Wotlankor walk to the middle of the auditorium and face the counsil.

Greetings all

Intercision hereby request to be adobted into the warrior ranks.

We are a very small corporation, but we have the skills and dedication to make this a stable and good addition to whatever form Ushra’Khan will take after the rebuild.

We are small but believe we can make an impact.
We do not ask for counsil seats.
We do not ask for space.
We do not ask for moons.

We ask for the chance to bring back to Ushra’Khan what was lost.
If for nothing else we will fight for and with you till what was lost is gained back.
After the dust settles we may be deemed unworthy to continue in the alliance and we shall leave, but give us the chance to prove ourself in battle alongside the people we call friends and have shed blood with.

I know there will be voices heard of warriors who may not have a vote but who through valor have bigger impacts than mere votes. They will vouch for us.

For where can a new warriror clan prove their worth if not on the field, back to back with fellow warriors?

Silence follows as Wotlankor walks out and the voting can comense behind closed doors.

Knowing Hydra back when Ushra’Khan were allies to them I am convinced they did not do this for ISK or material purposes. They simply want a fight and get the associated fame of bringing the oldest alliance down. So far they have achived the fame partly. Only partly because everyone know they really had no hand in it and only got the alliance name offered through Tarac Nor. They will of cource derive some fame in the aftermatch that are to come.

Ushra’Khan may in name be under new management but Ushra’Khan as an idea lives on.  When thinking or mentioning Ushra’Khan I think of the corps that was kicked out, they are Ushra’Khan. Not some document or form in a Concord office. That document so far is the same as Hydra.

The station and area I found myself in was buzzing with trafic. From where I stood I had a good panorama view over the hangar. A hurricane was undergoing mantainance, the previous markings could no longer be seen but a new Ushra’Khan fist was starting to grow on the side. Checking the hangar log brought up names not seen around providence for some time. I stood there for a good hour before I realised that I was staring at the Ushra’Khan tribal logo and realised it was custom made for the comming campaign.

The spirit of the warriors are still high…

I was sitting in the new office making the final draft for the recruitment poster that was to be distributed. We had worked hard the last month and a half and were very happy with the result.

The holo screen flickered but I was not paying attention. What was that about Ushra’Khan ?

I lifted my eyes from the paperwork and slowly the news dawned on me. Tarac Nor, a person I had trusted had gone and shoplifted Ushra’Khan and not only that, he had transfered Concord documented control to HYDRA. That person was though a middleman also a co-director in our newly formed corporation Intercision. The plan was that he was waiting on a delivery of a Nyx and then would have joined Intercision. I had just gotten confirmation that the Nyx had been delivered and that he would quit Ushra’Khan.

A quick emergency meeting revealed that Tarac Nor had the support of quite a few of the pilots in Intercision. It ended in a heated argument with his supporting pilots yelling at me that I could piss off to Concord controlled space and mine if I could not stand the heat.

I went to the nearest bar to think this over. It did not take long to reach the conclusion that the relationship in the corp was ruined and with the things that had been said we would be unable to built a corporation on that foundation. Ombey was planetside so I had no clue what his reaction would be.

I started making calls ind order to get a clearer picture of the politics involved.

I felt partly responsible. Two months back, just before leaving Ushra’Khan, Tarac Nor had voiced that he would think it funny to empty the NKB corp hangar. I told him that I would not condone such actions and asked him to leave such thoughs behind and if he ever did such things against any entity I would never want to hear or know of it. He put it off and I wrote it off as a fustration with the current development in Ushra’Khan which had initially sparked the idea to form Intercision and go into what Concord labeled Faction Warfare. Truth proved to be much much worse.

Having gotten a clearer picture I called the local concord officials and informed them that they were to remove any roles tied to my pod licence. They confirmed that in 24 hours I would be released of roles in the official Concord database and would be ready for transfer to wherever I wanted to head out.

I then called the docking manager Scotty.

“Scotty please prepare Juturna, with a complete compliment of combat ships.”

There would be my Megathron ready for combat the moment Juturna docked as well as a compliment of  Sabres, a Falcon, a Guardian, a Vagabond, a few Interceptors and enough equipment for an additional 4-5 battleships.

“Yes sir.” came the quick and dry reply.

Time to reflect and contemplate. I had no clue what corp to join yet and even if they would have me. I had not heard from Ombey yet but hoped he would understand and join me for a month of campaigning mercenary style. If not then we would likely meet up a month or two from now and see where we were respectively.

I kinda liked the idea of joining as a mercenary auxiliary with no commitment other than bringing firepower for a periode. A single carrier that could deploy firepower anywhere. Back to the basics. Back to mercenary action.

Ive lived all my life in 0.0 with all the politics, oppertunities and fun that brings with it. First I lived as a carebear in Stain but moved on and got introduced to fleet combat in KIA and solo and small gang combat in Ushra’Khan. I tried small gang roaming in KIA for the first time, undocked in my brand new and ultra expensive Deimos and got slaughtered 10 minutes later. Not untill I joined Ushra’Khan did I try small gang roaming again. The small gang and solo combat is however by far the most thriling thing ive ever done. To this day I still get chills down my spine when the disrutor locks on a target.

