for a pilot to display even this small degree of concern for the crew whose lives were completely at her mercy.

“Many of them are quite excited, actually. They say that our contracting for the Cartel will provide more opportunities for the thrill of combat. I suspect that their thrills are more mundane and… financially oriented.”

“Yes, well, you do keep the books. Talking about money always makes me tired; tell me about the new weapon systems. Have their final diagnostics been completed?”

“Ah. Yes, well, it took quite a few overtime hours for us to have them ready this quickly. Their design is quite unusual, and we had some setbacks during their calibration. Other than that, this new ship that our new employers have been so generous with is a work of art.”

She grins at him. “That she is. Are we ready to take her out for a shakedown cruise?” As a cloud of worry falls across his face, she laughs. “Don’t worry! We’re just going to head out through some relatively quiet systems nearby and make sure the astrometrics package is working properly.”

“After all, we’re not doing anything dangerous. We’re just pretending to work with one of the most dangerous criminal organizations in the galaxy for long enough that they let us into their most-protected regions of space, all to gain the opportunity to steal their greatest treasure. What could possibly go wrong?”

Again, she leaves the mug on the side table to observe her departure. This time, as the sleek wedge shape of a Hurricane-class Battlecruiser slides silently past the window, it is not the lettering on the hull which draws the mug’s attention.

Just below the ship’s name, “Tree Of Life“, are two stencils. One is a trio of stars on a silver circle, the corporate logo of Bannion Astrometrics. The other, the interlocking crescents of the Archangels. It is painted with silver, but the dull red light of the massive system star stains it with bloody rust.

How ominous, thinks the mug.

 

 

Which Came First, the Memory or the Tree?

25 Tuesday Dec 2012

Posted by EBannion in EVE Online

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Aethra, EVE Online, Gaming, The Butterfly Experiment

The tree was still there.

It had taken her scanning crew three hours to verify their position, because they were so far from populated space that even CONCORD’s local communication system was strained. And for every second of those three hours, one of Aethra Sunder’s inner eyes was trained on the eerie nebula which spread out, light-years away but immediate in her memory.

The tree was still there.

When the message indicator in her pilot’s overview began to flash, she was not immediately satisfied. The name of this place was as obscure as its location, simply a navigation designation instead of an actual name: E-1XVP. Great. Quickly flipping her attention to the galactic map, she narrowed their location down to the Detorid region, deep in mostly unclaimed null-sec space. Curious, she checked the autopilot’s route back to Aldrat, her temporary home base. She laughed bitterly at its immediate response – 35-40 jumps, depending on her route. Might as well be on the other side of the EVE Gate.

The tree was still there.

Her next option was to check the wormhole she had arrived through. It was possible that the system she had left contained more than one exit route, and perhaps another would be less remote. Unfortunately, just as she was turning her sensors toward it, it collapsed with one last belching wave of radiation. She wasn’t surprised; ever since she had seen the tree, she knew this was not a simple coincidence. There was a reason she had ended up here.

If only she had the faintest idea of what that reason was…

The tree was still there.

She decided to take precise astrometric readings of their current location so that she could return again in the future, and then she told her autopilot to find the nearest station that allowed public docking. Most of the systems out here were privately owned, so she expected it to take a while.

She was surprised when a result was returned almost immediately. Apparently there was a freehold only 12 stargates away which offered access to anyone who could pay the docking fee; intrigued, she looked up its ownership records.

The Angel Cartel. Figures this would be their space; she had always known her run-ins with their footsoldiers early in her capsuleering career were the prelude to a larger chain. Apparently she was close to their home region of Curse. Maybe even close enough to make a run for the station before whoever passed for the locals out here noticed her.

The tree was still there.

As she aligned the Hungering Cold to the first stargate on her route and activated her warp drive, one of her physiological monitors beeped at her. Apparently her subconscious had managed to override the pod implants’ cortical suppression again. She smiled wryly to herself as she noticed that her fingers had crossed themselves. It was going to be that kind of a trip. One last though drifted through her mind as she jumped out of the system…

The tree was still there. 

