When an F1 Monkey Tries Out Solo Roams
After being away from EVE for awhile, I came back and hopped in Rorquals, with dreams of skill injecting into everything. But, then I started getting back into strategic ops, which are great when you get a fight. Structure bashing is something else.
I wanted to learn to solo roam, and had some decent ISK flow, so I chose a bunch of ships to dip my toes into each area of PvP. In this article, I have detailed what happened, my kill mails/loss mails, what I learned, and the ship fits to end it. Ship fits were taken from already saved fits, osmium, or people that died in our space.
High-Sec: Ventures everywhere
Catalysts
The Catalyst is the classic high-sec ganking machine, able to sit on a Venture and make it explode before you even noticed you hit F1. Naming it a Salvager is just a little assurance to the miner you’re approaching that you’re just looking for something to shoot your salvagers on.
First Catalyst: For some reason I take a catalyst out on a Thrasher fleet, not useful here… but we end up in high-sec. Thing’s were starting to get late where I live, so I turned on the nearest neutral I could find and fired off.
Lesson Learned: Catalyst’s are strong in numbers, not solo. No Shit.
Second Catalyst: Decided to gank miners in Amarr, so I got setup there. I find a venture orbiting a rock and…This one went badly. I made a horrible mistake in loading my guns: I only loaded the first one.
Lesson Learned: Make sure your guns are loaded before grouping, if you’re going to group them.
Third Catalyst: I’m determined now. I’ve got my guns loaded, and am warping around belts in my “salvager.” I find a Venture, not moving. This has got to be the one. I start the approach, overheat everything, lock him up, shoot…wait, nothings happening. I panic and realise “Oh shit, I forgot to turn off safety.” I quickly turn my safety to red and blap him into another galaxy. Before I can get the pod too, concord gives me a nice blap.
BONUS TEARS! 10mil kill rights put on me!
Lesson Learned: TURN OFF SAFETY when ganking miners in high-sec.
Fourth Catalyst: Kill right activated. Gate camp killed by LowSechnaya Sholupen.
Fifth Catalyst: Went much like the third Catalyst. I had the safety off,but didn’t overheat, and was not in optimal range.
Lesson Learned: Always overheat when killing something in High-Sec.
Low-Sec: Muh Honorable 1v1’s in Faction Warfare
Faction Warfare limits fights in a way that there are beacons that you warp to (Small, Medium, Large) so you don’t fight a Hurricane in a Atron, but this doesn’t limit people from one alliance having four people in a beacon. Low-sec is fun in frigates, unless you get all the way there and no one’s in space. Then you wonder why you spent two hours flying around doing nothing. Also, don’t expect a fair fight if you bring Tristans and Atrons; there’s plenty of people who live in Faction Warfare that fly pirate frigates which will stomp your face in.
Tristans
First Tristan: As I was about to go out to FW, a fleet was pinged out for a roam with Thrashers. So I went on it and actually didn’t die, and got a bunch of decent DPS numbers on numerous Brave Newbies who fed ships one by one into Dawn Rhea’s fleet. After that, I headed to the Bleak Lands, D-scanning my way through looking for a fair fight when I spotted a Griffin. I warp to the only Novice Beacon there and take the acceleration gate to the site, and there he is. I drop drones, lock him up, approach him, point him, and he’s dead almost instantly. He gets off one jam. Then, his friend comes in in a Succubus and blaps me.
Lesson Learned: Pirate Frigates are pretty great. FW isn’t always fair.
Second Tristan: Ends up like the first. I couldn’t resist the fleet ping. We get a couple kills, then suicide warp into a bunch of carriers.
Lesson Learned: STOP TAKING SOLO SHIPS ON FLEETS.
Third Tristan: Head into Devoid, D-scanning my way through looking for fights. I find a Executioner, Punisher, Catalyst and a Condor at a beacon, then decide to warp there quickly to see if there’s a mini brawl going on. It turns out they’re just camping the beacon.
Lesson Learned: Check local’s corp status’s to find out if you’re warping into a beacon camp, or a fun brawl.
