Why have there been no posts?

The long and short of it is that EVE simply will not install for Tyrannis, and lately I've been doing a lot more small-gang stuff and less solo stuff. Don't worry, as soon as I get EVE working I'll be back to my normal schedule.

Sincerely,

Securitas

Yaoi Corp and Our War's First Fight

The other day I resubscribed to EVE, finals being over and so on. Having thought much over my break, I decided to leave the blobs and drama of other people's 0.0 alliances behind, and founded my own corp: Yaoi Corp. On the first day, I recruited a promising guy called Angel Rodriguez, who was quite new to the game but had a bunch of resolve. Then I decided to have some fun PVPing in highsec before starting my move down to 0.0.

Bored, I clicked show info on random people passing me in space until I found an alliance-less corp with about 100 members: Space Marine Academy. As it turns out, they are a training corp for a corporation in Gentlemens Club, but I didn't know that at the time. I shoved in 2 million isk for the wardec and patiently waited 48 hours.

Two days later, I logged on to find myself alone in a system with 9 war targets next door. Using my newly obtained ISK from an epic arc, I bought a triple-rep Myrmidon in Amarr and returned to the system. The following fight proved that against superior numbers, few things can compete in efficiency with a Myrmidon. The wartargets must have been shocked at my seeming stupidity as I knowingly jumped a battlecruiser into a 9 man gatecamp. 

Instantly, I decloaked and burned away from the Youl stargate, expecting tacklers to come burning after me. They did, and in short order my autocannons and trusty Warriors made scrap metal after the first Rifter. Immediately, I targeted, scrammed, and webbed the next frigate, a juicy Taranis. He made the fatal mistake of trying to escape once the drones began hitting him. Here is a word of advice if you are in a frigate engaging a Myrmidon with autocannons: it is better to brave only the drones than to give the six medium-sized autocannons a clear shot at you.

In just a minute, another two tech 1 tacklers, a Condor and Rifter popped, and the large ships began to evacuate the field. Then, inexplicably, a Crusader came into close range, after watching 4 of his frigate-sized compatriots die, and was instantly scrammed, webbed, and taken apart in a matter of seconds. Running out of boosters, I sighted a Caracal sitting still 20 kilometers away. Shoving in the last few 800 charges, I blasted over to him and killed him while aligning out. This turned out to be a good idea as a Drake landed only a few kilometers away and began blasting heavy assault missiles as I joyfully warped away to the sun. 

But wait! It's not quite over yet. Instead of resting on my laurels, I decided it would be a bright idea to restock my charges and come back again. Of course, they knew exactly what I was flying now and the element of surprise at having a 800 dps omnitank was gone. Upon jumping in, I managed to kill a Rupture before succumbing to a tidal wave of fire.

Still, despite my stupidity, I was glad of having taken on so many and done as relatively well as I did. It is more a testament to the power of the ship than to my piloting skills that I was able to destroy as much as I did. That sturdy Myrmidon took, wait for this, over 92,000 damage before dying. And this was all during round two in which my opponents had reshipped!

Here is the final battle report.

If you ever needed more evidence to use the fit I suggested a few posts ago, this is it. Tons of DPS, tons of tank, all in one little cheap package. 

The new (and not so new) pilots of the Space Marine Academy have my respect for not only engaging a pilot much older than most of them, but also killing him. It is more than I can say for many war targets.

Here's to many more good fights!

Securitas

PS: (or SP rather) Shameless Plug! Yaoi Corp is recruiting anybody and everybody that is willing to be part of a just-for-fun pure PVP corp! That is, if you're willing to stand a CEO like me. Here is our recruitment thread.

Ship in Focus: The Hurricane

Out of all the solo PVP ships I've ever flown, one of my favorites is the Hurricane. I only fly one particular version of this baby, but I will demonstrate 2 workable setups. While this Matari ship is not as versatile as the Myrmidon, it is excellent at what it does, which is mainly putting out damage while remaining relatively speedy. This hits 2 of the requirements for a solo ship (in my previous post.)

