Faction Warfare

In my last post I mentioned that I would be increasing my Minmatar standing so that I could participate in some Faction Warfare while I train up my learning skills (which still have until 10th October to complete!). Well it didn't take long to get the standing up to the required 0.5 so it was with some enthusiasm that I enlisted in the Minmatar Militia. Expecting to be greeted with a busy Militia & corp chat window I noticed after 30 minutes that very little was being said in Militia chat and nothing in corp (to date I have not seen a single post in corp chat). I made numerous posts looking for a fleet but nobody seemed to notice. In frustration of this turning out to be a damp squib I logged off thinking that things would be better later.

So logging back in and most of my subsequent visits since have been a very similar experience, sometimes there is a bit more activity in Militia intel. My attempts bar one, which I will talk about below to join a fleet/gang, have been without success which I am finding highly disappointing. I had visions of easy access to gangs and lots of flying around in a fleet either large or small.

So to my single successful fleet experience. I have to say it was highly enjoyable. We were a mixed gang of approximately 7-10 pilots in mostly frigate sized craft up to battlecruiser size. As a small expendable tackler I volunteered for scout duty, even though I did not have a mic available to use voice comms. It was approximately 40 minutes to downtime when the fleet formed. We quickly got organised and a single player volunteered to lead the fleet, I was swiftly sent off to specific gates and systems with the fleet always on the other side of the gate to me. Firstly we spotted a WT in a shuttle but he was far to fast for us to lock and catch, then we stumbled upon a WT in something far bigger than we had anticipated...an Armageddon. Our fleet commander was slightly apprehensive about engaging as some of us were new to the saddle (like me), but he decided to take a chance. I soon had the big 'geddon tackled and agressed when the rest of the fleet jumped in and engaged him. I should really have bugged out to repair but held in there too long and my Rifter was swiftly shredded by his Berserker II's. Now in my pod I warped to a safe spot before heading back to pick up a new ship. On the way I received my insurance payout. While I was on my way to resupply I heard a few of the gang drop out as they lost their ships. Our Hurricane pilot, who was also quite new was fairly miffed about it's loss and my guess is that he couldn't afford to replace it. The latest update was that the gang had taken out all of the WT's drones and were into his structure and within seconds the 'geddon was down. Hurrah! Reviewing the fight we lost two frigates, one cruiser and two battlecruisers to his battleship. It was tremendous fun though and i must commend the fleet commander Damorus Merad on an excellent job.

Aside from the experience above, the rest of my time in Faction Warfare has been extremely boring and I have resorted to cruising belts to pass time. On my last sortie I had my loot ninja'd by a pilot in a Moa. Sheer audacity! Obviously this guy was looking for a fight so I thought I would test my mettle. Beginning to orbit him and tackle it became swiftly clear that this might not work as he got a few salvos offs that took big chunks out of my shields as I pecked away at his. He didn't seem to have a point on me, just a web but with my AB on I managed to get into a nice orbit and his damage output dropped to a manageable level. With my meagre skills I had unloaded two hoppers of EMP ammo at him by the time I was through his shields, it looked like he must have been passive tanked. Unfortunately by this point my Nos must have drained his cap dry as I had nothing to keep my repper going and was bordering on structure with him only at 60% armour so I decided to bug out rather than lose my Rifter without need. On reflection I was very pleased with my performance, I doubted my chances against a cruiser with my paltry combat skills which only allow me to fit my ship in a basic fashion. Given the chance I would try it again.

Until next time