Topics

• The ship
• The fitting
• Maneuvering
• Navigation
• Scanning
• Catching and Combat
• Canning or ransom

The ship

There is a selection of ships that are perfect for this type of combat. This article will focus on the vagabond but I’ll shortly mention the ships that does the solo job fine.

• Vagabond (My baby)
• Cerberus (Yes, it actualy performs well if flown and fitted correctly, you will likely die in a good gatecamp)
• Cynabal (Vagabond on speed at double cost)
• Curse (Nasty little bugger, you will likely die in a good gatecamp)
• Machariel (Everyone wants to kill you but you can’t ignore almost 100 km range and in combination with a 30 km faction neut and a 30 km Sansha disruptor it is win)

The vagabond offers value for money in versability, good inertia, tracking and dps.

The fitting

You live and die by your speed and agility. If you were to fight another vagabond or something similar you would maybe have a Damage Control and another gyrostabalizer as well as a medium neutralizer in the high slot. This is not made to fight other vagas, this ship is made to kill slow battleships, Battlecrusiers and other carebeary stuff.

High slots:

Gunz:

The auto cannons recently got a range increase and now it can reach over 30 km without rigs or tracking enhancers. You will want an assortment of ammo. First of all the Barrage M ammo for keeping range and secondly Republic EMP M. Republic EMP M has the tracking bonus and can help you deal with small stuff. I also always carry around some regular EMP M. Should you ever get camped or bored you can pop a few rats for security or bounties. The PvP Vaga is an excelent ratting ship if you can overlook the insane ammo usage. Found a Sansha ? Orbit at 5 km and let loose.

Ammo and cargo:

• 4500 rounds of barrage
• 3000 rounds of EMP M
• 3000 rounds of Republic EMP M
• 1 unit of Freed slaves
• 50 units of nanite repair paste

Cloak:

Learn to love it. There is no way around it if you want to get out alive of some of the more interesting situations in 0.0 such as large gatecamps. I will teach you how later when we talk Maneuvering. The locking time is nerfed and some kills will get away due to this. We can share a rum later at the Tribal Liberation main station and talk of all the Abaddons and Ravens that got away due to this. There wont be that many, but when it happens and that 1 second was all you needed before they warped out then you will curse it to hell and back.

Mid slots:

Disruptor tech II version or if you feel pimp then a true sansha version with 30 km range is epic. You can actualy kill that stupid neutralizing domi. Takes ages and lots of micro management but can be done.

Two large shield extenders II, I think you could actulay get by with just one as it is very seldom they dip you far into the shield. Have experimented with an afterburner but you really need to be able to pulse the micro warpdrive and you cant do that with an active afterburner and then you die.

Microwarpdrive. Does not matter what sort, I use tech I because you wont be perma running it anyway and there is no extra speed boost in using tech II. The 10 seconds it runs longer under a tech II version will never save you anyway.

Low slots:

2 x Gyrostabalizers for dps, 1 x tracking enhancer for extra range and better tracking = more dps land on target, 2 x Nanofiber. No you dont need a damage control, you need speed and agiliy. You can change one nanofiber for an overdrive but that extra 200 m/s is not what saves you but the extra second the nanofiber gives does when you warp out of a camp.

Rigs:

Ohh the joy of medium rigs now at affordable prices. You can go full dps with burst and  collision rigs or go for the tracking and dps like I do or even use ambit extensions if you have the true sansha disruptor. The ambit means you will land more dps from further away. There is nothing “set in stone” what you must use. I prefer the tracking because of small stuff that wants to tackle and the appearnce of so many Dramiels that can go under your guns and kill you. Republic EMP, Warrior drones and tracking sees to that they dont go under the guns. And also everyone loves a dead Dramiel.

[Vagabond, Roaming Cloak]
Gyrostabilizer II
Gyrostabilizer II
Tracking Enhancer II
Nanofiber Internal Structure II
Nanofiber Internal Structure II

Large Shield Extender II
Large Shield Extender II
10MN MicroWarpdrive I
Warp Disruptor II

220mm Vulcan AutoCannon II, Barrage M
220mm Vulcan AutoCannon II, Barrage M
220mm Vulcan AutoCannon II, Barrage M
220mm Vulcan AutoCannon II, Barrage M
220mm Vulcan AutoCannon II, Barrage M
Improved Cloaking Device II

Medium Projectile Burst Aerator I
Medium Projectile Collision Accelerator I

Warrior II x5

Maneuvering

Welcome to the flight school. Nothing beats hands on practice but before you do then here are some basics on how to use you systems and ship. Hands on practice without preparation can be very expensive.

Undock and get a feel for the speed. Try making some radical turns and see how it handles. Notice how long it takes to get to full speed if you make sharp 180 degree turns and compare it with a broarder turn. The radical turn is something we want to avoid because even a drake can get you if you are not carefull. You almost stand still for 3-4 seconds. This is also what happens when you use the orbit button so most experienced players will go fully manual in the flight around a target. Your defaul orbit range should be set for 17-19 km, this pose the danger that when you orbit and pulse the MWD you get out of range. Watch your range to the target constanly as well as the targets velocity.

Go to some random belt in high sec and find a miner ship, lock him up and orbit him at different ranges, pulse the microwarpdrive, see the behaviour of the Vagabond, try to manually orbit the target with and without the MWD.