Without further ado, here is my fit:

[Hurricane, T2 shield nano 425]
Gyrostabilizer II - The damage that makes this ship so sweet
Gyrostabilizer II
Gyrostabilizer II
Nanofiber Internal Structure II - Agility and speed for running
Nanofiber Internal Structure II
Damage Control II - Adds a bundle of EHP. I (almost) never fly without one


10MN MicroWarpdrive I - Named isn't worth the 6-8m price. T2 really not necessary
Warp Scrambler II - The strangest module to the most of you, I'm sure, I'll talk about it below
Large Shield Extender II - A small(not!) buffer
Invulnerability Field II - Can replace with another LSE but I prefer the slightly(<1k) higher EHP and increased RR ability for gangs.


425mm AutoCannon II, Republic Fleet EMP M - 220's only do marginally less dps, but these have a little more falloff. up to the pilot
425mm AutoCannon II, Republic Fleet EMP M
425mm AutoCannon II, Republic Fleet EMP M
425mm AutoCannon II, Republic Fleet EMP M
425mm AutoCannon II, Republic Fleet EMP M
425mm AutoCannon II, Republic Fleet EMP M
Medium 'Gremlin' Power Core Disruptor I - Useful for NPCer's active tanks, getting rid of tacklers
Medium 'Gremlin' Power Core Disruptor I


Medium Core Defence Field Extender I - Buffer, can replace 3rd rig with an anti-em rig
Medium Core Defence Field Extender I
Medium Core Defence Field Extender I




Warrior II x5 - for those pesky frigs

Numbers with Battlecruisers IV:

547 DPS, 61 DPS tanked, 44k EHP, 1447 m/s(2048 overloaded), 6.6s align time w/o MWD.

All in all, a monster in terms of DPS and speed. However, this fit deviates from the standard nanocane fit because it has close-range ammunition and a scrambler instead of a disruptor. This is entirely a matter of personal taste. I'm not that great at cap management, and close-range with the enemy's MWD disabled means I don't have to pulse my MWD very often. It also means once I commit, it's very difficult for an opponent to disengage, even if they have a warp core stabilizer. This fit also has more dps, less tracking issues(Barrage), and choosable damage types. Since most nanocanes engage at 20-24 kilometers with Barrage ammunition, they typically use only Barrage, as changing ammo takes a while. Also to stay at range they must use their MWD much more, resulting in a shorter time in which they operate at full effectiveness. 

Once again both the long and short-range fits have their own advantages. In essence, however, this is an excellent fit for all solo pvp work. It has the flexibility to disengage if not scrammed, can escape many gatecamps, has a significant amount of buffer, and can even remove tacklers with drones and neutralizers. One can take down even the toughest NPCing ships because of the neutralizers and selectable damage types. All in all, one of the cheapest, best solo-ships I have ever flown.

[Hurricane, Armor]

1600mm Reinforced Rolled Tungsten Plates I

Damage Control II

Energized Adaptive Nano Membrane II

Gyrostabilizer II

Gyrostabilizer II

Gyrostabilizer II

10MN MicroWarpdrive I

Warp Disruptor II

Stasis Webifier II

Stasis Webifier II

220mm Vulcan AutoCannon II, Republic Fleet EMP M

220mm Vulcan AutoCannon II, Republic Fleet EMP M

220mm Vulcan AutoCannon II, Republic Fleet EMP M

220mm Vulcan AutoCannon II, Republic Fleet EMP M

220mm Vulcan AutoCannon II, Republic Fleet EMP M

220mm Vulcan AutoCannon II, Republic Fleet EMP M

Medium Energy Neutralizer II

Medium Energy Neutralizer II

Medium Trimark Armor Pump I

Medium Trimark Armor Pump I

Medium Trimark Armor Pump I

Warrior II x5

Numbers with Battlecruiser IV:

524 dps, 55k ehp, 910 m/s, 11s align time (w/o MWD)

This second fit is more often seen in low-sec. It is a LOT slower and much less agile, meaning it is less suited to the bubbles and lack of sentry-guns(meaning small tacklers can engage on gates) of 0.0. However, it has roughly 10k more EHP, only marginally less DPS, the same damage selectability, and much better ability to hold small tacklers in place. 

It's ability to flee larger fleets is obviously impaired, as it handles like a pig in mud, and it lacks any ability to repair it's main tank. This is why I prefer the much faster, if weaker nanocane. However, with a scram and 2 webs(variation on the above), you will annihilate any frigate fleet, and with a disruptor and 2 webs, you have a longer tackling range while still being able to slow down targets significantly. 