Fourth Tristian: Nothing happened at all. It was a really dead night in low-sec. I ended up self-destructing to get on a fleet.
Fifth Tristan: Back into Devoid I go. I was roaming for awhile, and with nothing ever on D-scan, I start to get desperate for fights. I see a Coercer, and I decide why the hell not? I have decent drone skills…But the amount of beams on a Coercer will mess you up.
Lesson Learned: Take any fight if you think you can kill the target, even if it’s not weighted in your favor and you’re willing to lose what you’ve got.
Atrons
First Atron: A fleet ping goes out, and I get on a couple kill mails. Since I’m so far away from home and it’s late, I self-destruct. Didn’t need that Atron anyway.
Second Atron: Head out to Devoid while I’ve got some work to do, so I decide to camp a small beacon and wait for any one else to arrive, checking D-scan every couple minutes. After about 20 minutes, a Daredevil warps in, and man, are those things fast and powerful. I am dead almost instantly.
Lesson Learned: Pirate Frigates… Still really good.
Third Atron: Another slow night in Low sec. I warp to a beacon and get a free pod kill, then keep on looking. With nothing else showing up, I end up self-destructing and going to bed.
Fourth Atron: Died to a LowSechnaya Sholupen gate camp in Nema.
Lesson Learned: Those dude’s love to camp spots in Aridia.
Fifth Atron: In low sec, a LOT of people show up on D-scan. I start warping everywhere, but cannot find a single target. I accidentally warp to some NPC beacon and get toasted by Mordu.
Federation Navy Comet
First Federation Navy Comet: Much bigger than anything I’ve solo roamed with to this point. I’ve got guns, a neut, Ancillary repair, and drones as well. I go out looking for fights into low sec, and find a Tristan in The Bleak Lands. I get on grid, and start my approach with afterburner on…But this is a Tristan just like mine: all kitey bullshit. At this point, I’m tunnel visioning. “I can kill off these hobgoblins with my blasters…” I think to myself. I keep trying to approach, but the Tristan is just too fast. I forget almost all the capabilities of my ship, and have an embarrassing lossmail.
BIG Lesson Learned: DON’T TUNNEL VISION. You have a wide array of things you can do in any fight in EVE. Just looking at this one situation, I could’ve 1) Warped out. 2) Actually deployed drones to chase him. 3) not panic popped my ancil repairer when I wasn’t even in armor yet. 4) Recognized the hobgoblin’s are much faster, and primaried them first.
Second Federation Navy Comet: Died to gate camp by the usual suspects.
Third Federation Navy Comet: Warping through Lowsec, D-scan spamming, the usual, when I see a Venture pop up on D-scan…What the hell? I fly to the belts, and there he is. Mining. In Faction Warfare space. I make quick work of him and I’m glad I did, cause tears.
I’m pretty satisfied already, but still roaming, and it’s getting late so I decide to pick a fight against a Imperial Navy Slicer. He kites me very well, but my drones are applying damage to him. I stop chasing him to pretend like I’m going to warp off, so he starts approach me to tackle, I instead tackle him, but forget to web, and my tackle drops once he realizes my attempt at baiting him. He gets out of range again, in hull and finishes me. Was a good fight, lost by me for forgetting to web.
Lesson Learned: Tears are great, evenly matched fights are greater. Also don’t forget to web and don’t mash your keys. Turning off your point is bad.
Fourth Federation Navy Comet: Another DEAD night in lowsec. Literally nothing. I end up going to Deklein and warping around. Eventually get curbstomped by a Sabre and Caracal. But, it’s interesting when you’re out on solo roams in null. You get people who message you who want to 1v1. Who will literally re-ship for a good fight. A DARKNESS. pilot convo’d me. I saw him earlier on D-scan in a Garmur and said fuck that. But he said he was trying to catch me warping but couldn’t, and was going to reship to his Fed Navy Comet to test his fit against mine. It’s definitely a different game when you’re alone in hostile space. Some people just want fair fights when they see another person looking for the same.
Lesson Learned: Take any fair 1v1’s you can get. They’re actually fun, like when I took a fight with the Imp. navy slicer. I am not responsible if you get baited into a “1”v1 though.
