5 Years Of Killin'

Five years ago today, Quantum Cats Syndicate was founded as a FW corp. We started off as a small group of new and low skill point pilots flying rifters. We are currently the all time leader in total FW kills (https://api.eveonline.com/eve/FacWarTopStats.xml.aspx) and currently sit as the #3 all time corp in Battleclinic's point based system (http://eve.battleclinic.com/killboard/rankings.php?type=corp). We have come a long way in the last five years from a group of low skill point pilots flying rifters to a bunch of 100M+ SP pilots flying T1 frigs and destroyers. We are looking forward to continuing to pew-pew until CCP turns off the servers.

To the tune of 'Africa' by Toto:-

I hear the hybrids echoing tonight
But they hear only whispers of some quiet warp core stabs
We're coming in to have a fight
The moonlit wings reflect the stars that guide me towards a medium ple-ex
I stopped at Old Man Star along the way,
Hoping to find some old forgotten corps or actual noob-bie-eees
He turned to me as if to say

Hurry boy, fights are waiting there for you

CHORUS:
It's gonna take a lot to take Nisuwa away from you
There's nothing that a hundred squid or more could ever do
I bless the space down in Nisuwa
Gonna take some time to kill the things we never have

The QCats cry out in the night
As they grow restless longing for some violent pew-pew
I know that I must kill what's right
As sure as Tzenick and Nexxala dooooo
I seek to kill the scumbag squids, 

Frightened of this thing that I've become

CHORUS
It's gonna take a lot to take Nisuwa away from you
There's nothing that a hundred squid or more could ever do
I bless the space down in Nisuwa
Gonna take some time to kill the things we never have 

(Instrumental break)

Hurry boy, the QCats are waiting here for you

It's gonna take a lot to take Nisuwa away from you
There's nothing that a hundred squid or more could ever do
I bless the space down in Nisuwa
I bless the space down in Nisuwa, I bless the space down in Nisuwa
I bless the space down in Nisuwa
Gonna take some time to do kill things we never have

P.S. Sorry, we're a lot better at PvP than song writing!

P.P.S. May be this would have been more appropriate?

July, A Great Month for Killin'

Cromwell Savage here,

July 2013 was a great month for the Quantum Cats. Once again, we set a new corporation record for most kills in a month. We ended the month with 4,419 kills, well above our previous best of 3,716 just the month prior from our 94 members. That equates to an average of 142 kills per day or 47 kills per member! We also cracked open 780 capsules. An average of 25 per day! In low-security space no less. No “easy button” bubbles to hold opponents down, but a minimum of one “point” per opponent. I say minimum loosely, as anyone who has ever fought us knows that we love our kill mails and have been known to “hold” opponents while we await corp-mates so that they may too partake in the time honoured tradition of “pod kill mail whoring”.

We have some who are full-time, uber carebears to part-time PvPers and missioners to the full-time, blood-lusting core group of Faction Warfare fighters. We can field anything from tech 1 frigates to capitals, but our primary enjoyment comes from solo-small gang PvP. Battles like what went down in 6VDT-H mean little to us. We pride ourselves on fighting in ships and numbers that allow for very little error in individual piloting. We don’t rely on an FC to generate content, our pilots undock and go make it themselves.

Because of this mindset, our merry band of “FW scrubs” has clawed its way to the #8 spot on the BattleClinic corporation PvP rankings, has been the top ranked “recent” corp on BattleClinic for several months, and has become the single most "killingest" corporation in Faction Warfare history (FW kill final blows). In addition to our lust for small(er) gang PvP, we have also held onto our “home systems” against multiple attacks and are one of the few places in FW space that is consistently 'stable'. These attacks have ranged from several plex farming pushes all the way to alliances (with non-FW help) setting up POS' in system to use as logistical staging hubs. All attempts have failed to dislodge us. What our opponents continue to fail to comprehend is what we get out of being in Faction Warfare. System Sov is a means to an end, not “the" end. Our end goal is PvP, and system sov is one of the means that provides that. Therefore, the harder they push, the more we get out of it. There very well may be a day we get forced out of Nisuwa, but it will be a long and bloody fight for whoever does it. We don’t plan to have to jump any combat ships out when that time does come...

QCats has been at this for five years now. Over that time, Eve and FW has changed, corporations/alliances have come and gone on all sides. Yet, Quantum Cats Syndicate remains. A large part of our pilots want nothing else. This is our Eve and no amount of ISK, real life media reporting or carebear loot will tear us away from what we truly enjoy the most….killing squids. Here's to several more years of flying with some of the most aggressive, tenacious pilots in our little piece of Eve - o7.