What can be said is that this fit is very well suited to larger gangs, though that is outside of the scope of this blog, due to it's excellent resists and large buffer. 

TL;DR: If a nanocane is a rapier, this thing is a broadsword.

Happy flying!

Securitas

How to Start Soloing

In solo PVP, you can have the setup, the right skills, and faction pimping, and still not be successful. How is this possible? You may have the tools, but not the knowledge or experience. It's a fact, you will fail many times before you begin succeeding. It's like having the latest LearJet and a small manual; you still probably won't be able to fly it the first time.

Once you've got the setup and all the technical tools, the first thing you need to do is find a place to fly. In my experience, some of the best places are the ones you'd least expect: gatecamps. Wait, you say, you mean fly right into someplace that's expecting PVP? Yes. Many gatecamps are formed by pilots who don't have much experience actually pvping, and depending on the size of the camp, they may not be ready for an opponent that is expecting them.

Even if they are competent, a common technique is to go straight for expensive, non-insurable T2 tackle ships in your insurable, T1 hunk of junk. Bag an interceptor or assault frig or two, and you've already covered the cost of your ship. And often, once you clear the tacklers, their heavier ships either lack tackle completely or are unable to move quickly enough to hold you in place.

Some of my favorite solo PVP spots are LXQ2-T(Etherium Reach, 1 jump from Paala in Caldari lowsec), N-RAEL(Great Wildlands, 1 jump from Konora, Caldari Lowsec), M-0EE8(Tribute, 1 jump from Caldari lowsec), and HED-GP(Catch, 1 jump from Keberz, Amarr Highsec). LXQ is particularly nice in the Pacific night time zone, with 2-3 campers, often in smaller ships. N-RAEL depending on the time of day either has a massive camp, or a few renters, often in suboptimal setups. The best possible scenario for any gatecamp is to jump into a renter camp. These are generally PVErs who have either adapted their Drakes and Ravens for PVP(often poorly) or just brought them along fitted to do anomalies.

Moving on, M-0EE8 is often camped heavily, but if you can escape the initial tackle, you can often return and harass tacklers. HED-GP can either be completely empty, heavily, or lightly camped, so really it's the luck of the draw. The main point is that you're looking for a small amount of campers who have the confidence to engage (due to their numbers), but hopefully not the ability to take you down too quickly. The moment you jump in, you must mentally accept the fact that your ship is probably already lost, and that you should focus instead on taking down the most expensive thing you can in reach. This mindset will land you a lot of expensive, very nice, and very fun kills, because lets face it, facing the blob and costing them is a lot of what makes solo PVP fun. Sometimes, you'll demolish the entire camp and keep all the loot, which makes you feel even better.

Of course, if you don't want to lose anything, this is not the best way to PVP, as you will lose ships almost every time you go out. But, if you fit your ships right, they are fairly cheap and disposable.

As another word of advice, PVP as often as you can. All PVE should be to the solo PVPer is a means of getting more (and bigger if you so desire) ships. Not only does this keep your skills sharp, but really the only way of learning is doing. Reading a blog may help you on how to begin, but the only teacher is your own experience. I lost many, many, many frigates, cruisers, and even battlecruisers, some horribly fit (without tackle even) early on before I finally started landing a nice kill now and again.

It also helps to give yourself a certain amount of time, say, 2 hours, in which you must be done PVPing. Promise yourself you WILL find a fight during that time no matter what, even if you have to engage against the odds by a huge margin. And when you do find a target, attack with unbridled ferocity. Unless you're flying something very expensive, do not take into account the loss of your own ship. The only thing running through your mind should be "Can I kill this before he kills me?" If the answer is yes, go for it.

Lastly, a word of advice should you get trapped by a blob. If you're tackled, webbed, and have NO chance of survival, stop whatever you are doing for just a moment and look at your overview. Is there any small, weak, expensive target within range that you can kill in the next 15 seconds? Oftentimes, when a ship is going down, even good interceptor pilots will forget that the victim is still capable of using his weapons(unless he's jammed,) and they'll go in to very close range to get more damage. A scrammed, webbed interceptor will die very, very quickly. So lock these up before you go into battle, and as you drop into half armor, take your fire off of the original bait drake and hit that Taranis hard.

Hope this helped!