Next lesson is about gates. They are the most dangerous aspect of roaming as you never know whats on the other side. Therefore you need to master the abilities of your microwarp drive and cloak in combination.

There are 3 examples we will go over and some advanced training.

You jump through a gate and find:

1. There is a large anchored bubble
2. There is one or more interdictors
3. Advanced training
4. There are some ships with tackle but no bubble blowers

In all examples you need to stop and think. For two reasons; first to get an overview of ships secondly you have a session timer when jumping meaning you cant just run for the gate and jump out.

Sit still and count to 10 while you see what ships they have and what your options are. If there only is a single or two small tacklers you might want to make a run for it and kill them while their big slow dps ship sits and looks helplessly from a distance. If you for some freak reason get decloaked and feel out numbered then run for the gate using the  “cloak, microwarpdrive, jump trick” explained below.

1. There is a large anchored bubble

There is no change you can get out because of the large numbers of enemies. You wait the obligatory 10 seconds, then you click approach on the gate, fast click on you cloak (dont click twize because then you will decloak and die), then click on your micro warpdrive and you will approach then gate cloaked and at speed. Once you get a bit of practive you no longer use approach but double click a little under or above the gate. This help so you dont bounce off it and die horribly 5 km from the gate.

Try this a few times on a high sec gate: Jump through it, sit still, approach/double click, cloak up, tap the microwarpdrive, jump as soon as you get in range and warp away on the other side. Keep testing till you can do it and reach the gate before the MWD turns off.

If you feel you lack speed then you can click the microwardrive first and then cloak. If there is a fastlocker like a ceptor with sensor booster or a lachesis with +800 sensor strength they can get lucky and point you. Then you die

2. There is one or more interdictors

Interdictors, the worst of the worst enemies of roamers. If there is just one interdictor you react like in the above example. If there are multiple one may not put up a bubble and then jump with you to the other side. This is the worst situation. Now you have to work with the camp and get them split up.  When first you approach the gate linger there for just a moment and see if you can get them to attack you. If they all attack then jump through and fight your way out on the other side. If only some of them engage then jump though and hold your breath. The ones that agressed all think you are being killed on the other side and click that gate like mad men so they can get on the killmail waiting for their agro timer to run out.

Now you are still out numbered with 50% enemies on either side and an interdictor on both side. Do the approach trick again and see if you can get aggro. If your lucky you will have the ones that first agressed jumping in as you jump out and all agressed or jumped in one one side of the gate. Off you go. You can keep doing this for 4-5 times on the same gate before they catch on and then you likely will die, but only very seldom are the gangs that organised and disciplined. They all want to kill that poor lone vaga pilot.

3. Advanced training:

The best of the best of the Ushra’Khan has the above down to perfection and can actualy land between 2500 m and 2000 meters below or above the gate. You dont decloak in that area and still have the option of jumping when/if you get decloaked. Ive seen camps start warping around the system, jumping back and forth because they cant figure out where the vaga went. Did he jump ? He aint on gate ! I saw him approach ! In this case use the double click below the end of the gate. People have a tendency to fly around above the gate and approach from that direction. Very seldom you have ships at the ends and below. Dont ask me why. This takes extreme practice but is very fun to do to a camp. I only managed it once in live combat, but the best of the best do this as second nature. If it fails just jump through as normally.

4. There are some ships with tackle but no bubble blowers

What you do or want to do here is to move on to kill stuff. Simply align for a celestial object, cloak, tap the microwarpdrive, once the microwarpdrive has run almosta  full circle or you decloak and spam the warp button. If you get decloaked then just spam the warp button. What happens is that the cloak saves you from being targeted, the microwarpdrive kicks in and takes you to a point above your full speed, when the microwaprdrive turns off you are at full speed and will insta warp when you decloak. This will be the most common encounter when you come across other roaming gangs and small camps. Learn this to perfection as there is a risk in aligning away from the gate and getting caught. If you feel unsure then reapproach gate and jump using the above technique. Never ever just jump through and reapproach gate at full speed, wait for the session timer, else you bounce of the gate and die. If you have outwaited the session timer you can go for a fullspeed approach but it can end in tears. Some activate their auto pilot when they do this in order to make sure they jump on first contact and dont bounce.

You want as a minimum to be able to do the following flawless:

• Steer around roids when orbiting a target keeping your self closer than 24 km and no closer than 15 km.
• Use a combination of orbit and manual drive.
• Use the cloak, microwarpdrive, jump trick on a gate.
• Use the cloak, microwarpdrive, decloak, warp trick on a gate.

[Click here for large version]

Navigation

Finding targets

Shiney shiney loot ! Super green killboard ! Here we come !

Your new best friend besides Ombeys maps for general navigation is the DOTLAN maps. Even met the guy who makes them at the Fan Fest, with Ombey. Cool stuff and such.

Anyway all that aside of how nerdy I am going to Fan Fest and such, I present to you Target Locater numeru uno !

Choose your favorite hunting ground, click the region and on the very top is a drop down box where you choose “NPC Kills”.

