Friday 18 February 2011

Punisher Plan: 1st Quarter Review


Five Punishers down, and one quarter of the way through the Punisher Plan, I have begun to see patterns emerging from my fights, and I need to address them.


Playstyle

First, I like flying. It may sound obvious, but the reason I want to pvp in a frigate is because I enjoy the speed and manouverablity as compared to larger ships. I don't feel any need to be the fastest ship in the system, but I just don't enjoy fits that limit my ability to zoom around.

Given that I like to play that way, I need to actually start playing that way. Right now I mainly try to cling to my target like some kind of burr so he can't get away. But frankly, my targets trying to escape would be a huge step up for me right now.

I'm going to grab a few Executioners, equip them with mwd and pulse lasers and go ratting. I'll practice manual approaches and keeping range while I whittle them down. Hopefully this will improve my piloting skills.


DPS

Right now, I don't have any; T1 guns and ammo do not cut it in pvp, especially when you are fighting larger ships (more on that later). 

In order to use T2 weapons, though, I need to commit to lasers or projectiles. In the end, I have decided to go with lasers, in part because I enjoy them more, but also because I am not interested in flying non-Amarr ships. Althought the Punisher gets no laser bonus, many Amarr ships do, and investing in energy turrets and support skills will pay off when I fly those ships.

That said, I am very glad that I took the time to experiment with projectiles, and I would never fault someone for using them on a Punisher.


Cash

My fits are getting more expensive, and will become even more so with the move to T2. Whereas I was paying less than a million ISK per ship lost, that is no longer true and I'm guessing that I will be into the double digit millions by the time I get properly fitted. My wallet won't support that for too long, and I will need to break up pvp with some pve earnings.

The most effective way of doing that (for me) would be exploration. I have the skills and equimpent. However, I'm going to give ratting a go, as low sec ratting will give me a chance to learn those low sec survival skills that I will need. And, who knows? I might get some good fights out of it.

If anyone can recommend a section of lowsec reasonably near Amarr space that is noob friendly, I'd love to hear about it.


Hunting

When I look back at my last five "victims", I see:

A (pvp) faction cruiser
A pvp fit cruiser
A pvp fit cruiser
2 faction (pvp) frigates
A pvp fit cruiser

While I never want to turn into one of those guys that only takes fights he knows he will win, I do think I should be looking for fights I can win. 

I need to develop the patience and skills to actually survive and earn a living in low sec. This means going on roams, either in low or high security space, to find fights with other noobs. As I mentioned above, recommendations are appreciated.


Training

There are so many skills that you can easily ignore in pve, but which are so important in pvp. I need to hit those skills hard.

First, I need to train Small Energy Turrets 5. Then Science 4 and Thermodynamics 1; if I am going to lose my ships any way, there is no reason not to overheat.everything.

Then, I think, I need to work on my capacitor and gunnery skills. And navigation. Frankly, all of my skills are crying out for attention. But I can try and focus on the most relevant ones right now.


Corporation

I received an game message asking me if I wanted to join a pvp corp. I have been giving this some thought, and I think I am going to have to decline. While there a number of reasons, the biggest in my mind is that I have no kills. At all. Not even one.

Joining a pvp corp with no kills would feel like marching in a veterans parade without ever having served in the forces - it's just wrong. I need to feel like I actually have something to contribute to any corp that I join, and right now I just don't have that.

I also want to actually make this work on my own - at least for a while - and to know that my first kill was something I earned all by myself. So for the moment, I'm keeping it solo.

7 comments:

  1. Sounds like you've got a good grasp of what you need to aim for and are working out a good plan for how to get there. The training time of skills is obviously a major hindering factor for many new pvp players, but as you get SP you will also get more usable skills such as manual approaches and learning the best ways to GTFO when fights go south (though in some amarr ships this is a little tough due to poor speed).

    One comment I liked:

    If anyone can recommend a section of lowsec reasonably near Amarr space that is noob friendly, I'd love to hear about it.