Fifth Federation Navy Comet: This one’s bad. Scouting around in Bleak lands, I see a Catalyst on D-scan. I warp to the beacon thinking of an easy kill, but once I arrive, he’s literally right on my warp-in point. Before I can even start to kite him, he blaps me like I’m a Venture. Yikes.
Lesson Learned: I got fucking destroyed.
Null-Sec Roam: Snipe a random, get blobbed or wander through enemy space with everyone AFK.
As a Goon, when you go to enemy space, you think it’ll be just as full of VNI’s and X Y Z ship somewhere for you to jump on…But it’s not. Most of the time, unless you get into a TEST/PH pocket, or stir up the Brave Newbies. It takes some patience and some good use of D-scan to find targets before you end up in the inevitable bubble or 20 ships following you in warp, but it’s worth it.
Claw: I end up taking my Claw up north to see what’s going on. Lots and lots of warping to and from places. Horde are everywhere. I end up following a small fleet, and find a capsule AFK on a gate. I then head into SC space, and find a lone Covetor mining what remains of a moon explosion. Before I can get to the mining point, he’s docked up. He was jet-can-mining. I shoot one of his cans, while one makes it inside the MTU. so I decide to kill his MTU. This is when I realize I need to up my artillery skills and replace these scout artillery cannons because I am orbiting this thing forever. All the Covetor can say in local is “why u doing this.” With the job done, I warp myself home to save my claw for fleets, and maybe bring it out when my skills aren’t shit.
First Scythe Fleet Issue: I head down south into TEST space, but just cannot find anyone. I then start heading north into Provi to find something to fight to try out this fit. I end up running into a Malediction which seems to be a scout for a small squad. I start warping off, they start to show up in local, following me. I then warp to a random belt while they’re either at 1 of the 2 exit gates. I take my chances on one of em, and no one is there on D-scan as I’m approaching. I think I’m out…Then the Malediction warps to the gate as I’m going through. I wait for the Malediction to decloak, as I know he’s way ahead of the pack, and he does. I then start warping to another gate, wait until I’m almost in warp, then cancel, lock up the malediction, drop drones, tackle, scram, and dump onto him. He drops fast. As he drops, the enemy squad starts to decloak and engage me. A Sabre gets a quick bubble up, and I’m locked up by 2 Jackdaws and the Sabre as well. I try to take the sabre down with me, but I do not get him. This was a fun fight for sure.
Second Scythe Fleet Issue: I decide to take this one north to horde. As I’m getting close to their staging I get a message…
Tears already, and I haven’t even shot anything! I end up warping into their staging area. I didn’t think they’d be so active at nearly 3am EST, but Jesus there are a ton of them. I immediately start warping everywhere, with 10-15 horde following. This is one part of nullsec that is oddly fun: getting chased by a huge fleet because they have nothing else to do. So I drag this on a bit longer, trying to dodge them, warp down a different pipe, etc. Eventually a Sabre shows up and I’m toast. I try to lock up the Stabber that’s with him, but I get roasted almost immediately.
Lessons Learned: Null is a whole different beast that takes a lot of experience to get use to if you’re not flying with a cloak which let’s you pick your battles most of the time, but even with that, it’s still a massive learning curve.
Lessons in Short
Load your guns properly. Turn off your safety and overheat everything when highsec ganking. In low sec, take fights when you want to. Pirate frigates are insane. Watch for beacon camps. The one time you get a fair fight in low sec makes up for the 5 times you are blown off the map elsewhere. Nullsec is…actually fun to roam in, even if you’re going to die in a fire. Maybe I’m still innocent but the thrill of being chased by 10-20 people is great.
What’s next for this F1 monkey? Well, I’m definitely still going to be one. It’s fun getting in huge battles. No doubt about that. But I plan to eventually train into a Loki, as they seem to be the ultimate solo roam ships right now, but I don’t plan on going directly from a Scythe Fleet Issue to a Loki.
If you enjoy PvP in any part of EVE, I advise you to keep all these lessons in mind.
Editor’s Note: This article was originally posted on the Goonfleet forums.