Lo and behold target systems have now been marked in yellow, orange and red: http://evemaps.dotlan.net/map/Providence#npc

You want a system where more than 6 NPC kills have occoured because either the target has moved on or it is just a spawn that got killed at a gate.

Plot your route and off you go. Note to self: The systems can be empty as data is colected over an hour.

Avoiding enemies

We have located the juicy systems where the fat Ravens fly and we are off to one of the more tricky parts that is about how we actualy get to the target. We have gone over how to handle incident that are bound to come up but you can also use the DOTLAN maps to steer clear of major engagements and camps.

Just look at the major trafic routes http://evemaps.dotlan.net/map/Providence#jumps

You will almost always see the line of numbers being the same if you follow from top left LF-2KP and down towards G7AQ-7. That looks like a trafic route with the oppertunity to intercept some stuff you can pew pew. Off to investigate.

Wanching this http://evemaps.dotlan.net/map/Providence#kills you can see the camps and fights, maily at the entrance gates. Your data will be different from mine but go have a look at KBP. People being killed aye ? That is a likely gatecamp. You already know how to handle them but there is no point in seeking them out if you can get around them.

A good rule when you navigate around is to make bookmarks and never ever warp directly to zero. When you jump through a gate and warp to a celestial at next gate then make a bookmark and name it Scan XYZ gate. That way you can always warp to this spot and check what is at the gate before you warp into a drag bubble and die horribly with all you shiney faction loot.

Just before you land on next gate also make a bookmark as a scan point for that gate. You now have safe spots and scan spots at the same time. If you plan on spending time around the same systems then make some bookmarks in wierd directions at some 200-300 km off the gate. Dont make them toward a celestial object and make them so you can avoid a drag bubble.

Scanning

We have now arrived at the system and need to locate the shiney stuff. A major bummer is the new complex’s where carebears hide and you have to use your ship scanner. They get alerted and have way too much time to get away. Still possible to get a kill but damn I hate the buggers.

I will here focus on the directional scanner for finding prey in the belts but the best stuff you find in these complex’s.

When you jump in you check local for numbers and make a 360 directional scan. See what ships comes up. Right click in space and check planets and belts.

If you get a carebear hit and have many belts near the gate you came in then start narrowing the targets down. Remeber to have POS on your overview so you dont waste time on targets that are POS’ed up.

If no targets are on the scanner simply warp to the planet with the most belts (You did not just warp to zero did you? I KILL YOU). I use the 90 degree scanner even before I land to check left and right side of the planet im warping to. That gives me a rought idea if anything is there and in that case what side of the planet. When you land you quickly narrow down to 60 and 30 degrees and you should have the belt and target. If two belts are close together then the nearest and warp to that. If nothing is there when you land then continue to warp to the next belt a bit further out. Doing that minimize time as you will be aligned in direction of the next belt. The veterans will likely use a 5 degree scan but that can throw you off if your new to it.

It takes some time to get used to the scanner and being good at using it fast. Practice a few times in highsec and scan down some hulks.

Catching and Combat

You have now landed at the target belt and the game in on ! Adrenaline rush through your veins, I kid you not you can get a kick out of it.

Remember what you practiced. Dont ever directly approach, use manual steering and take a path that leads you by the target but not directly at it. You will learn to steer by it with 20 km or so before engaging.

This is the critical moment; is it bait ? is it a treasure box ? is it a coconut (Drake takes ages to peel, overheat guns when they reach 40 % shield to break their recahrge if they are passive)?

Check your capacitor. If you get drained in one go then dont panic, there is a cycle time on those and your 20 km off the ship. Your cap will regain itself for one pulse on the mwd that will take you out of neutralizing range. If you started too close you may die or you may get one more go. Leave the neutralizing pain ship alone and move on.

Manually orbit and get a feel for the enemy. What is their speed ? If they go more than 1000 m/s then they can pose a problem and you will have to fly this manually the whole way through so you get the best out of your ship and can pulse the MWD if they get close. If they are just trying to get away with mwd on then stay in range. Drakes are dangerous regardless of what the veterans tells you.

What kind of ship is it ? Shield or armor ? Use the correct ammo for the correct enemy. EMP for shield and Barrage for armor. If your unsure then use barrage as you can land shots from further off and have a safety distance.

Canning or ransom

In Ushra’Khan we never took ransoms and fought to kill. You can choose either. I recommend you honor the ransom if you ask for it (Else, I KILL YOU). There are many reasons for doing one or the other.

Some prey will ask if they can ransom their ships. Try to gauge if they are just buying time for their friends to arrive. At other times you know the enemy fleet is not far off and getting out with 50-70 mill for a BS is better than killing them. If you find a faction battleship you can even earn a billion in ransom. However what if that faction battleship is deadspace and officer fitted? The loot could be worth billions.

Its up to you, personally I kill most, but try to ransom them if they are new players. They just bought that BC and the tech I fit you get for loot is not worth much so a 10 mill ransom can be very handy for both of you.

That will be all for now. Please leave your comment if you find it usefull or just want to give additional advice.

