VNI Fleet Timer Skirmish in Fade

Once more into space went our VNI fleet, undocking for another foray into harms ways.

VNIs undock once more

Another Astrahus timer was set to expire where we were the other night, DW-T2I in Fade.

The op had been announced well in advance so I was ready and resupplied.  I even had a new SKIN for the VNI, having had SKINs on the mind with the advent of the CCP Blaze memorial SKIN set, which I also picked up.

A fresh SKIN on the VNI

The Glacial Drift SKIN was readily available in Jita for a reasonable price, so I grabbed that for the op.

As these things go, we got ourselves together and out on the titan to wait for our ride into the fight.

Taking up a collection to buy that Erebus a SKIN

One more trip into the POS shields.  Some day… maybe even some day soon… that will no longer be a thing in New Eden.  There aren’t many roles left for the good old POS, aside from hiding titans and anchoring jump bridges.

We waited a bit, but the call to take the bridge came as the blue effect swirled about the POS.  We jumped, landing on the Astrahus in DW-T2I.

The Cyno burns bright

We were there just in time as the counter ticked down to the appointed hour.

Citadel vulnerable in 1 second

The enemy had not yet appeared as the timer rolled over and the repair cycle began, but that situation did not last for long.  Soon Pandemic Horde dropped just off the citadel with the expected Tempest Fleet.

There they are on the overview

As they had previously, they came with an Apostle force auxiliary for reps.

Apostle on grid with the Astrahus

In addition they had reinforcements from their allies Guardians of the Galaxy coalition in the form of a Cerberus fleet.

We had a bit of support of our own, which arrived as the fight kicked off.  Asher set us up to hit the Tempest fleet first and we were able to pick off some choice targets almost immediately, including a pair of Basilisks, a Vulture, a Tengu, and a Cerberus that strayed too close to us.

However, they managed to get webs on Asher long enough to slow him down and pop him, which put us off our stride.  We went to a secondary anchor, shot a few Tempests, and then had to warp off as our drones we getting shredded.  Along the way I was red boxed by the Tempest fleet, but speed and our logi support saved me.

Meanwhile, a Jackdaw fleet that had flown up from Delve joined in the fray.  Also present were some bombers from The Initiative who were fresh off their server first Guristas Sotiyo kill.  After waiting out our aggression timer on at a safe, we docked up in the Astrahus to swap fresh drones into our drone bays from cargo.  Asher meanwhile had reshipped and rejoined us, leading us back on grid to the fight.

Tempest fleet in the new warp bubble effect

For this round we stayed at the edge of lock range in an effort to avoid getting webbed again.  Our survivability depends on keeping our speed up to avoid being hit by the battleship guns.  That made our ability to engage a bit dodgy as our drones had a long way to go and the Cerberus fleet, or target for this round, hove in and out of lock range.

A Cerberus caught by our drones about to explode

A number of times we would get drones on a Cerb only to have it move out of range, though our drones would keep attacking.  During that engagement I managed to get the kill mail on one of the Cerbs.  It was pure luck, as these things tend to be in fleets over a certain size, but it did give me a third kill mark on my VNI.

Those tiny white triangles on the upper hull, just in the blue, are kill marks

We kept at it and were able to take down a string of Cerbs though, once again our drones were getting chopped up.  A smart bombing Machariel was in their midst, taking its toll.  I lost my full second flight of heavy drones and towards the end had only my two backup heavies engaged.

We were not able to do much versus the Tempest fleet at that point, and they kept on hitting the Astrahus, eventually winning the timer.  That advanced the assault on the citadel to the final round, the fight to destroy it, which initiates six days hence.

The six day count down to the final fight

At that point the main event was over.  We docked up in the citadel again to move whatever drones we had left in cargo over to our drone bays.  That meant some sentry drones for me.  The hostiles hung around a bit then started to warp off.  However, a few of them were too close to the structure model and ended up bumping it while trying to align out.  A Sabre of ours outside the Astrahus, waiting for just such an opportunity, put up a bubble to hold them and we all poured out of the citadel, launched our reaming drones, and picked off the stragglers.

The Astrahus bubbled to catch the unfortunates

That netted us a couple more Cerbs, a Loki, and a Scimitar to finish off the evening.  Then people began to  loot the field then pop wrecks to keep the enemy from picking over the remains.  A daring Ibis and a Catalyst warped in and out looting and salvaging, staying just out of our reach.

I moved back to pick up my sentry drones and waited for the trip back to our staging.

