Farewell Dear Penfold

A sad occurrence has befallen me, a truly black day. My dear little Breacher, that unassuming T1 Minmatar Frigate known by me and by many by the call sign "Cor Blimey Chief" has passed into my hall of legend. Now just a picture on my cabin wall in the Hevrice station which Kirith calls home.

A case of preoccupation with the slow podding of a Thorax ilot diverted my attention from local scanners allowing a Jaguar to land atop my humble craft. The mediocre (read: non-existent) tank of the Breacher crumpled like paper in mere seconds and my adversary walked away with the deadspace MWD contained within.

Many a glorious kill had been achieved during its service and it will be sadly missed but cannot ever truly be replaced, to do so would be a slur upon its memory.

I share with you now the loadout of this fine and noble space-steed

3 x TE-2100 Light Missile Bay

Warp Disruptor II
Coreli C-Type 1MN Microwarpdrive

Overdrive Injector II
Ballistic Control System II

3 x Capacitor Control Circuit I

Farewell dear friend for you shall be missed.

Meet Grumblecub

Well, meet Grumblecub 2 actually. Grumblecub (1) actually exploded a few days ago after I made a mistake. The fight was going rather splendidly and looked very one sided until I managed to click approach and get shredded in short order.

Well without further adieu this is loadout:

[Rifter, Grumblecub]
Small Armor Repairer II
200mm Reinforced Rolled Tungsten Plates I
Gyrostabilizer II

Cold-Gas I Arcjet Thrusters
Warp Scrambler II
X5 Prototype I Engine Enervator

Rocket Launcher II, Foxfire Rage Rocket
200mm AutoCannon II, Republic Fleet EMP S
200mm AutoCannon II, Republic Fleet EMP S
200mm AutoCannon II, Republic Fleet EMP S

Small Projectile Ambit Extension I
Small Projectile Ambit Extension I
Small Projectile Burst Aerator I

He's a brute, and quite similar to many cookie cutter Rifter fits out there. The big difference being 200mm Autocannons in place of the 150mm Autocanons. Given the Rifters impressive bonus to tracking they track very well. Damage comes out at a whopping 162 dps, which from a T1 frigate is impressive. Speed settles at around 1050m/s. I'm enjoying flying it, but she's tight to fit and will need very good fitting skills. After the initial test I've shipped in a load of stock ready for the meat grinder.

Shopping...

In the caharacter review I mentioned that there was a temptation to blow my trading profits by buying more and more ships for Kirith. Needing no encouragement, although it was given by long time blog follower Kirith Kodachi.

I've not been in space in a while, so have decided that I needed some retail therapy. Therefore today I logged in my alt sat in Jita who holds Kirith's pursestrings and decided to buy fittings for the following unfit ships in his hangar:

3 x Bellicose
5 x Breacher
1 x Ferox
1 x Probe
2 x Scythe
5 x Vigil

My pending-transport cargo container in Jita now is brimming with modules awaiting the next transport run to low-sec.

I'll admit that the ships above are far from renowned for their combat prowess, but that's the reason they have sat there unfit and therefore unused. As a result the fits I've chosen are a very eclectic mix! I'm sure as and when they inevitably appear on killmails some laughs and raised eyebrows will be seen. I've splashed out a bit too on a few of the loadouts which is blatantly nonsensical but I got a bit carried away with the likes of a complex MWD on one of the Breachers! It's all fun though, right?

I have been known for doing this sort of thing before, fitting a couple of Slashers & Bursts for combat in the past. Amazingly I still have both of each, the Slashers have bagged a kill or two aswell!

I should get some time in space this week but am not sure that I'll get these new toys this week. Time will tell!

Rifter Loadout: MSEMWD

I thought it about time that I updated on one of the Rifter loadouts that I have been trialing.

This loadout I bought three of a few weeks back and haven't lost one yet. I am pretty pleased with the fit although it does have one pretty substantial flaw which is fighting other pvp fit frigates. This fit pretty much is guaranteed to lose against them. Fortunately this is offset by some very handy positive points.