Fly dangerous o/

Wotlankor

Enjoy what little was written…

The sweat ran down the mans forehead and mixed with blood comming from a small scar above the left eye. It lingered for a brief moment in his eyebrow before a small pearl broke loose and ran down the nose. Four more reddish pearls ran down the nose and formed a drop that spilled to the floor. Next to the small pool of sweat and blood on the floor was 56 Null L charges. There would be no second loading of the longrange special ammo. Most of the Federation Navy Antimatter was gone as well and last resort would be a pile of 2300 rounds of regular anti-matter that had been looted from an enemy Megatron that passed within 2,5 km. A qucik search of the wreck in the heat of battle had secured the ammunition.

He could not feel his legs and his hands was humming with the effort of keeping the blasters operational. He turned his right hand over in his lap and looked at where his middle finger once had been. He smiled at the roughness of his hand, smeared in oil and hydraulic fluid as it was. Six hours earlier he remembered his shirt had been whole and in general he had felt in better shape than his current condition.

The ship was newly build and had not seen battle. It was designed and rigged with the modules needed for closerange warfare. Next to it was a an identical hull but it had the 425mm railgun mounted. The owner of these large and powerfull ships had a full crew for the, for lack of better definition, “425mm ship”. The owner however had no crew for this blaster fitted monster.

The man looked at the que for the crew sign-up. Navigators, engineers, warp drive operators, welders, robot handlers and medical crew was all to be found waiting in line leading up to the ramp of the ship. He inhaled one more time on his handrolled cigarette, threw it away and joined the file of men and women seeking employment.

After an almost three hour wait he was at the table. The person sitting there was obviously of Caldari origin. He had heard of the Captain before. Apparently the Captain had come to Ushra’Khan as a mercenary but had for some reason overstayed his contract. Eventualy he had become a diplomat for the Ushra’Khan but besides his desk duties still performed active combat.

A personel officer was sitting next to the Captain.

“Profession?” the personnel officer asked.

“Gunner.” the man answered.

“Grade?” the personnel officer asked.

“2nd.” the man answered.

“Place your right hand in the scanner, insert your ID card in the slot and look into the eris scanner.”

The man did as told. A small needle penetrated his hand in 3 random places drawing a little blood. The blood would be checked against the ID and the eris, modelling the full dna profile vs CONCORD archives as well as internal Ushra’Khan databases.

The personnel officer looked up briefly. Their eyes met. The personnel officer raised an eyebrow and  a nod with his head indicated for the man to board the space ship.

“What was that about?” Asked the Captain.

“His DNA is almost perfect for a pod pilot and his ability to interface with a pod would work, only it would be a “wet grave” if he ever hooked up to a ship interface. This is as close you can come to being a podpilot without actually getting there. There were several cases of “wet graves” back in the old days before the gene that caused it was mapped correctly. Back then the Jovians had already manipulated their genes so it was no hindrance, but other bloodlines and races all had defects within their genepool so in fact only few can attain the podpilot status” The personnel officer explained.

“Aha, I see” The Captain said.

The man entered the briefing room and was met by the buzzing sound of hundreds of people making small talk conversation. It was a special room inside the ship that the Captain had had designed and not part of the regular layout of a Megathron battleship. The Captain liked to give a small speech to the crew explaining the political, strategic and tactical situation as well as what was expected of the crew before embarking on a mission or operation.

The man took an available seat in the gunnery section of the auditorium and prepared for the enviable wait. Hours passed as more people joined the ones that were already seated.

Finally the Captain showed up and walked to a small podium.

“We march on soldiers of the Ushra’Khan” His voice bellowed, clearly magnified by some hidden speaker system.

“Today we invade the system of MH9, the very home of Paxton Federation. PXF has for a long time stood against Ushra’Khan and its allies and is the last of the Holder alliances to hold space in Providence. The fight today is likely to draw in whatever allies they have left in the area including the still numerous CVA.”

“We will be jumping into a yet undisclosured system next to MH9 and then jump in to MH9. This will likely happen under heavy fire from the PXF/CVA fleet.”

There was a short silence as the Captain looked over the ranks.

“Yes, there will be casualties and we may go down in flame but we will try our damnest to keep ourself and our fleet buddies alive through our Remote Repair systems.”

The man did not need to be told of casualties, he knew all of it. Like a hive the individual dies to keep the fleet intact and in fighting condition.

“Once in we will engage the Ihub and reinforce this. We may ro may not be attacking a starbase to take down a cyno jammer.”

The Captian looked over the crowd and had the ability to make it seem that he looked each in the eye in turn.

“May the missiles fly straight and blasters hit true. To your stations troops.”

Everyone got up and filed out under the thunderous murmur that usually engulf a crowd where everyone chatter a little higher than the guy next to him.

The man took his station next to the blaster gun that would be his station, 9 more were at the monster blaster making up the team that would make sure the gun would run smoothly under operation. The man slipped under the metal bar and into the seat of the exo skeleton robot. He ran a quick diagnostic of the robot that encapsuled him as the big ship left the hangar. The undock point was crammed with over 100 ships trying to clear the station.

As the megathron alignd for the starbase that would be the staging point the man engaged the magnetic feet of the exo skeleton robot. It always gave a littke jerk when the robot “snatched” into place. There was ofcource the artificial gravtial field inside the ship. It was sufficient for everyday operation and could hold a person in place, but a large robot in a combat environment needed the extra grip.