QCats…..F*** YEAH!

As always, fly deadly!

That's One Way to Fit a Manticore!

On Sunday the Caldari Militia hit Nisuwa. Throughout the afternoon they captured plex, supported by pirate friends, whilst the heavily outnumber QCats could only patrol the surrounding systems picking of stragglers.

By late afternoon the Squids had Nisuwa over 7% contested. The the US of A woke up.

By early evening the Caldari had been mostly evicted, Nisuwa was 3% de-contested and falling, and everything was getting back to normal. However, there were still a fair number of Caldari Militia about.

We pick up this story as Quantum Cats Syndicate pilot Drackarn comes back to the keyboard....

Whilst Nisuwa at that time was pretty much under control we still had a small squid infestation problem. There were Squids in Notoras, Hirri and Oin with them entering Nis every so often. We still needed to deplex Nisuwa but we also needed to clear out the Squids. I jumped into a "Cockbag Thrasher" and went to camp a gate whilst I logged a throw-away alt on. As the second client opened on the other monitor I saw the pod and remembered that he had lost his ship recently. I checked the market and bought him the only T1 frigate he could fly that was for sale in system, a Rifter. As he was only going to be defensive plexing I simply undocked in that. No mods, no rigs, nothing. I got him sat in a small plex as I went about bouncing gates as other QCats tried to encourage the plexing Squids to leave the surrounding systems.

A flash of orange caught my eye as I was waiting for a Squid to be flushed from the dead-end system of Notoras. An enemy Manticore had entered the small plex. I immediately warped Drackarn and got the alt to approach the squid. He'd landed a few kilometre off but my plan was to get the alt close enough to stop him cloaking. Drackarn had a 32AU warp so I needed time. I bumped the Manticore, slowly, with the alt. Then something very unexpected happened, he bumped me back!

I think he realised that it was an unfit deplexing Rifter (I hadn't even bothered to lock him) so thought it would be funny to bump back. I continued to play along as Drackarn hurtled down the warp tunnel. Finally the Manticore pilot must have got bored, or the rat in the plex was giving him problems, as he finally yellow-boxed my alt. Unfortunately for the Squid, Drackarn had just activated the acceleration gate and landed at the 'warp-in' a few seconds later.

I insta-locked the Manticore and it assploded on the first volley. This obviously shocked the hapless Squid as I was able to get his pod. I cracked that open and I quickly scooped the loot and the corpse without looking and warped back to station to drop it off. I was in a rush to get back to the Notoras Gate to catch the Squid that was in there.

Whilst in warp I linked the kills in Corp. I thought at that point I'd check if he'd had any implants. Most plex farmers don't, but we get a few that have 20 to 100m heads sometimes.

I did a double take. Over 1bn ISK in Snakes and skill hardwirings! Oh yes! - http://eve-kill.net/?a=kill_detail&kll_id=18499257

So if he fits his head like that, how does he fit his Mantico...... OMG! - http://eve-kill.net/?a=kill_detail&kll_id=18499254

I opened the Thrashers cargo bay to check, and yes, 300m ISK in dropped loot from the 1bn ISK faction fit Stealth Bomber was sat there.

That was the icing on the cake of what was the last day of the QCats best ever month in terms of kills. 3714 kills were made by QCats members in June 2013 which also pushed us into the top 10 on the BattleClinic corporation rankings.

Derping a Dreadnought!

There are a few basic mechanics in faction war that catch many new players out. You cannot warp to someone on grid at a plex gate, best you can do is warp to the beacon at range. You cannot warp anyone or anything inside a plex. You cannot dock in a low-sec station if the opposing side control the system.

A few basics that you learn once the hard way and never forget. Of course the first two you can make work for you with clever use of tactics. The last one, well you occasionally get the odd person trying to dock when they are not allowed and gives you an easy kill mail.

Although anyone flying a dreadnought will know these things right? I mean they must be fairly experienced players to be flying a dreadnought. Especially flying a dreadnought in enemy space.

This week Quantum Cats Pilot Justari was having a sleepless night around our home system of Nisuwa.....

There I was around 3-4am my time, all alone in Nisuwa chasing lame plex-running squids farming loyalty points. When I logged in they had the system at 6% contested, how very dare they! I was working with my Atron just chasing stuff around when I saw a random cyno pop up. At the time there were three war targets, myself, and one neutral in system. I though "No big deal, in about five minutes im going to go kill that with something".

Then an odd thing happened on D-Scan and in the local channel simutaneously, +1 war target, +1 Revelation class dreadnought.