Motoring back to my drones

So the fight was a bit of a split decision.  The enemy achieved their objective and sent the citadel into its final timer.  However, the results of the battle show the ISK war coming out very much in our favor in a fight where we were, once again, out numbered.  We lost about 6.6 billion ISK while blowing up more than 13 billion ISK in hostiles.

As I hung about waiting for the run back to staging I managed to catch a screen shot with an ad running on the Astrahus that seemed amusing.

Fly to Live, Live to Fight

My ship lived to fly another day.  We shall see if the VNIs undock again for another fight.

Delve – Mining Value Down but Still Dominant

The New Eden Monthly Economic Report for November 2017 arrived yesterday so it is time to take a moment to look how things are going in Delve.

As noted in the title, mining in Delve was down some, dropping from 14.6 trillion ISK in October to 13.9 trillion ISK in November.

November 2017 – Mining Value by Region

However, as I have mentioned in the past, the mining chart is measured by the value of the ore extracted and, as we can see from the price index chart, that value has continued its slide.

November 2017 – Economic Indices

With as much of dip as that, it is quite possible that more ore was extracted in Delve last month, when compared to October, rather than less.

Still, some regions appear to be down more than others.  I wonder if something is going on in Fade, and Branch… maybe somebody hot dropping miners… because the numbers for those regions seem down much more than the decline in price might explain.

As you can see on CCP Quant’s new bar chart Branch, which was in seventh place, has fallen further down the list.

November 2017 – Mining Value by Region – Bar Graph

Likewise, Fade seems to have fallen a few places in the stack, though Deklein, where we have been having some battles, still seems to be holding onto its spot.

Jin’taan posted a wry comparison to Reddit of Delve vs. the rest of New Eden when it comes to mining.

On the bounties front it probably surprises exactly zero people that Delve remained in the lead for November.

November 2017 – NPC Bounties by Region

Bounty payouts in Delve were up a few billion, though I contributed even less than my usual hundred million or so to the number as I did not rat even once during the month.

November 2017 – NPC Bounties by Region – Bar Graph

Branch was down a bit over last month, but most other regions seemed to hold steady or were up somewhat for November.

There there is the “make non-null sec players rage” chart that shows null sec grew slightly in total percentage of bounty payouts, going from 92.1% to 92.4%, with both high and low sec declining every so slightly.

November 2017 – Bounties by Space Sec Rating

Wormhole space remained at its normal zero percent because they get paid out by NPCs for drops from their rats, the sales of which totaled to about 19 trillion ISK in value.  If counted as bounties that would change the mix somewhat, though the fact that they have to ship them out of wormhole space to cash in adds to the complexity.

On the sinks and faucets chart bounties payouts were slumping slightly towards the end of November.

November 2017 – Top 8 ISK Sinks and Faucets

Even with that ever so slight dip bounties remain in the zone where CCP previously expressed the opinion that they were too high, so it remains to be seen if CCP will turn an eye towards super carrier ratting for further nerfs.

On production Delve remains a significant force and, last I heard, the region still needed to import some minerals to keep the factories running apace.

November 2017 – Production Values by Region

As we have seen in the past, production in the three regions around Jita, the trade hub for New Eden, dominates, but Delve still stands out on the bar chart.

November 2017 – Production Values by Region – Bar Graph

And, of course, when it comes to market value The Forge, home of Jita, stands out well ahead of all others.

November 2017 – Trade Value by Region

This dominance is especially visible on the bar chart where there is The Forge and then

November 2017 – Trade Value by Region – Bar Graph

The contrast is so striking that CCP Quant added a bar graph without The Forge just so that you could compare the other regions visually without them seeming, as my grandfather might put it, flatter than piss on a plate.

November 2017 – Trade Value by Region – Bar Graph, The Forge Excluded

There you can see Delve ringing in at about half the rate as Domain, home to Amarr, the Chicago of trade hubs to Jita’s New York City.  All those Goons are up to something.

Finally, the regional summary chart of key indices that gives a nice combined picture for a set of regions.

November 2017 – Regional Summary Stats

As usual I am mostly reveling in the fact that EVE Online is the kind of game where the economy is so central that CCP reports on it regularly.  Reporting on Delve just gives me a chance to go on about the importance of the economy in New Eden.  I certainly cannot claim to have influenced anything that happened in Delve.  I am pretty sure I haven’t set foot in the region for at least a month.

Anyway, you can find all these charts and more, as well as the raw data, as part of the dev blog.

And other sites have commentary on this month’s MER:

• EN24 – Desperate Miners and Shiny Pants
• INN – Goons Win Again?
• EN24 Leaky Faucets