The man flexed his mechanic muscles and nodded to the others around the gun. There was no need for words for two reasons. First and foremost, if people did not know what to do they would not be there. Second, the life expectancy of the gunners was low and superstition surrounded every aspect of the job. General chatter “at station” was considered bad luck. The 1st Grade gunner looked around at his team. A mechanical camera made it out for his left eye and a rather advanced mechanical arm had taken the place of his left underarm. Streaks of scared flesh covered the entirety of the left side of his face and the skin tissue of his upper left arms was a complex pattern of dark brown streaks mixed with small pools of white. The tell tale signs from an Amarrian laser breaching the hull integrity was never pretty.

There were 4 3rd grade gunners on each side commanded by the 1st grade gunner on one side and the 2nd grade gunner on the other. There were no women on the team either, again superstition was the main factor and although there were supposed to be “equality” on the ship, the personnel officers were well aware of the complications that could arise and women were consequently discarded for various fabricated reasons if they were to apply for such a position.

From the gunnery hatch the man could see the ships coming out of warp and approaching a Titan class vessel. He had not even noticed the ship entering and coming out of warp 10 kilometers from the titan. He remembered as a kid when sitting on his dads lap hearing the tales of intergalactic travels. There had always been sounds of “SWOOSH” or “SWOOOMP” and other sounds that supposedly accompanied a warp across a system. If there was a sound he had never heard it so he always mentally made the sound whenever he actually noticed the ship entering and coming out of warp.
More and more ships joined the fleet and smaller support ships had also showed up now. There was the usual wait as well as a battleship crossing shield with the titan causing the ships to rotate.

“Stand by for bridge” the voice of some relay officer sounded in his ear snail.
“This is your captain speaking. We will bridge out on a gate, jump though it and enter combat. Primary will be the deployed large bubble. Battle stations!”

Dull and slowly rotating lights started to emit a red light.

Being bridged however does make a sound or is it sensation? The feeling compares best to getting a kick in the guts and then suddenly missing the stomach and being hungry at the same time.
The ship approached the gate and jumped as soon as it got in range.

Everything went silent…

The man was dimly aware of the hull vibrating as the sensor modules powered up, readying for combat and taking in its surrounding. In an instant the ship came to life and decloaked with the rest of the fleet. The ship was hit by the active sensors of 100’s of ships, friendly and enemy alike as everyone fought to get tactical awareness. There were enough micro and radar waves crossing space to fry a medium sized animal.

“Full speed ahead. Engage the microwarpdrive. Primary the Bubble probe. Drones in bay. Align at…”

The huge guns went to work, first shot was already loaded and as soon as the sensors locked the probe the charge was fired. The hydraulic sent the ton heavy slug on its way and in one smooth motion ejected the cartridge into space.

“LOAD!” Called the 1st Grade Gunner.

A large Null slug was transported by the man and his crew, via a slider in the loft from the stock, where they were stored in huge racks, to the gun, while the 1st Grade Gunner and his team was working the hatch and hydraulic.

“LOADED!” Called the man as the hatch slammed shut.

The huge short barreled gun propelled the slug at the anchored warp probe with a force that vibrated the ship.

“LOAD!”

The sound of the shield generators was slowly rising as the Megathron came under fire from small support vessels and the generator was trying to compensate the decline in shield power. The humming became almost unbearable when max recharge rate was reached and overcome by the incoming fire.

As one more Null round went off the siren sounded alerting everyone that the shield was about to collapse. It was not ground for panic and was expected in a ship that was designed to resist attacks with it thick armor. However it did mean that there was about to be “rocking of the boat” as the crew called it, as armor hits did not have the deflective and absorbing capabilities of the shields.

“INCOMMING!”

The enemy close support closed in and engaged, their primary objective to hold our fleet in place while their main sniper fitted battleships took turkey shots from 130 km above. The shield generator humming went low and was quickly replaces by the crawling sound of nano robots swarming in to repair the damage being dealt.

The warp disrupt probe exploded in a firework that illuminated the fleet and hurt the eyes as electro pulses and waves clashed. The man could hear the explosions and estimated that the rate that the armor was hit it would hold. Another ship to the starboard was less lucky and exploded in thousand bits.

The ship yanked hard to the left and the warpcores started up.

“Stand by for close range combat” the Captains voice sounded in his ear snail.

“BRACE!”

The fleet warped directly into the enemy sniper fleet. Metal hit metal as many of ships collided and the two fleets got toe to toe.

“TARGET! FIRE ALL GUNS. ENGAGE DRONES.”

The ship gentely rocked as an enemy Brutix exploded nearby. The scan resolution finally calculated the enemy megathron that was called primary and a single volly was sent into its hull that burst into a sub gravity firework. The pace picked up as the enemy fleet tried to run away. An enemy Apocalypse glided by and the megathron send out a disruption signal that rendered it microwarp drive and warpcore useless. The man could see the heavy drones go to work on the shield as a new primary, also an apocalypse, was called. The heavy neutron blasters were ripping through the fragile armor of the sniper fitted ships. The starlit sky was illuminated by one interdiction bubble after another going up around the ships as the enemy tried to break free of the deadly embrace.

“HOLD” Shouted the 1st Grade Gunner.