The squids have set staging POS' in Nisuwa before so this sort of thing is not completely unheard of. Until I saw the range, it wasn't at a POS, it was at the station!

As fast as possible I warped to the cyno, and sure as shit the Revelation was sitting there right on Nisuwa Station! With time against me and other hostiles around the system, I didnt know what to do so I just began to lock down the Revelation with 1 scram in my weeee Atron. I immediately notified the militia folks in the intel channel because there was hardly anyone else in system at that time of day (night). There was I, piloting one of the smallest ships in the game fighting one of the largest. Five minutes had past and I was trying my damnest to hold him down while my batphone responders were burning to me.

Two other random Gallente Militia friendlies entered system, one ignored my calls for help (I PM'd him as yelling in local would have lost the kill), and finally the other came in an extra point. A fellow QCat came by within the 6 minute mark, and at around 7-8 minutes in GMI's began to trickle in with BS and down as you can see on the kill mail.

I believe around the 15 minute mark the thing was dead. I got 400million (estimated worth of the two guns and all the stront). I dont really understand what the REV was doing, it was an Amarr Pilot and the cyno was at zero on station, my assumption is that he either thought he was docking (HAHA...NO!) or was using Nisuwa as a midpoint cyno to his final destination and simply didnt know how to react to my ballsy Atron. All-in-all, a good time for me to randomly decide to log in in the early hours (I've been so inactive from work and RL there has been little time to EVE).

- Justari

Artists Impression of the Initial Tackle

There are some unanswered questions here though. The biggest one would be, why didn't the Revelation pilot convo the three Caldari Militia pilots in system and ask/beg for help? Local will have shown up quite clearly that there were allied militia in system with him. Three of them on one Atron and he could have easily escaped.

Oh wait. Farmers. With the cloaking devices and the full rack of stabs, it would have taken them longer than the fifteen minutes to lock an Atron.

Tish, tish.... boom! Thank you, thank you!

But seriously, why didn't he ask for help? It gets even more bizarre as we hear the account of Quantum Cats Syndicate pilot Alandrix Deck who logged on after the Revelation had been tackled.....

So yesterday morning I get back to my PC and I see Justie post in corp that he'd tackled a Rev on the station. I have to admit that the first thing that went through my mind was 'Yea right, what have you been smoking' but I make my way over there in my Incursus.

Sure as shit, I get to the station to find Justies Atron circling a Rev! I dock up and start looking for a proper DPS ship to undock, with Justie going mad in Corp chat telling me to hurry the fcuk up:) Thankfully I have a blaster Naga handy, with a point fitted, and I undock and start blasting. The Rev pilot them convo's me with an offer for 100m to blow Justie up! I had a good chuckle and we proceeded to burn him down, with local slowly filling up as people came to help with a cap kill.

Nice catch and a good way to start the day!

Alandrix Deck

So there you have it. A derp of the highest order followed by the quick reactions of a QCats pilot netted a 4bn ISK capital kill on the undock of our home station. And the war target actually offered 100m to one corp mate to blow his other corp mate up? Wow!

Number One on Number 10

We were there when the Caldari captured all the systems. We were the founders of the original "Fortress Nenna". We were there for the Battle of Tama and we were there when the Gallente captured all the systems. Now QCATS are the all time leader of Faction Warfare kills. We have come a long way from our humble roots of a handful of pilots on Rifter roams when "shipping up" meant getting T1 cruisers.This is the story of how we began and how we eventually became the leader of Faction Warfare Kills on "Eveis10 day".

We started in Villore, while the STPRO forces controlled most of the systems, and would launch quick strikes deep into the war-zone against war-targets and pirates alike. Led at the time by Juan Rayo (founder of QCATS) along with other core members, such as Chatgris, Omegris, Onezen, Flashfisher, Igloo and others, we made a relativity small impact in the overall war effort until we started working together with other Gallente militia corps. Under the Villore Accords (Mutual Defense Pact-MDP) started by Strix Armaments and Defence we then made the move to Nennamalia to establish a low-sec base of operations along with the other corps such as Shadows of the Federation, NME1, Genstar, Hypernova.

Once there, we began to secure the system and realized the power of coordination between our corps. We became a threat the STPRO forces could not contend with. This psuedo-alliance became the power in the warzone (aside from the notorious pirate organizations in the area at the time, such as BYDI, Invicta, etc) leading to the dubbing of Nennamalia as "Fortress Nenn". After a few months of living there, we were eventually driven out by the Dead Terrorists alliance because of the overwhelming forces they had available to them. We then decided to move our base of operations to Heydieles, due to its proximity to highsec for resupply (at that time, QCATS was still NRDS and had limited logistical capabilities) and its strategic location in being the main hub for the 3 main pipelines of the warzone.

