Taking the Eye of Terror to Lonetrek Wilhelm Arcturus Every so often I go on a main fleet op just to remind myself why I don’t go on main fleet ops any more. Plus I happened to still be sitting in 1DQ1-A from the Reavers race (still in my Gnosis) and Pittsburgh2989, who is in Liberty Squad, was the FC. So when the ping went out festooned with no fewer than three animated parrots I joined up. I thought if Pitts was here we might not be having a Liberty Squad op. I was wrong, but I only figured that out when it was too late. The call was for Baltecs, a fleet composition built around the Megathron battleship. I actually had a few options for this, including a Megathron left over from last year’s war, sitting in my hangar. I decided to go with Logi though, hopping into an Oneiros and putting on the Emergency Response SKIN. Oneiros in the hangar I could have gone with a Guardian… I have a few of those sitting around as well… but being free of the cap chain for an evening had its appeal. So I got in the logi channel while the fleet came together. There are any number of reasons why I avoid main fleet ops. They tend to be ponderous operations, full of strangers who will talk on and on in a fleet of 150 people about not being able to find a something in the hangar. There are a variety of FCs, each with their own quirks and pet peeves. And they fly battleships, which are slow to get places. This is why you join SIGs and squads, to fly with a regular group… usually in cruisers. While things were getting sorted I undocked and sat on tether, wondering where we were headed. Hanging on the Keepstar in 1DQ1-A Of course, the battleship slow travel problem isn’t always problem. Not when you have the reconstituted Eye of Terror jump bridge network running from Period Basis all the way up into Cloud Ring. When the fleet got going Pitts essentially gave us three way points, each corresponding to an Ansiblex jump gate. We were headed up to Cloud Ring and the trip was essentially “take a normal gate, take an Ansiblex, take a normal gate, take an Ansiblex, take a normal gate, take an Ansiblex, take a normal gate” and we were way up north, passing a series of Keepstars along the way. Also, who puts a Keepstar AT THE SUN? In Cloud Ring we took a gate into low sec and sat on a titan for a while. The word filtered down to us that we were there to jump on anybody who formed up against an op already in progress. We lingered there for a while… for longer than it took us to make the trip there for sure… until it was decided that nobody was going to show up. So a cyno was lit and the bridge went up. Time to go We landed in Nannaras, which is way up in Lonetrek, a location that seems like a long way from home. Obligatory fleet landing screen shot Looking at DOTLAN navigation, that is about 40 gates away from where we started. Up the western edge of New Eden But with the Ansiblex network it felt like we hadn’t gone that far at all. As for what was in Nannaras, there was a Pandemic Horde Fortizar there in its final timer. A kill mail to be had We warped up within range of it and joined in the shoot. Somebody was there to gun it, so bombs were launched our way repeatedly. This led to a lot of people hitting the “need shields” button in the fleet window, an annoyance to those of us in the logi wing because Baltecs are an armor doctrine fleet. There was nobody around to rep shields. But even announcing that on comms didn’t stop people from broadcasting for shields. I actually had some shield repair drones. Since there was little else to do for the moment, I put those out and repped some of the pricier ships. Shield rep drones on a Bhaalgorn However, I missed a bomb launch… there was something nobody was announcing on comms… and it wiped out my drones in one go. So that was the end of that. A few people were unlucky enough to drop into armor due to bombs, but otherwise it was a simple shoot. I put out a combat drone towards the end… among other benefits, the Oneiros has a big drone bay… to get in some hits on the Fortizar just to get on the kill mail. The small ships in the fleet also warped in to get their hits in as well, which prompted the gunner to turn on the point defense system. That meant I didn’t have to worry about recalling my Warrior II drone, as it died pretty quickly. But the Fortizar followed suit shortly there after, and I was on the kill mail. Priorities. Another dramatic explosion scene From there we had to actually slow boat back to the Ansiblex gate network. But we were only seven jumps or so away. And once we arrived we were let off the leash to free burn home. As somebody pointed out in comms, the first thing that happens is that the logi, which are all cruisers, leave the slower warping battleships behind leaving the potential for comedy/disaster. But nobody bothered us and we were all quickly back in Delve and docked up. Not a bad op, for main fleet. Comms were subdued. There were relatively few Game of Thrones spoilers mentioned and only one fan theory brought up. (The “Due to a time travel loop Bran IS the Night King” theory.) I am not saying that comms should be silent, but there are people who seem to forget they have an audience of 150+ people. Even with a good main fleet op I’ll be happy to be back in a Liberty Squad fleet when I have the chance. http://bit.ly/2PsrCgA

Every so often I go on a main fleet op just to remind myself why I don’t go on main fleet ops any more.  Plus I happened to still be sitting in 1DQ1-A from the Reavers race (still in my Gnosis) and Pittsburgh2989, who is in Liberty Squad, was the FC.  So when the ping went out festooned with no fewer than three animated parrots I joined up.