And she would be coming back.

The Unraveling Begins

20 Thursday Dec 2012

Posted by EBannion in EVE Online

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Aethra, EVE Online, Gaming, The Butterfly Experiment

The Minmatar Republic Fleet Issue Stabber-class Cruiser Hungering Cold quietly slipped out of the event horizon surrounding a temporarily stable wormhole, heralded only by a spray of radiation and a burst of photons. As the turbulence of its arrival quickly dissipated, a host of electronic sensing equipment got to work, taking readings of everything in sight, attempting to pinpoint the ship’s location by triangulating known reference points. From the outside, the small vessel was swarming with activity, as hatches opened, instruments unfolded themselves, and attitude-control jets began to fire fitfully to correct the slight roll that was the only evidence of the ship’s physics-bending trip through the wormhole.

Aethra Sunder floated, still and silent, in the life-support gel that filled her pilot’s capsule. Occasionally, electrically-induced muscle contractions would ripple through her, health-maintenance subroutines firing off messages that insulated her muscles against atrophy and the wasting bane of prolonged zero-gravity exposure. Her closed eyes twitched rapidly back and forth, the only part of her to even seem remotely alive, responding to the computer-generated simulations of sight and sound being fed into her brain by her ship’s systems. Sometimes when the ebb and flow of her thoughts was particularly dynamic, or her situation unusually stressful, her subconscious would manage to slip one or two electrical impulses past the capsule’s careful watchdog electronics and cause her leg to kick or her arm to thrash wildly. But most of the time, she just drifted along, physical body hidden behind walls of metal and electrons.

Unlike the vehicles of the distant past, with their pedals, levers, control sticks, buttons, gauges, and warning lights, the Hungering Cold was more akin to a garment than a simple means of conveyance. Aethra didn’t simply pilot the ship, she wore it like a second skin. Its maneuvers, her actions; its sensors, her eyes and ears. It was easy to forget that there was still a soft, fleshy body somewhere within the metal shell that truly housed her consciousness. It was so tempting to simply forget frailties of her origins, to allow her mind to sink completely beneath the waves…

And then, when inevitably she would give in, package up and section off her memories of being human, being flesh, being weak… when the arrogance and hunger for knowledge and power that drove her grew too strong to resist… when that siren’s call from the depths of the unknown would catch her within its melody… that’s when the dreams would come.

Usually, it was the tree. Great, tall, and ancient, it reached as high as up and as wide as the horizon. She was sitting at its foot, in the grass. She had with her a picnic lunch, a blanket spread out beneath her, and a meal for two people laid out upon it. Just looking at that second place setting would fill her with a deep dread, a sense of terrible loss which she could not explain. And every time, she would begin to weep, the tears in her eyes blurring her vision, blotting out the hateful sunny skies and the mocking wildflowers scattered around her. And as the tree loomed huge behind her, as the world spread out empty and uncaring before her, that empty seat across from her would fill with accusation and loss. She knew, somehow, that none of this was right and that all of it was her fault. She would stumble to her feet and try to cry out, to beg forgiveness from the wind, and the earth would grind open before her, and she would twist to try and save herself but it was always just a moment too late and she would fall, deeper and darker and deeper, into fire and agony. And then she would wake, physiological monitors in her capsule shrilling warnings into her mind.

This time was like that, like all the others. But it was also different, because this time, as she pushed the cobwebs of old panic and remembered-forgotten-imagined loss aside and took her bearings, the tree was still there.

The tree was still there.

 

The First Launching

15 Saturday Dec 2012

Posted by EBannion in EVE Online

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Aethra, EVE Online, Gaming, The Butterfly Experiment

Aethra Sunder sat in a soft, padded chair strategically placed in front of a large window which looked on the main launch tube of the station and languidly sipped her coffee.

Now that she was fully awake and the memory reintegration was finished, she felt great. Breaking in a new clone, she mused to herself, is like breaking in a new ship. Everything works perfectly, and you feel that you could take on the world… but there’s a rough edge, almost an eagerness, which rarely persists past the first few injuries.