Eventually some members of Bi-Polar (ex-Wrath of Fenris) began making leadership decisions without seeking input from other MDP member corps, requiring people to attend training ops and reducing the amount of influence small corps had in the overall MDP operations, thus alienating the smaller corps. Because of this and due to ROE differences, Buckswanson and a few QCATS decided to leave QCATS and form Percussive Diplomacy; a peaceful division which also resulted in a prosperous future between the two corps. After the drama was eventually concluded by the dissolve of the MDP, SOTF moving to Nisuwa, and most of the other US TZ corps remained in Heydieles.

SLAPD took it upon themselves to reorganize the US TZ corps under a shared intel channel, and ventrillo server. A much more corp-independent organization now, members were able to coordinate and fight targets with more efficiency while retaining our individual corp directives. We were able to secure Heydieles during our timezone against Caldari plexers and had targets of opportunity with the local pirate corps that lived in the area.

It was during this time that QCATS began to emerge as a leader of the militia. After Armored Core Armed Forces closed, many members (including myself, MinuteManKirk) found a new home in QCATS as their kills and reputation began gaining fame. QCATS began to perfect the art of Nano-Combat with BCs, resulting in some massive victories on our side including the famed "Battle of Tama".

It was also during this time that QCATS discussed and eventually initiated it's current NBSI policy. This lead to QCATS becoming more independent of other Gallente Militia corps because of the standings hit for repairing pirates. As such, QCATS decided to return to Nennamalia in order to create a target rich environment by being surrounded by Caldari. It worked. The sheer number of kills generated by our best pilots like Chatgris, Princess Nexxala, Cromwell Savage and others, in tandem with the continuing emergence of QCATS as a leader in the militia because of FC's like Ammon Dei and Chatgris, eventually garnered the attention of the rest of the militia leading many corps to leave Heyd and move to Nenna where almost all of them still reside.

Feeling somewhat crowded and wanting to refresh the target spectrum, QCATS then moved to Nisuwa where we worked for a while with our old friends of SOTF until they left the militia.

We are still based in Nisuwa, proving time and again that we are able to hold against far larger numbers. With our reputation we have gained many experienced pilots like AshenShugar01, Drackarn and others.

We usually fly solo and in small gangs, achieving success through superior skill and having a "10% rule" (that is with a 10% chance of success we will engage), we have sometimes been dumbfounded in our winning of fights we likely shouldn't have won. As of May 5th, 2013, this helped us to become the all time leader in Faction Warfare kills, where we hope to stay.

Links -

Eve True Stories
Eve-O Forum Thread

Ships in Faction War. Part 1 - The Gallente T1 Frigates.

In this series we will look at how to fit ships and various tactics for use in faction war PvP. Generally we will be looking at solo work here and the fits are mainly designed for 1v1 engagements.


General.

Gallente ships are armour tankers. Unless you know what you are doing, stay away from shield modules. Unless you are mad, ALWAYS stay away from hull tanking modules. They say real men hull tank. Real men also die quickly in Eve Online.

Do not mix your guns. Many new players think it is a good idea to include both long and short range guns on a ship. It is not. It is a terrible idea. Chose one type and stick to it. Gallente ships are hybrid weapons platforms there for you have two choices:-

Railguns - Good range, poor damage, high powergrid requirements. Think of them like a rifle.
Blasters - Poor range, good damage, low powergrid requirements. The shotgun of the Eve universe.

Don't sit still. If you are sat on a gate or station a stationary frigate will be a tasty target for any artillary type fit ship. If you are moving then you are harder to hit.

Beware of Destroyers. Destroyers are designed to destroy frigates. With the right weapons and tactics you can kill destroyers, but in most cases it is the other way around. QCATS pilots have been known to win 3 and 4 v 1's like this where the frigate gang thinks they have the numbers.

Most of the Gallente frigates have drone bays of various sizes and some even rely on drones as their primary weapon. The three most common types of drone used are:-

DPS drones - Hobgoblins.
Fast drones - Warriors.
Jamming drones - EC-300.

Do not underestimate the jump between T1 and T2 drones. T2 are a huge leap forward so make sure you have Gallente and Matari drones skilled up.

The Ships:-

Atron.

Summary
The Gallente tackler frigate. Gets a bonus to hybrid weapon range and damage as well as a capacitor usage bonus for propulsion jamming modules like warp disruptors.