I thought if Pitts was here we might not be having a Liberty Squad op.  I was wrong, but I only figured that out when it was too late.

The call was for Baltecs, a fleet composition built around the Megathron battleship.  I actually had a few options for this, including a Megathron left over from last year’s war, sitting in my hangar.  I decided to go with Logi though, hopping into an Oneiros and putting on the Emergency Response SKIN.

Oneiros in the hangar

I could have gone with a Guardian… I have a few of those sitting around as well… but being free of the cap chain for an evening had its appeal.  So I got in the logi channel while the fleet came together.

There are any number of reasons why I avoid main fleet ops.  They tend to be ponderous operations, full of strangers who will talk on and on in a fleet of 150 people about not being able to find a something in the hangar.  There are a variety of FCs, each with their own quirks and pet peeves.  And they fly battleships, which are slow to get places.  This is why you join SIGs and squads, to fly with a regular group… usually in cruisers.

While things were getting sorted I undocked and sat on tether, wondering where we were headed.

Hanging on the Keepstar in 1DQ1-A

Of course, the battleship slow travel problem isn’t always problem.  Not when you have the reconstituted Eye of Terror jump bridge network running from Period Basis all the way up into Cloud Ring.  When the fleet got going Pitts essentially gave us three way points, each corresponding to an Ansiblex jump gate.

We were headed up to Cloud Ring and the trip was essentially “take a normal gate, take an Ansiblex, take a normal gate, take an Ansiblex, take a normal gate, take an Ansiblex, take a normal gate” and we were way up north, passing a series of Keepstars along the way.

Also, who puts a Keepstar AT THE SUN?

In Cloud Ring we took a gate into low sec and sat on a titan for a while.  The word filtered down to us that we were there to jump on anybody who formed up against an op already in progress.  We lingered there for a while… for longer than it took us to make the trip there for sure… until it was decided that nobody was going to show up.  So a cyno was lit and the bridge went up.

Time to go

We landed in Nannaras, which is way up in Lonetrek, a location that seems like a long way from home.

Obligatory fleet landing screen shot

Looking at DOTLAN navigation, that is about 40 gates away from where we started.

Up the western edge of New Eden

But with the Ansiblex network it felt like we hadn’t gone that far at all.

As for what was in Nannaras, there was a Pandemic Horde Fortizar there in its final timer.

A kill mail to be had

We warped up within range of it and joined in the shoot.

Somebody was there to gun it, so bombs were launched our way repeatedly.  This led to a lot of people hitting the “need shields” button in the fleet window, an annoyance to those of us in the logi wing because Baltecs are an armor doctrine fleet.  There was nobody around to rep shields.

But even announcing that on comms didn’t stop people from broadcasting for shields.

I actually had some shield repair drones.  Since there was little else to do for the moment, I put those out and repped some of the pricier ships.

Shield rep drones on a Bhaalgorn

However, I missed a bomb launch… there was something nobody was announcing on comms… and it wiped out my drones in one go.  So that was the end of that.  A few people were unlucky enough to drop into armor due to bombs, but otherwise it was a simple shoot.  I put out a combat drone towards the end… among other benefits, the Oneiros has a big drone bay… to get in some hits on the Fortizar just to get on the kill mail.

The small ships in the fleet also warped in to get their hits in as well, which prompted the gunner to turn on the point defense system.  That meant I didn’t have to worry about recalling my Warrior II drone, as it died pretty quickly.  But the Fortizar followed suit shortly there after, and I was on the kill mail.  Priorities.

Another dramatic explosion scene

From there we had to actually slow boat back to the Ansiblex gate network.  But we were only seven jumps or so away.  And once we arrived we were let off the leash to free burn home.  As somebody pointed out in comms, the first thing that happens is that the logi, which are all cruisers, leave the slower warping battleships behind leaving the potential for comedy/disaster.

But nobody bothered us and we were all quickly back in Delve and docked up.

Not a bad op, for main fleet.  Comms were subdued.  There were relatively few Game of Thrones spoilers mentioned and only one fan theory brought up. (The “Due to a time travel loop Bran IS the Night King” theory.)  I am not saying that comms should be silent, but there are people who seem to forget they have an audience of 150+ people.

Even with a good main fleet op I’ll be happy to be back in a Liberty Squad fleet when I have the chance.

from The Ancient Gaming Noob http://bit.ly/2UUSHiy