    I'd love to hear about it too, Low sec isn't noob friendly and never will be. High Sec is barely noob friendly and that's about the best you get in Eve.

    My suggestion for ratting in Low Sec is to have a look at the map, set up the filter for "pilots killed in last 24h" or and then when you find a few systems on there that are quiet switch to "Pilots in space in last 24h" and see if the same systems are quiet. That should give you a good idea of where to start.

    Once you find such a place, keep it to yourself and Bookmark, Bookmark, Bookmark. I don't think it's possible to have too many bookmark, I've got well over 300 across a wide variety of systems and that's after (foolishly) deleting bookmarks I thought I didn't need anymore.

    ReplyDelete
  2. I'm not sure if this something you've tried, but about fitting an MWD, going straight buffer tank and lasers with a disruptor and nosferatu on that punisher? The MWD should hopefully let you get in range/keep in range, the disruptor should let you keep tackle even when they try to get away, and you know the rest.

    Planetary Interaction is a good source of income, especially if you make POS fuels. Do it in Low Sec and you're making way more money than anyone in Hi-Sec.

    I was down in lo-sec out there. Misaba was the area. It also leads into null sec if you are curious (and careful). From what I remember of it, there were about 5 lo-sec systems, ending in null or a dead-end, and were largely empty.

    ReplyDelete
  3. @ Chris: I agree entirely, and I have several lowsec islands completely full of bookmarks. I just fear that the "one way in, one way out" sections of low sec are the one's most likely to be camped. I guess I'll find out, though.

    @Truen1ght: I'll admit that I have been toying with the idea of a mwd Punisher. It won't be nearly as fast as other mwd ships, but it should be much faster than afterburner ships.

    Keeping range, using Scorch. Seems like it could be good. It also makes the Punisher's lack of web an non-issue, because I'm fighting outside of web range.

    I'm very tempted...

    ReplyDelete
  4. "lowsec reasonably [...] that is noob friendly"

    That had me giggling. =]

    As you responded to Chris, no, you don't want to sit in a pipe, especially if it's between two interesting places. That's only going to get you traffic rushing through, and/or camps.

    I'd like to try and talk you out of the whole "I'm not worthy of a corp yet" mindset. Maybe that's not exactly what you meant, but it *is* what I read in your comment. If that were your sole reason to stay out of corps, you'd be Doing It Wrong, your first and foremost objective in EVE should be to enjoy the game; not to turn it into a pissing match with other players. Also: solo PVP is *hard*.

    Maybe it'd be better to walk before you start with all that running stuff? Find yourself a nice corp, fly in gangs, *learn* from others, and then try solo.

    Apart from all that: I'm enjoying the posts. You've decided on a method and are committing to it, and I can appreciate that. It's something I would want to do, deep down inside, but never do because... oh, hey, butterflies! =]

    Whatever you do, keep at it.

    ReplyDelete
  5. "Noob friendly". I guess that was a pretty optimistic phrase. Let me try again.

    It would be just typical of me to decide to roam through the home system of one or more of the best pirate gangs in New Eden, or a pipe that everyone but me knows is perma-camped. That's just how things tend to work out for me.

    So when I said "noob friendly", I guess what I really meant was "quiet enough that I actually get to look around before I blow up".

    ReplyDelete
  6. If you want to learn some basics of pvp, then Red Vs Blue isn't too bad. I Joined up a few days ago and I've already lost 7 Tristans and killed a few people. It's pretty much focused around having fun with pvp, in T1 ships.

    If you really want low sec then do as I suggested and look on the map at kills/pilots online in 24h and go from there. A lot of low sec is very low population because other than pirates and FW there isn't much to do, and FW keeps to certain areas.

    ReplyDelete
  7. If you want to try your hand at lowsec pvp, I would really suggest that you learn how to use the D-scanner well and how to set up different types of safe spots - its the only way you are going to get any fights where you are not insta-ganked.

    Watch out for dropping security status - it can really make things uncomfortable. Just remember that if you pod people, your security status will drop very very quickly.

    Good luck with going solo!

    ReplyDelete