Description.
The Atron is a fast ship designed to shut down the enemies warp drive and hold him. It is fast and manoeuvrable  for a Gallente ship.

Fitting

Highs:-
Light Ion Blaster II, Caldari Navy Antimatter Charge S
Light Ion Blaster II, Caldari Navy Antimatter Charge S
Light Ion Blaster II, Caldari Navy Antimatter Charge S
[empty high slot]

Mid Slots:-
Limited 1MN Microwarpdrive I
Warp Scrambler II
Stasis Webifier II

Lows:-
200mm Reinforced Steel Plates II
Adaptive Nano Plating II
Damage Control II

Rigs:-
Small Ancillary Current Router I
Small Auxiliary Thrusters I
Small Auxiliary Thrusters I

Tactics.
The most common tactic with the Atron is to get tackle and speed tank. Most Atrons used in faction war are farmers who will run.


There are some in the war zone prefer their Atron with a bit more punch and can be an effective ship when used in numbers or against ships with poor tracking.

Highs:-
Light Neutron Blaster II x 3

Mid Slots:-
X5 Webifier
1MN AB II
Warp Scrambler II

Lows:-
DC II
Magnetic Field Stabilizer II
Tracking Enhancer II

Rigs:-
You may need fitting rigs such as processor overclocker or ancillary current router.
If you have room, hybrid weapon rigs should fill the rest of the space.

Tactics.

Get in close, orbit with AB on, FIRE!


Imicus

This is not really a PvP ship. You'll rarely if ever see one of these on the battlefield as they a scan probe/hacking ship used at PvE exploration sites. Stay away from these unless you like dying.


Incursus

Summary
The Gallente brawler frigate. Gets a bonus to armour repair amount and hybrid weapon damage.

Decription
One of the more popular Gallente T1 frigates. With the bonus to armour repair amount it can be quite tough and the damage bonus to the guns gives respectable DPS.

Fitting - This fitting is tight on CPU, and you'll need a 1% implant or to downgrade the magstab or the scram

Highs: Light Neutron Blasters II x3
Mediums: AB II, Meta-4 Scram, small cap booster
Lows: DC II, Magstab II, SAR II, SAAR

Drones: Warrior II x1 or Hobgoblin II x1
Rigs: Anti-explosive armor pump, aux nano-pump x2

Tactics:

First of all you need to be careful on target selection with this ship. You'll only be able to kill what you can get close to, but once you get in blaster range things tend to melt really quickly. Merlins and Punishers are usually good targets, while Kestrels will probably kill you from a safe distance once you run out of cap boosters. A webbing Rifter will be able to hit you from outside your engagement range, but won't be able to break your tank with Barrage.

A simple combat tactic will be to just approach the target and fire your overheated guns at it. The Incursus is quite capable of doing damage, hitting 216 dps with Void and a Hobgoblin (246 overheated), so few frigates will be able to rep through that and fights tend to be fairly quick once you get in range. Remember that Void has a tracking penalty, so "Approach" or "Keep at range" might be better than orbiting. Inside a plex, get close to the warp-in and pay close attention to your d-scan: if you manage to scram a kitting frigates like Condors, Slicers or Comets before he pulls range they tend to die pretty quickly, but if they get away you might consider calling for backup.

Pay close attention to your modules because on the Incursus you'll have a lot of active modules to juggle with, and watch your cap: if you time well your cap boosters you may survive even under neuts long enough to dispatch your enemies. Armor repairers are excellent modules to overheat but they won't last forever, so pay attention to the heat damage. Start the SAR when you're about to have armor damage but try to just pulse your SAAR when needed: once your 7 loaded nanite paste units are consumed you won't last long enough to reload them, so turn off auto-reload on it and try to survive long enough running your unloaded SAAR to explode your opponent.

Maulus

Summary
The Gallente E-War frigate. Gets a bonus to Sensor Dampeners' strength and range.

Description
Like the other E-War boats, the Maulus has a very, very thin tank. This is somewhat compensated by the excellent range on the dampeners, locking range and speed. It can also field 4 Light Drones while keeping some for backup. It's best used from range (the further the better) to support mid to long range gangs. It can work solo, but expect having to disengage from a fairly high amount of fights.