Almost complete silence followed, only sound hearable was the chirping of the electronic counter sinals being emitted from the ship and the hissing as the hydraullic tubes came to rest, the guns slowly assuming their initial “safe” position.

The man had sweat run into his eyes and whiped his forehead with the back of his hand. He had seen his share of battle but not of this magnitude and not so desicive. The enemy wrecks littered the field. The heat in the gunnery section was intense and the hummidity killing.  The smell of the gun charges mixed with exhaust gasses from various machinery. A sharp smell. The smell of home to the man.

The ship turned at the order of the captain and headed for the IHUB located in the system.

“This is your captain speaking. We will land at the IHUB and create a diversion. We expect the enemy to warp in at range and take shots at us. We must remain vigilant and ready to respond to our covert-Ops probing them down.”

The man was not used to this level of information but the captain expected the crew to perform and therfore have some idea of what was about to happen.

The ship came out of warp 10 km from the IHUB and lit it up.

The man started working the machinery again as the blasters spoke the language of violence.

Tyranis is upon us and I can see they have fixed the “unknown” alliance bug among other nice stuff. So how to make a neat little killboard for your newly formed corporation?

First of all they have really gotten their act together since my last visit to their wiki and first thing I am promted with is a “install instruction” that tell me to go download latest version.

So lets go to the wiki and test this: Wiki

We are then lead to the forum I also spend some time on last time: Forum

Here we are instructed to download the v3.0.8 Full Package.

44 MB later… (Add Warning: Noticed they used googlecode.com wich is all good but im more familier with Sourceforge)

The file is now downloaded and they even provided a guide !

New Installations
- Upload the whole package to a webhost
- Point your webbrowser to /install inside the EDK directory
- Follow the instructions
- Delete the install folder after installation
- If no pilot images are displayed check that the server has write permission to the cache folder.

The forum says that we now are to upload the package though I think it would be wise to unpack it first.

Double click the folder so it unpacks by clicking extract.

I always place the folder on the desktop and then clean up later.

Choose your favorite FTP prgram and upload to a location of your choise.

Personally I use FireFTP. It’s a handy little program (plug-in/add-on/whatever… I can hear the wise guys say).

I have made a folder (directory, sry) ready called “killboard”

And will now upload the content of the folder on my desktop. Im not uploading the entire folder as I dont want a directory named EDK3.0.8 or whatever it’s called.

Lets get some music while we do this cause I have a feeling it can take a while….

Said it should take 3 min to upload at worst… I’m now looking at 5 minutes and only 30% complete…

So more music while we wait…

As a side story I can tell these music links were provided by EvilPHish former alliance leader of STEEL. Sworn enemy of Ushra’Khan, but a damn fine person once you get to chat a bit with him. He is now of all things blue to Ushra’Khan and is causing havoc with his newly built Nyx…

37% done uploading…

So Ombey and I have gone and made our self a corporation. Shall be fun to see where it all leads. Straight to hell likely, but you can be guaranteed a pleasant and fun ride to hell when you have Ombey as wingman so Im fine with that.

50% done uploading…

Dum da dej… 61%… More music ? Give this number a few tries. It really grows on you after a few times.

Damn this takes for freaking ever… 72%… 21 minutes… I remember this from the last time. Back then I had a very very slow connection so I cheated and uploaded at work abusing their awesome fiber connection. Problem is really not the MB but the sheer number of files.

Anyway now its all uploaded ! YAY !

Copy the install index location (only works if you have filled out your FireFTP correctly, else just go there manually).

It will look like this: http://www.yourdomain.com/killboard/install/index.php

YAY ! The install splash screen comes up !

Lots of bla bla bla you need this and that for it to work. Ofcource important stuff but really your hosting company should be up to date.

Click Next Step.

Everything works but the config file.

Go to your favorite FTP program and rename the file or create a new one. I choose to rename the one already there.

Refresh (press F5)  the install browser page and voila it now says all is in order.

Click Next Step.

Time to fill in the blanks. Find your database information given to you by your hosting company.

Click Test.

ERROR ! OK, so i do not have an InnoDB… Choose the other.

Click Test.

And the database import/creation is done.

Click Create Them at the very bottom.

Hurts ! Eyes ! Red ! Must make go away…

Click to make red go away.

We are then presented with a  page where the only option is to click OK…

I think we will click… OK ?

Click OK.

It now starts importing the data and it seems as if nothing happens but if you look closely you can see the packages being read.

This takes time… Time for more relaxing music while we wait…

And behold the red has turned to super green !

Click Next Step.

Type in the name of your newly formed corporation. (Chances of it being in the database is a little udner zero).

Click Search.

…I love being right !

Click Create.

Click Next Step.

(I love all these options to choose from)

Fill in the blanks. Read tips if in doubt.

Click Save.

Only to be lead to a page where my only option is to click Next step… Why make such a page ?

Why not just insert the Next Step under the Settings box ? Ohh well, they do a damn fine job the killboard developers so who am I to complain.

On with it Wotlankor you whiner.

Click Next Step.

HUH ?

Click Next Step.

Was that it ? No more database updating and messing around ? Have they really made it so simple ?

My post is completely irrelevant and serves no purpose but to document that I have gone over all the steps.

