Wolf vs Drake

So in a moment of madness I decide this is a day I want to play in my Wolf. Note that this post has been in draft a long time and was prior to the Assault Frigate buff. The Wolf is a ship I want to love so dearly but never seem to have tamed it and broken it to my will. One thing is certain the Wolf does not love Kirith.

I went out roaming and just two systems from my home system of Hevrice I found a flashy -10 Drake ratting in Costolle. I can't quite believe that it's ratting, surely a trap being flown by a flashy -10 pirate type? Though perhaps they are trying to improve their security status.

I do some quick research on Battleclinic that yields little except that this pilot does fly Drakes and doesn't have a solo kill to their name. All their Drake losses to date have been buffer fit.

True to my own decision making style I decide what the heck and warp in, landing shows me that he is indeed ratting. I swiftly establish point and begin hammering him with republic fleet EMP s and Gremlin Rage Rockets (Yes I know they're now Mjolnir). I make excellent progress through his buffer. His missiles are barely hurting me with my small armor repairer soaking it up nicely. I get a warm glow inside owing to the knowledge of an explosion about to happen until suddenly.....

Falcon.....

Of course I'm jammed straight away and now start taking some fire from the Falcon too. Decision time, I plump for attacking the Falcon and burn over to him. Still perma jammed and tanking the damage just fine I settle into a comfortable orbit around him waiting for a jam to fail. After carrying on for several minutes the missed jam just isn't coming. I've asked on comms and intel for an assist but sadly none is forthcoming so with some disappointment I warp off an move on.

My first suddenly Falcon moment, I've done well in avoiding having come across this before and consider myself well overdue for the experience.

Post Rifter Plan

As followers of my blog will be aware I’ve been working on the Rifter Plan for practically my entire EVE career with the objective of flying a max skilled Rifter of my preferred loadout. My preferred Rifter loadout is what I have affectionately named Grumblecub and looks like this:

H: 200mm Autocannon II, RF Phased Plasma S
H: 200mm Autocannon II, RF Phased Plasma S
H: 200mm Autocannon II, RF Phased Plasma S
H: Rocket Launcher II, Foxfire Rage Rocket

M: 1MN Afterburner II
M: Warp Scrambler II
M: X5 Prototype Engine Enervator

L: 200mm Reinforced Rolled Tungsten Plates
L: Small Armor Repairer II
L: Gyrostabiliser II

R: Small Projectile Ambit Extension I
R: Small Projectile Ambit Extension I
R: Small Projectile Burst Aerator I

She belts out 162 (187) dps and goes 1097 (1424) m/s. In short she’s a monster and I love flying her.

Once I complete this goal in about one month time I will be at a point which I haven’t been in EVE before, ever! That point is wondering what to train next. I have a number of skill plans input into EVEMon and I’d be grateful for any constructive feedback or suggestions which I haven’t considered from my readers.

The main thing to bear in mind is that I usually fly solo, rarely being available for most organised fleets.

Here are the options:

• Max out the skills for all the ships I can currently fly. I do have the willpower to do this :P

• Autocannon/Artillery Tempest. Feels like more of an option that I would use in fleets but maybe could attempt solo in an AC Tempest.

• Torpedo & Neut Typhoon. I have heard that people solo in these, but aren’t torps supposed to be dreadful?

• T2 Large Projectiles to fly the Tornado & later BS’s. Certainly going to be flavour of the month.

• Stiletto, I really should have learned to fly Interceptors by now shouldn’t I? But again, it seems more of a gang oriented ship and whilst the Claw is a combat Inty it’s allegedly terribad.

• Max out sub-cap Drone skills (excluding Sentries). Other than being tedious I don’t see a negative aspect here.

• Tengu. Expensive but I imagine they’re very versatile. Also, are they that much better than a Drake?

• Blackbird/Falcon. Again, gang work screams out loud here, how about a solo cloaky Falcon though…..?

• T2 Heavy Assault Missiles. Application for the HAM Drake and maybe on the Cyclone too for up close brawling.

• Vengeance. My maxed missile skills would love this ship, but lots of folk are flying them.

• Stealth Bomber. Black Ops gang based, flimsy as hell. Definitely a nice to have but would I use it often?

So what do you think? Please let me know your opinions.