Highs:-
<Neut, Rail, Blaster, doesn't really matter>
<Neut, Rail, Blaster, doesn't really matter>

Mid Slots:-
Phased Muon Sensor Disruptor I, Targeting Range Dampening Script
Phased Muon Sensor Disruptor I, Targeting Range Dampening Script
<Warp Disruptor if solo, Sensor Booster if in a fleet>
Limited 1MN Microwarpdrive I

Lows:-
<Drone Damage Amplifier II if solo, Damage Control if in a fleet>
Nanofiber Internal Structure II
Nanofiber Internal Structure II

Rigs:-
Small Capacitor Control Circuit I
Small Capacitor Control Circuit I
Small Capacitor Control Circuit I

Drones:-
Warrior II x4

Strategy

Orbit out of scram/web range with the MWD on. Range damp. Send drones and pray your target is a) Another noob so he won't shoot your drones or b) using a weapon system that can't track them. Don't let it slip away or get too close (yes, that means manually piloting and overheating the Disruptor if you're solo)

If your target is really slow AND short range, you can stay at range and shoot w/ rails, if you have them.

If the target is shooting your drones, you can try pulling them and redeploying, but it is still just a matter of time before you lose all of them to any half-decent pilot.

If you get scrammed, you're dead. If you manage to get redboxed by anything with light missiles (because you were dampening something else), you're dead. Same with arties, rails and scorch if you don't watch your transversal.


Navitas

Summary
The Gallente logistics frigate. Bonus to remote armour repair amount, cap use and a nice 500% bonus to range.

Description
Logistics with frigates is not a big part of faction war. You'll rarely see these around Black Rise and if you do it'll be part of a fleet. Not a great target for solo!


Tristan

Summary
A drone carrier based combat frigate wit bonus to hybrid tracking and to drone tracking and hitpoints.

Description
The Tristan can hold 8 small drones in its drone bay. Its bandwidth allows five to be deployed at any one time.

Fitting.
There are two common fits for the Tristan. The "Blast it in the Face" and the "Suck it Dry" fits. The Suck it Dry fit relies on three unstable power fluxuators to drain the targets capacitor and let the drones kill it. The Blast it in the Face fit utilises three light blasters to add to the considerable drone DPS.


Blast it in the Face

Highs:-
Light Ion Blaster II, Caldari Navy Antimatter Charge S
Light Ion Blaster II, Caldari Navy Antimatter Charge S
Small Diminishing Power System Drain I

Mid-Slots:-
Experimental 1MN Afterburner I
Warp Scrambler II
Balmer Series Tracking Disruptor I, Tracking Speed Disruption Script

Lows:-

Adaptive Nano Plating II
Small Armor Repairer II
Damage Control II
Rigs:-
Small Hybrid Collision Accelerator I
Small Semiconductor Memory Cell I
Small Anti-Explosive Pump I

Drones:-
Hobgoblin II x5
Hobgoblin II x3

Blast it in the Face tactic is pretty simple. Scram something (don't bother to engage if the target isn't close) apply TD and orbit. It pushes 200 DPS with void and OH while remaining cap stable so you will usually kill things that can still track you quicker then they can kill you.


Suck it Dry

Highs:-
3 x Small Unstable Power Fluxtuator

Mediums:-
T2 Warp Scrambler
Small capacitor booster (200's)
Afterburner

Lows:-
Small Armour Repairer
Drone Damage Augmenter
Energized Adaptive Nano Membrane

Rigs:-
2 x Egress port maximiser
1 x Ancillary current router

Drones:-
Hobgoblin II x5
Hobgoblin II x3

Tactics.
For the nuets to work, you need to be close which can be an issue. One of the best tactics is to sit at the warp in to a plex and wait for the target to come to you. The fit relies on drones so even if they do get range all is not lost, you just need to hope the drones perswade them to warp off before they kill you or all of your drones. This fit is excellent against cap hungry ships. If you get close to an Imperial Navy Slicer, then it should die horribly.


So there you have the common Gallente frigates you'll find in the war zone, how to fit them and how to use them to violence other important internet spaceships.

Why not come up to Nisuwa area and try and shoot some of us? Ensure that if you want a 1v1 you agree it with the pilot first. All QCATS honor 1v1's, but if it is not agreed, well we're KM wh0r3s like everyone else ;)

QCats, The 7th Most PvP Active Corp in Eve?

Poetic has been at it again. His database of kills has been crunched again and his last post presented us with the top 100 corps in Eve Online in terms of PvP activity.

We looked at number one and almost choked to see Brave Newbies Inc in the top spot. Looking at the rankings it is clear Po has not gone for most kills but most appearances on kill mails. So the two thousand kills BNI got in March, plus their twelve thousand losses in March, put them ahead of the rest.

We were please to see Quantum Cats Syndicate sitting in 7th place. And that is due to kills not losses before anyone says anything!

