Big Bird goes mining

[wombat_socho]

I started the weekend by getting my Caracal killed by rats because I overloaded my ass and thought I could handle three battlecruisers and their three cruiser buddies. Wrong again. Fortunately, somebody was selling off a bunch of stuff they had in their hangar at JLO so I got myself a Moa for 5MM isku, which is a heck of a deal considering they usually cost twice that even when ship prices aren't through the flipping roof. Silly person that I am, I promptly decided to convert this not-quite-battlecruiser (it's a lot like the Ferox, which I've been lusting after for a while and am finally qualified to fly) into a mining ship, because I correctly thought I could squeeze in four Miner II's without having to fill all the low slots with coprocessors. That worked pretty well; I then went to the next system down from JLO and proceeded to mine an assload of jaspet and not so much spodumain, because the latter is extremely fluffy and the megacyte - which is the only thing that distinguishes this crap from scordite - isn't hardly worth the time you spend shoveling it into the jetcan. Anyways...I mined a bunch of this stuff and helped fend off a couple of rat spawns but then we got jumped by three battlecruisers and their cruiser sidekicks. The fellow flying shotgun for me got burned down to hullmetal before he could jump out, but at least he got out. I did, too, but decided to go back and do a little ninjamining after my buddy called it a night. Big mistake. I didn't get the Mining Moa killed, but when I went back with my Badger transport to pick up the can I got jumped my a whole bunch of rats at close range and poof wetn the Badger.

So now I'm training Caldari Industrials III so I can fly a Badger Mark II, which is bigger and has more armor/shields besides, not to mention having three high slots to encourage stupidity in people by allowing them to fit weapons in there. I'll be ready to get mine out of 28Y tonight, but I think I'll play it safe and pull it out of there before downtime tomorrow morning. In the meantime, the ammo factory is on hiatus since I can't shift minerals from JLO where they're relatively cheap to 1v where I do all the manufacturing. Not that it really matters since the Fleet is gearing up for another offensive, and it's time for me to saddle up my Serious Business^TM EW cruiser and ride with the Goon Horde...which has been showing signs of developing a more disciplined edge of late. The directors and fleet commanders have been taking a hard look at what's worked and what hasn't since the fall of LV, and I think there's going to be a lot less "LOL t1 frig/cruiser/battleship n00bfleet blob" in the future. People have been put on notice as to what's wanted in fleet ops and how it's going to be used; the days of warping to zero on top of the enemy and burying them under a pile of dead newbees are over. Against a disciplined enemy with good ships who knows what they're doing those tactics are suicidal and ineffective - they'll just keep piling up the wrecks on us. I'm pretty excited by the changes, myself, although it'll be interesting to see if the folks who have been around a while and basically joined Goonfleet to perpetrate Goon culture in EVE are going to go along for the ride so they can stick it to our elitist enemies or whether they'll get all anarchist/passive-aggressive on us.

Personally, I think there's still a place for the nonstandard/comedy ships. Somebody ought to be hanging around the exits to whack fleeing ships over the head and go through the wrecks looking for useful bits. :)