Securitas

Ship in Focus: The Myrmidon

Screenshot from an (almost) all-Myrmidon op I did, testing out a setup.

The Myrmidon is one of the most versatile ships in the solar artist's fleet. It can either deal a huge amount of damage, tank even more, or do a combination of both. It can go fast or it can go slow, it can use neuts or guns. Essentially, it is a swiss army knife, due to it's high amount of utility slots. 

One of the better solo fits is the Triple-Rep fit. While at first this sounds completely crazy, it fits quite nicely, deals a good amount of DPS, and has an ungodly tank. The main disadvantage is that it is rather slow and runs out of boosters quite quickly. Unlike in large fleet fights, local tanks are effective in solo PVP because of the reduced amount of damage you'll be taking(hopefully).

Note for all setups: It's quite possible (and even better if you have tech II heavy drone skills) to fit 2 heavies, 2 mediums, and 2 light drones. However, I only have Tech II skills for medium drones, so I did not include these setups. They give you less versatility and replacements in exchange for higher dps.

Here is a typical Triple-Rep fitting:


[Myrmidon, Triple Rep]
Medium Armor Repairer II
Medium Armor Repairer II
Medium Armor Repairer II
Energized Adaptive Nano Membrane II
Energized Adaptive Nano Membrane II
Damage Control II

10MN MicroWarpdrive I - (Price)
Warp Scrambler II
Stasis Webifier II
Medium F-RX Prototype I Capacitor Boost, Cap Booster 800 - (CPU Usage)
Medium F-RX Prototype I Capacitor Boost, Cap Booster 800

Dual 180mm AutoCannon II, Republic Fleet EMP M - (Extra DPS)
Dual 180mm AutoCannon II, Republic Fleet EMP M
Dual 180mm AutoCannon II, Republic Fleet EMP M
Dual 180mm AutoCannon II, Republic Fleet EMP M
Dual 180mm AutoCannon II, Republic Fleet EMP M
Dual 180mm AutoCannon II, Republic Fleet EMP M

Medium Auxiliary Nano Pump I
Medium Auxiliary Nano Pump I
Medium Nanobot Accelerator I


Hammerhead II x5
Valkyrie II x5
Warrior II x5

Synth/Standard Exile Booster

Numbers with Battlecruiser IV:

372 DPS, 629 DPS tanked, 782 DPS tanked overloaded, 870 m/s

Another effective fitting with higher resistances and lower capacitor needs is the Dual-Rep Myrmidon. This fit has higher cap stability and resistances, a slightly lower tank, and can fit higher-caliber guns than the triple-rep fit, plus a pair of neuts, giving it a powerful tool against other active-tankers and frigates. However, due to sacrificing a pair of guns for a pair of neuts, it actually has slightly lower DPS. You can switch these back if you prefer more dps.


[Myrmidon, Dual Rep]
Medium Armor Repairer II
Medium Armor Repairer II
Energized Adaptive Nano Membrane II
Energized Adaptive Nano Membrane II
Damage Control I
Armor Explosive Hardener II

10MN MicroWarpdrive I
Warp Scrambler II
X5 Prototype I Engine Enervator
Medium Electrochemical Capacitor Booster I, Cap Booster 800
Medium Electrochemical Capacitor Booster I, Cap Booster 800

220mm Vulcan AutoCannon II, Republic Fleet EMP M
220mm Vulcan AutoCannon II, Republic Fleet EMP M
220mm Vulcan AutoCannon II, Republic Fleet EMP M
220mm Vulcan AutoCannon II, Republic Fleet EMP M
Medium Energy Neutralizer II
Small Energy Neutralizer II

Medium Auxiliary Nano Pump I
Medium Auxiliary Nano Pump I
Medium Nanobot Accelerator I


Hammerhead II x5
Valkyrie II x5
Warrior II x10

Synth/Standard Exile Booster

Numbers with Battlecruiser IV:

323 DPS, 476 DPS tanked, 592 DPS tanked overloaded, 870 m/s

There are also alternative fits that are a little outside the box, but in my experience very effective. An excellent example of this is the nano myrmidon. It actually works quite well given the amount of low slots and mid slots. It has a MASSIVE amount of effective hitpoints, and can be configured either for more tank or more gank.