Pros
Very fast
Decent EHP
Cap stable with everything running

Cons
Vulnerable to scrams/other pvp fit Frigates

The fit as I have been testing is as follows:
H: 125mm Gatling Autocannon II x3
H: Rocket Launcher II

M: 1MN Microwarpdrive II
M: Fleeting Progressive Warp Scrambler
M: Medium Shield Extender II

L: Nanofibre Internal Structure II
L: Power Diagnostic System I
L: Damage Control II

R: Small Anti-EM Screen Reinforcer
R: Small Core Defence Field Extender
R: Small Projectile Burst Aerator

Vital Stats with my skills:
113.4 dps with Faction ammo
Cap Stable at 27.92%
3255.25m/s
5210 EHP

Assuming that your opponent does not have a scram then you can maintain a very fast orbit around the target without having to pulse the MWD. In gangs this is a very fast tackler with decent EHP and staying power. The main bonus I find with this ship however is against Faction Warfare plex/mission runners as you can quickly catch them before they realise how fast you are closing on them and manage to warp out.

Two "new" Rifter loadouts

Before I get onto the main body of the post, following my last post about the 1m isk bounty it seems to have increased up to the heady height of over 25m isk now and certainly attracts some interest from fellow pirates who now would quite like to take it for themselves! Nothing quite beats having a nice number over your head for me as a pirate, I just hope that I don't go and get podded now and lose it again...

Anyway, to the main body of the post. To regular readers you will know that so far in game with my 13m sp I have only ever flown Minmatar Frigate hulls with the occasional foray into the Thrasher. The Rifter is where I always come back to, it's just capable of incredible feats whether by skill, balls or blind luck (delete as appropriate). To new readers then, this sets the scene.

To date I have had a distinct preference for the cap boosted gank machine Rifter which has been posted elsewhere in this blog. What I have come across recently is the undoing of said cap-boosted Rifter by other Rifters mounting a web. This traversty surely cannot stand. Time to change my setup to move with the times as more and more ships I fight now seem to have fallen in love with webs again. Change and adapt.

With that said I decided on my last supply run to buy 15 Rifters upon which to test my two "new" loadouts. And so, in just over a week I have lost a single one, and that was down to simple unintelligent piloting by me.

The first loadout is slow by Rifter standards, but sports some nice ehp courtesy of an armour buffer, bigger guns and a web. With the bigger guns came a decline in the tracking that I am used to so a tracking enhancer has also been introduced.

[200mm AC Heavy]
3 x 200mm Autocannon II, Republic Fleet EMP S
1 x Rocket Launcher II, Gremlin Rage Rocket

1 x Fleeting Progressive Warp Scrambler
1 x X5 Prototype Engine Enervator
1 x Cold-Gas Arcjet Thrusters

1 x Micro Auxillary Power Core
1 x Tracking Enhancer II
1 x 400mm Reinforced Rolled Tungsten Plates

2 x Small Trimark Armour Pump
1 x Small Projectile Burst Aerator

My skills put her at 4400ehp, 122dps, 877m/s. In solo fights its a very tough mofo, however if you are engaging multiple targets solo in the same engagement then it's probably going to die.

The second loadout being tested is more of a falloff fighter, pretty easy on controlling range. A variation based originally on the old cookie cutter fit with a few swaps on modules.

[Caned & Unable]
3 x 150mm Light Autocannon II, Republic Fleet EMP S
1 x Rocket Launcher II, Gremlin Rage Rocket

1 x Fleeting Progressive Warp Scrambler
1 x X5 Prototype Engine Enervator
1 x Cold-Gas Arcjet Thrusters

1 x Small Armour Repairer II
1 x 200mm Reinforced Rolled Tungsten Plates
1 x Gyrostabilizer II

2 x Small Projectile Ambit Extension
1 x Small Projectile Burst Aerator

My Skills put this one at 2700 ehp, 146 dps at a speed of 1070m/s. Everything runs for 36 seconds which of course is stable without the repper active. Having never been a fan of falloff fighting I do actually like this ship for it, its pretty effective.

I have yet to reach firm conclusions on the capabilities of these two, so time remains to tell. I have a couple of other loadouts I want to try on my next delivery which include shield tanks & MWD's so watch this space in months to come for the low-down.


On an unrelated note, A small crew of around 8 Tuskers were fortunate enough to receive word of a carrier (Archon) and a command ship (Sleipnir) doing a site in a wormhole. Forces were mustered quickly and despatched. The Sleipnir died extremely quickly followed by the Archon. Props to the carrier pilot for not self-destructing! I was there to offer a token frigate hull presence on the mails =)