We're in good PvP company - both RvB corps, Goonwaffe, Dreddit and Wildly Inappropriate are all top 10 around us. However, compared to some of those guys we're much, much smaller. So we took a closer look at the numbers and did some queries on Dotlan on member numbers for the corps in the top 10.

Kills and losses in March

The kills and loses are from Poetic's post. We put in 'Activity' to show the ranking he used a bit clearer. Then we added the kill/death ratio in, how many members Dotlan says the corp has and worked out kills per member and losses by member.

Sorting by most kills we jump a place to 6th. 

March Kills

But sorting by kill/death ratio puts us up to third behind Wildly Inappropriate and the Russian Thunder Squad! Good but we think we can go even better if we start looking at kills per member.........................

March Kills per Member

Yes there are lies, damn lies and statistics, but we think the graph above is appropriate. Then again we would wouldn't we ;)

QCATS are Very, Very Active Apparently!

Poetic Stanbziel has been a very busy boy. He's been taking killmails and putting them in a big old database and then running some numbers.

In this recent post he posted the kill activity by region. We were interested to see this as the QCATS had their best ever month in March killing 3659 ships.

Our home region of Black Rise came as the second most active PvP region after Essence (Jita ganking and hi-sec wars I assume) for the month of March. So in the second most PvP active region in Eve, how do the most active corporations stack up?

1. Quantum Cats Syndicate
2. State Protectorate
3. Justified Chaos
4. Genstar Inc
5. Ministry of Destruction

We also did rather well in the most active players:-

1. Tzenick (QCATS)
2. Madbuster73 (S0TF)
3. Traph (QCATS)
4. Mr Poison (.RS.)
5. k1llertrout (XMETA)

Villore Accords just pips us to top of the Alliance ranking:-

1. Villore Accords
2. Samurai Pizza Cats
3. SCUM.
4. Rainbow Dash Friends
5. Templis Dragonaors

So all in all a great month for the QCATS. 

Special thanks to Poetic for making the database and crunching the numbers. We are looking forward to seeing more of this in the future.

Cockbag Thrashers and You

The QCATS "Cockbag Thrasher" gets its name from the term "Surprise Cockbag!" as the setup is intended to do just that. It is basically an insta-lock Thrasher with a huge alpha. The idea is to insta-lock and point your victim and kill him with one or two volleys, a third if required. You rarely get to fire a forth time if you've picked the wrong target! Your guns should always be pre-overheated when sat on the gate. That will reduce the cycle time to allow you to get that all important second shot off if you are solo or in a small fleet engaging something bigger.

There is no real tank on a Cockbag Thrasher. It is a true glass-cannon designed to blow the enemy away with superior fire-power before they can attack back.

Cromwell Savage gives us the historical background to the Cockbag Thrasher....

The Inspiration.

It started when we were living in Nenna - the first time. We started a corp policy of locking down Nenna (Fortress Nenna). One of the best ways for us to do this was to camp the Hikko gate. After all, Nenna is 90 frikkin AU. So I started sitting on the gate in a sebo'd Raptor to get initial point (I was still rather "young" and was not a major DPS contributor yet :P) and others would provide the DPS.

We even went so far as to have Domi's with Sentry drones assigned to me (or whomever was the fast tackle) to just roflmelt whatever got tackled. Oh the fun we had with that :D

The corp eventually moved to Heyd, but we didn't have the same operation going. Also, I was starting to "grow" as a player and wanted to do more "on my own". With my previous experience in Nenna catching squids...two other factors would combine to create the Cockbag Thrasher and it's use as an insta-locking gate camper. First was (and still is), the average squid's tendency to run. As a young pvp'er with the likes of Chatgris and Nexxala as inspiration, I started roaming around more. But, as said young and growing pvp'er, I became extremely frustrated with the amount of time wasted roaming around to find a squid, only for said squid to just run away (this was during the massive FW mission farming era). The second, was the appearance of the not-so-average squids of Fist of the Goat. These guys were literally our first introduction to the sebo/arty Thrasher. After dying to these guys more than a few times, and more than a couple corp mates losing pods to these guys, something clicked and I applied the fit to camping the Abune gate in Heyd. This was all pre-dessie buff and as such, so just about any and all dessie were looked down upon. But, it worked and it worked like a frikkin champ. After all, why spend all my time roaming for squids to just run when I can have them come to me and roflstomp them with a ship they underestimate? I was even snagging stealth bombers! Therefore, it quickly occurred to me I needed a worthy name.

The Name.

