Damnation to Guardian against the Sleepers
25th August 2010 – 5.39 pmI turn up at just the right moment for Sleeper combat. And, for me, the right moment is after the fleet has jumped in to the next system, as that means I am not chosen to pilot one of the Guardian logistic ships. I don't mind flying the Guardian still but I've done it an awful lot. I currently prefer to take my Tengu strategic cruiser to shoot Sleepers but as the fleet is tackling a magnetometric site, full of Sleeper artefacts, I have an uncommon opportunity to pilot my Damnation command ship.
As the Damnation has far too much armour the large buffer offers some flexibility in how it can be fitted, not needing to sacrifice survivability to do so. Combined with Guardian-supporting armoured warfare links and a few drones and heavy launchers the Damnation is an excellent fleet command ship, if you have a pilot to spare. I refit my ship with some analysers in the mid-slots and warp out to join the rest of the fleet. Activating my warfare links once out of warp makes repping a little easier for the two Guardian pilots as I start moving towards the first of the artefacts to pillage.
I can pretty much ignore what's happening around me and focus on analysing. There isn't that much to it, to be honest, beyond mapping out an efficient path between artefacts and noting when the analysers have opened each container successfully. Otherwise, I can fling a few missiles and let the Guardian pilots worry about any damage to my Damnalyser's armour. The first artefact is reluctant to share its secrets with me but eventually cracks, and the other artefacts are easier to open. Even so, the site is cleared of Sleepers before I have finished and a dedicated analysing boat comes out to help.
Analysis of the artefacts is completed, the next site awaits us. But one of the Guardian pilots doesn't have time to continue and I am volunteered to take his place. I swap the cuddly curves of the Damnation for a giant robot's head. I need to revert the fitting back to our standard Guardian configuration, the previous pilot not able to fit, uh, something. It takes me a little while to work out what exactly is different and then find the module in our hangar. I would prefer it if the swapped module were left in the ship's cargo hold for ease of switching. But now I am ready and the fleet continues to shoot Sleepers.
I have just realised that our neighbouring class 4 w-space system, which we're fighting in, holds a cataclysmic variable phenomenon. This makes remote repairing in a Guardian incredibly easy, with the phenomenon boosting both repair amounts and capacitor recharge rates. The energy-hungry ships don't need as much coddling and each one of our repper modules is vastly more efficient. I doubt the effect of my Damnation's warfare links were even noticed as noise in this system.
The boost to the logistic ship's capabilities is only a little exaggerated. Rather than merely removing the stress of having to keep the fleet alive the generous bonuses from the cataclysmic variable phenomenon means I can set each module running on a specific ship and then sit back and relax. And by 'relax' I mean 'get bored and daydream'. I prefer to be active which, for all my whining, piloting a Guardian generally is. At least we are making some easy profit and I can catch up on pretending to be a raccoon.
All the Sleepers are destroyed in this site. I swap ships and board a salvager to help tidy up the wrecks as the analyser boat pokes at more artefacts. I managed to leave the Guardian's armour maintenance drones behind when I left the site and somehow even manage to forget to scoop them in to my salvaging destroyer. But I see why. Or rather I don't. After a spectacular client crash recently I had to import my overview from an old file, one which had some tweaks made to it since. I leave my drones behind and then fail to pick them up because the drone bracket isn't appearing on the overview. I correct this setting, just another of many recently, and get to see my drones again.
I change from the salvager back to the Guardian as the fleet prepares to continue its assault against the Sleepers. Another magnetometric site is cleared and salvaged, a new dedicated cruiser is fitted in order to analyse the artefacts, and our Sleeper operation draws to a close. With a ninety-four million ISK share in the profits for the evening making my wallet bulge even more I have an urge to spend. We have an exit to high-sec empire space available, so I think I'll go on a shopping trip.
Sorry, comments for this entry are closed.