It was almost like two thoughts at once, equally expressed – “I wish I could keep this newness forever!” coupled with “I wonder what the first injuries will be?” became, like when adding divergent vectors, one strongly expressed force: To head out into the unknown and find out.

And as if summoned by her thoughts, she saw the reflection of her head maintenance technician approaching her in the window.

“Ma’am”, he nodded to her. “Everything is in order and to your specifications. There was a problem fitting all the cargo in… that portable warp bubble generator is rather delicate, and so takes a lot of the cargo space. I had to leave some of the ammo you purchased in your personal storage here on the station.”

“And the drones? You were able to locate them, even out here?”

“Ah, yes, ma’am, although at somewhat greater expense than we had originally estimated.”

Aethra made a dismissive gesture with her mug. “Cost doesn’t matter. When you are building your symphony instrument, you do not allow cost to stop the creation.”

She takes one last gulp of the coffee and stands. “And I’m sure the fact that every credit more it costs to buy, means two credits in your pocket as a technician’s service charge had nothing to do with it.”

He momentarily looks shocked and guilty, and then they both break into wide grins. “Well, then. Time for another first launching. How many does this make?”

A glance at his datapad, a hesitation. “Many.”

She grins at him. “But not nearly enough. Come on, we’ve got work to do.”

The sign on the wall for the hallway they went down read: “Launching Port A, Cruiser Class Vessels”

About an hour later her mug of coffee, abandoned on the table in the observation lounge, watched the sleek and deadly Republic Fleet Stabber silently slip out of the station and warp away. Before it fled, the mug noticed that the white identification letters painted on the ship’s hull were the same shade as its own porcelain. It wondered what those words meant…

“Hungering Cold”

Character Profile: Aethra Sunder

13 Thursday Dec 2012

Posted by EBannion in EVE Online

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Aethra, EVE Online, Gaming, The Butterfly Experiment

Aethra Sunder and her ship, 'Hungering Cold'

Name: Aethra Sunder

Occupation: Capsuleer

Employer: Bannion Astrometrics, Beryl Sunder CEO

Stock ticker: [LSHAP]

Combat capability: Unknown; expect radically unusual attack patterns and combat equipment

Home system: Unknown

Interaction profile: CONCORD and state police are instructed to observe her closely and intercede if she engages in illegal activity. Do not contact her. Do not interact with her. Unpredictable, violent and vigilante behavior likely. All incidents should be immediately reported to PSYOPS.

Aethra Sunder is likely to be piloting a quick vessel often with cloaking, electronic warfare, or light skirmish capability. Allies unusual but not impossible.

Known Associates: None. Subject uses extreme discretion in business and corporate activity.

Undated File Photo, subject 'Sunder, Aethra'

The Hungering Cold

13 Thursday Dec 2012

Posted by EBannion in EVE Online

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Aethra, EVE Online, Gaming, The Butterfly Experiment

The

Hungering

Cold

thehungeringc O ld

th e hun g e rin g c O l d

Anna… Anna! Please…

Anna? Aethra. Oh, here it comes

italwaysstartswith thehungeringc O ld

Too many memories!

“Dammit! Nurse! Get some paralytics STAT! She’s siezing!”

“Catch her! Catch her!”

i guess this isnt going to be one of the easy times

thehungeringcold

Again, words then lights. Much easier to see now.

“Hey, there! We’re glad to see you’re finally stable.”

White coat; doctor. Look around, beds, wires, tubes, cloning facility. Nurses. Only patient.

Back to white coat, but he’s gone. Turn to ask nurses where he went. Gone.

Alone. Naked.

Freezing. So cOldcoldcold…

Screaming.

Then, ice and calm spreading from my right arm.

Breathing slows; eyes open.

As the last few shreds of the dream fade, my whole life in a second, again. Same as every time. Just gotta ride the wave and enjoy the memories.

The price we pay for immortality: Terror, pain, and remembering.

There it is; the dark horizon of sleep. Tomorrow the mind will be settled, the computers updated, the new ship prepared. Tomorrow…

 

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