Feels like I'm in reverse guys!

First of all, I'm sure you'll all be very excited to know that I've gotten rid of all that CAPTCHA crap (or whatever it's called) for my comments section. I've also set it so you can be anonymous if your little troll heart so desires ;P I felt that the effort of jumping through those hoops to type a few words was probably not worth it, and honestly I doubt I get enough traffic to bring the spambots running...

On with the post!

So as I mentioned in my post a few days ago, I've been able to start running Incursions much sooner than I expected to. Like three months sooner.

Obviously this was quite a nice surprise, so yesterday night I decided to try and get picked up for a fleet, despite only having Logistics IV. To clarify for those who don't run Incursions, Logistics V is by no means a strict requirement to run as a Logi pilot, it's just more helpful for the fleet, because it means you only need to trade one cap transfer between Guardians, whereas a Logistics IV pilot requires two transfers to be cap stable. Since the majority of Guardian pilots fly what's called a "4/2" setup (four large remote reps, usually Meta 4, and two cap transfers), having Logistics V leaves a cap transfer free for cap hungry battleships, such as Abaddons. Which of course they'll thank you for, because it lets them keep shooting!

Still looks great, even with terrible graphics cards

So I posted my fit along with "Logistics IV" and tabbed out for a few seconds, expecting it to be a while before I actually got picked up. Instead when I tabbed back in, I already had a fleet invite. Pleasantly surprised, I accepted the invite and introduced myself as a Logi noob. This seemed to be something the Logis already in fleet seemed to take as a direct challenge, because they took me aside almost right away and started teaching me how to set up my overview, watchlist, and all that jazz.

It took a while to get to the right system, but that wasn't a problem since I was on the waitlist. Fortune struck again after I'd been waiting no more than ten minutes, when one of the Logis reported he'd have to leave after the next site. The FC checked the Logi waitlist, which I already knew had my name at the top.

TS3
FC: "Uhhm okay, Zendrak? You're up after this site. Get yourself ready"
Me: "Yep sure, I'll be ready"

Yep, it's all there

I had no idea what "ready" entailed, so I checked my fit was right and checked I had my drones. Everything looked fine. I decided to go to the loo before the site started, so I wasn't desperate halfway through. Unfortunately, I'd forgotten how fast Vanguard sites could be run, so when I got back I had a little moment of shock.

Fleet chat

James Thake > Zendrak Minayin ON GRID
Zendrak Minayin > warping sorry D:

I have never landed on a beacon and felt the eyes of everyone staring me down before. Despite the fact I was probably hundreds of miles away (in real life) from the nearest guy in my fleet, I felt guilty for slowing them down (judging by their completion times, they weren't hanging around). I quickly apologised to the fleet on TS3, which was met with some mild banter before we were told to hard align down the gate.


Fleet chat
James Thake > ----------------------- Logis please

Jason Parmala > L
Zendrak Minayin > L
Mika Firestorm > L


I'll admit, I actually felt a little rush of pride when I typed that one, solitary letter into the chat box. I know it sounds a little sad, but the three of us were literally the only thing standing between the guys in our fleet, and fiery destruction fueled by billions of ISK in hulls and modules. I mean, that's some responsibility right there, and they knew full well I'd never done this before. I was actually slightly honoured at the time that not one of them even suggested on comms that I'd screw up. The trust they were putting in a complete stranger just got to me a little.

I know, I'm taking this game far too seriously.

After the last logi had indicated he was still alive and breathing, the anchor ship rocketed off down the gate, a rather shiny fit Bhaalgorn. A slight pause before comms lit up again. "Okay Logis, come save me. DPS and Logis hit the gate now".

Our three Guardians landed pretty much on top of the anchor Bhaalgorn, and within only a few kilometres of each other. I had a few seconds of panic while setting up the cap chain due to some misclicks (accidentally repping a Guardian instead of sending him cap, derp), but we kept the anchor alive after catching him in high armour, at around 80%. A good start!

My overview looks like a total clusterfuck, I know.
I think I need a bigger screen

But then the rats started swapping targets.

The first few times they changed, I was a little slow on the draw, and it didn't help me that people don't tend to broadcast for armour in Vanguard sites. This is purely because there's few enough ships in the site that a Logi with Multitasking III can lock all of the fleet, which means you can see all of your fleet mates' armour readouts fairly easily. Unfortunately, I was so fixated watching the little red bar reverse back on itself that I kept missing whenever a ship a few targets over was getting utterly nailed. Vanguard pilots simply expect you to notice they're getting their asses handed to them, which is both endearing and scary at the same time. The few people who do broadcast are either:

A) New to Incursions and worried about dying
or
B) In deep armour (I'm talking like 30-40% here) and assume you've fallen asleep

I even joked to one of my fellow Logis that he didn't seem to broadcast for reps five sites in a row, no matter how long it took us to notice. He replied that he might consider broadcasting if he was dipping into hull. Maybe.

Stuff still exploded even though I had no guns myself

Balls of steel or what?

Thankfully my two Logi tutors were faster and more experienced than me, so nobody died due to those first few spawns, and after a few sites I was starting to get the hang of it. Here's pretty much what I did in each site.

- Land on gate
- "L" up in fleet chat
- Wait for anchor to warp in
- Follow him, save his ass, set up cap chain
- Wait for rats to switch targets
- Switch three reps to new target when needed, pull off a rep when he stabilises (keep some in reserve)
- Rinse and repeat as rats move primary while DPS squad mows down said rats
- Collect payment, warp out to next gate
- Start again

And I found flying as a Logi oddly cathartic. I commented to one of my 'tutors' how nice a change it was to be creating grey on targets instead of red. He agreed, mentioning that when he first flew Logi, he felt like he was "playing the game in reverse", which made me laugh.

It's a weird thing to pick out, but regardless, I'm enjoying flying Logi much more than flying DPS so far. Plus you get picked up for fleets in mere seconds.

Show me the moneyyyyy!

Also, I'm just so awesome as a Logi that I got picked up by a fellow Logistics pilot, Anath Shamgar, and he asked if I wanted to join his corporation. Hell yes I do! So now I'm in a shiny new corp, with a shiny new ship, and playing with lots of other shiny people.
Life is good :D

And of course, it's nice to have a "direct" supply of ISK again. Trading is decent, but it's nowhere near as fun as an Incursion fleet. I'm glad to see despite the nerfs, Incursions are still the "social event" they were back when I flew DPS.

Fly safe!