Note: If you would prefer more capacitor stability and tank, switch the gyrostabilizers out for Power Diagnostic Systems

[Myrmidon, Nano]

Nanofiber Internal Structure II

Nanofiber Internal Structure II

Nanofiber Internal Structure II

Damage Control II

Gyrostabilizer II

Gyrostabilizer II

Y-T8 Overcharged Hydrocarbon I Microwarpdrive

Warp Scrambler II

Large Shield Extender II

Large Shield Extender II

Invulnerability Field II

220mm Vulcan AutoCannon II, Republic Fleet EMP M

220mm Vulcan AutoCannon II, Republic Fleet EMP M

220mm Vulcan AutoCannon II, Republic Fleet EMP M

220mm Vulcan AutoCannon II, Republic Fleet EMP M

220mm Vulcan AutoCannon II, Republic Fleet EMP M

220mm Vulcan AutoCannon II, Republic Fleet EMP M

Medium Core Defence Field Extender I

Medium Core Defence Field Extender I

Medium Core Defence Field Extender I

Hammerhead II x5

Valkyrie II x5

Warrior II x10

Numbers with Battlecruiser IV:

469 DPS, 80 DPS tanked, 53k EHP, 1294 m/s, 6.3s align time w/o MWD.

And there you have it, 3 very versatile solo PVP Myrmidon fits, each with it's own strengths and weaknesses. 

See you on the battlefield,

Securitas Protector

Why Solo?

A first-time reader of this blog or someone who has never soloed before might ask this question: Why solo? Why put yourself at risk, lower your kill/death ratio, and lose more ships when you could just x up with 10 other corpmates and instapop those idiots who dare to solo?

To someone who asked me this, I would ask them: Why play the game at all? The obvious answer, of course, would be "To have fun." If anyone is playing EVE for any other reason, they shouldn't be playing it, because that is the only reward. And fun in EVE is a little different than in most games. In a game like Call of Duty, you start it up, have some heart-pounding action and show off your reflexes, and then log off. But you don't feel like you've truly accomplished anything.

EVE, however, has an entirely different way of making you have fun. It's the sort where you think "Oh my god this is so awesome" or "wow, look at what I just did." After all, that's why people play Spreadsheets Online with hundreds of POSes simultaneously; something which by itself more resembles a middle-management job than a video game. It's because when it's all said and done, they can look back and see their alliance name on the influence map with 5 stations and a military that can crush anyone nearby. It's the same sort of satisfaction you get after finishing a long task at work (that you enjoyed at least a little).

If this were real life, the optimal strategy would be to remove yourself as much as possible from danger, to set as many people to +10 as possible, and to move around in 2000 man fleets crushing anything to minimize losses. However, there's no challenge in that and that's not really fun after the first few times. Challenge and accomplishment is what's fun. That's why we solo. That's why we feel good when we trade our Myrmidon for a cruiser; because that cruiser was in a 10 man gang, and we had enough skill to take him down despite 10:1 odds.

And when we kill an entire 5 man gang by ourselves? We feel even better. That loot is all the sweeter, because all of our hard work in designing our setup, training the skills, and engaging the targets in just the right sequence paid off. And we just made 5 people feel like they completely suck at the game. It gives us a rush to feel like we're "better" than 5 people put together, that we're actually good at the game. Plus it was challenging and hard. In my opinion, that's why ganking industrials and t1 frigates solo isn't too much fun. Unless it's close and heart-pounding, it's not really an accomplishment.

And that's why we solo.

Until next time,

Securitas Protector

What is the "Solar Artist"

The Solar Artist is a new blog I've created about PVP in the game of Eve Online, and more specifically solo pvp. The title is a play on the space theme of eve and the word "solo," which I've put together to become The Solar Artist.

This stems from my belief that true solo PVP in Eve is an art form; the combinations of fitting decisions and emergent combat create an atmosphere that only an artist can survive in. Videos of PVP in Eve are transfixing and quite unlike any game out there. Any ship can be a weapon, and the most beautiful weapons are the unexpected ones.

In this blog I'll post videos(I hope), both of my work and that of other artists, screenshots, killmails, lossmails, fits, and battle reports.

Since I'm currently unsubscribed for finals my first posts will be about previous battles and other people's work.

I hope you all enjoy it!

-Securitas Protector

PS: Isk donations to keep the Solar Artist in his ships are appreciated. ;)