Congratulations to the developers ! Damn fine package and service ! You just rendered me completely useless.

Click Look at your new killboard.

And what do ya know… a brand new killboard is created !

http://www.wotlankor.com/killboard/

Click Admin.

Type in the password you choose a while back. You did write it down aye ?

Click Login.

Test and try it till your heart’s content. Maybe one day I’ll do a post on how it all works. Maybe not… Who knows.

Finally you need to delete the install directory.

And that was it !

You now have a brand new killboard

He had already bored me to death with details, the beauty of assembly lines, the intricate logistics and the possibilities.

While Ombeys shuttle turned for the planet my brand new Thrasher turned for the nearest militia office to see what I could help out with. The agent tasked with giving out mission assignments was clearly new at the job and did not even lift his eyes when I pronounced that I was Wotlankor and was here to help. Where was the impressiveness and awe that surely would have followed if those words were pronounced in Providence?

He looked over his computer and came up with some minor problems with a few Amarr pilots that had just gotten their licence. I was not sure if he was joking. I took the assignment and off I went.

8 jumps by my navigation computer. The Thrasher made good speed. I had never actually flown the Thrasher before but were very familiar with its advanced sister ship the Sabre who had similar capabilities.

It did not last long, my unopposed venture into the amarrian home systems. A single Ishkur with 24th Crusade markings was very quick to challenge at a gate in Vard. I accepted giving myself 60% chance if I could maintain some range while taking down his shield before moving in for the kill.

I started a fast vector putting me 30 km by the Ishkur drawing him a bit away from the gate and also to get a feel for the ship. He turned on his micro warp drive and headed for me. I strafed two times taking down his shield to 15%. My ferocious smile turned to one of horror as we locked guns and the gate flashed two times.

Here comes the cavalry I thought to my self and right I was. A crow and yet one more Ishkur entered the fray. The new ishkur was off by 25 km but the crow locked me up quickly and engaged.

I held the Ishkur down with my scram while trying to utilize my longer range, it worked and I only took damage from the Ishkurs drones and the crow. For some reason the other Ishkur deployed Hobgoblins which would take some time to reach me.

Hitting 25% shield the Ishkur exploded in a very satisfactory way. The Hobgoblings were chewing me down fast and the crows speed made escape unrealistic. The only option was to try and take down the crow and then outrun the Ishkur. A wild plan but the best I could come up with my shield creeping to 20%.

The crow got surprised and veered to the starboard side trying to get away from my blazing 200mm autocannons. I engaged the neutralizer on the Ishkur while holding range with the scram and the magic moment came about where the crow hit 25 km range. I locked on to the nearest planet and made a clean escape with a sliver of my shield intact.

The rush of adrenalin flowed through my veins. It has been a long time since Ive had such a fight. I turned the ship around and headed for my destination system and the mission at hand.

I had gone no further than 2 jumps before a taranis caught me at a gate. He closed the distance very fast and went into a tight orbit of 500 m his blasters ripping my shield that had not fully recovered.

I had wrong ammunition loaded, and opted to change to Republic EMP but figured I had no time. So we danced and to my horror I saw my shield stripped away in no time. The armor went fast as well. That was when he stoped fireing. My neutralizer had finaly kicked in as my structure was compromized, utterly diabling his blasters. My damage control made my hull into a fortress as his drones chewed at it.

Overloading my autocannons it took two volleys to take down his armor and land him in structure as well. One more and his ship fell apart. For a moment the light emission blinded me. I ran a few diagnostics and got report back that structure was at 57%, guns burned halfway through, neutralizer 66% operational. When did all that happen ?

I quickly found a nearby station and got repaired by a suspicious looking hangar crew. I would have to get a second opinion when I docked at my home station.

Finishing the mission was the smallest part and I could return to my station. I was eager to tell Ombey of the adventures but had to wait for 2 hours before he was done talking about cargo elevators, rockets, probes, production and some orbiting station service tax collector station.

Several Zacapa rums later we agreed to take dual Thrashers out for testing. Ombey had a set-up where we would be able to reach over 40 and take down the enemy on their approach. I also put forth my Caracal of doom idea, which I think he found more fun than serious. We discussed layouts and different tactics till late that night.

Disoriented I half walked half crawled over to the table where I had left the device.

“New Message“, its display read.

I manipulated the device and up came a message from Ombey.

“Greetings Wotlankor, we need to talk. Meet me in Hek at the  Tribal Liberation Force Logistic Support Station. There is a bar there called “The last Tremor”, I’ll wait for you there at 19:00″

I smiled a smile that faded over to a frown. The hard part would be to face Karn and Zoolkhan and tell them I would be leaving Ushra’Khan.

I called up the message board and started typing a message to Ombey.

“Saw you leave 5 days ago and started packing my assets then. Sent the Gallentean Girl ahead with Freighter. Will be there at 19:00. ”

The next message was more personal and directed at Karn wishing him the best and thanking him for the home he had provided as CEO and as alliance leader.

I packed up the ceremonial sword given to me by Zoolkhan and laid aside the UK markers on my uniform.

Unity Station became a small dot as Juturna jumped out of system…

I updated the template and it broke, first to go was the sidebar, then the rest of the site css file disappeared.

Will bring site in order soonish…