I wanted a name that conveyed the shock, surprise, and the "ah ha!" moment of catching squids who thought they were safe around a solo dessie. But I was drawing a blank. Then I saw it. There was a guy I knew in the Navy that did the same job as me. He got out and joined the Army, eventually going SF. I saw a pic of him shooting one of his personal AR type rifles and engraved on the inside of the bolt dust-cover (so that you can read it when it is open) was "Surprise Cockbag". That was it! What better name than that! I immediately started to name all my sebo/arty Thrashers "Surprise Cockbag!". The name eventually stuck within the corp and started to become the general title for that fit. It soon became so popular that it has since spread to the entire Gal Mil as 'the' name for the sebo/arty Thrasher.

The use of this fit has grown well beyond just "low level" gate camping to include full fleet roams,expendable DPS, as well awesome derp operations to assplode ships much shinier than we.


The Fit.

The fit is relatively simple. T2 280mm artilleries in the highs with a space slot. The mids are a long point and a pair of sensor boosters with scan res scripts. The lows are a pair of gyrostabalisers. Three targetting subcontroller rigs push the scan resolution of the Thrasher up to over 2000 so catching frigates is usually possible as long as they aren't nano'd. If you are part of a fleet or duo camping a gate the scan res bonus from being in a fleet puts it up nearer 2200.

Ammo choice is usually Republic Fleet EMP or fusion depending how good you are at guessing what you are likely to be shooting. Phased Plasma provides a "catch all" solution of doing thermal and kinetic which of course are not usually the 'hole' but are the two lower resists out of the four generally.

The Tactics

Basically the tactics for soloing in a Cockbag Thrasher is to sit somewhere and wait for someone to come to you. This can be on a stargate at zero or just off a FW plex acceleration gate. Cockbags work best against frigates and generally frigates avoid destroyers so if you sit inside the plex the war target is likely to scan you and not bother entering. By sitting on the gate you have the chance of blapping them before they warp off or activate gate.

On a Stargate -
Simple - sit at zero and wait for a war target to jump into you. In this you do need to think fast, when you see gate fire and see a new squid in local you need to be hovering your cursor in the overview ready to lock him, "ctrl" button ready depressed, guns pre-overheated. You did put the long point in F1 and the guns stacked in F2 right?

As soon as he decloaks, start to lock and look at the ship type. The last thing you want to do is try and solo a battlecruiser. But you have less than a second to see what ship it is and decided whether to hit F1 and F2. If it is a frigate, FIRE! Hopefully you will alpha them on the first hit, if not the second volley is usually enough as they are still recovering from the "But I hit warp! How did he.....". That hesitation is usually fatal.

If the target is another destroyer you have a choice. Cockbags can pretty lethal against other destroyers, but you are not going to alpha them and the ammo you have loaded is critical. If you have EMP loaded and a Coercer decloaks you might want to hold off agressing. You will have a head-start on the DPS but you have no tank and no prop mod. It'll be close especially if they are fast or range fit or have a decent tank!

Crusiers and above you really need to think twice. Unless your opponent is pretty fail in ship fitting and/or piloting, a cruiser should easily be able to kill a solo cockbag.

Note - Beware of attacking none FW targets. Gate guns love untanked Thrasher hulls!

On an Acceleration Gate -
Small plex are best as they attract frigates. You need to find a spot less than 2.5km from the gate, but 10-12km from where your target will land. The "warp in" is the cosmic anomaly you can see on your overview or mousing over the double arrow icon for the acceleration gate in space. People who know what they are doing tend to warp to 10km from that so they land 0km from the gate (the gate is massive), but don't land inside the gate and get all tangled up and end up bumping around.

This way if a cruiser or something bigger lands you can just click on the gate and activate it and you are safe! When you first land make sure you point your ship in line with the gate (align to the plex you can see and then stop your ship) to speed up entry.

Obviously novice plex are better for attracting frigates but you cannot enter the plex in a Cockbag so if a cruiser scans you down you'll need to warp out before he points you. This can be achieved by aligning to a planet or similar.

D-Scan is your friend. Set it short range (50m KM) and spam a lot!

Fighting Outnumbered.

Generally as an epic glass cannon the Cockbag Thrasher isn't seen as a ship that should be taking on multiple targets, but it can. The massive alpha will destroy most frigates in one or two volleys. If you have three frigates incoming you need to make a decision, evac or try to have some real fun. Various QCats pilots have seen victory against multiple attacking frigates. The trick is to strike fast and hard and try to keep range, although that takes a lot of skill with no prop mod!

We know of AF, Frig, Frig vs Cockbag where the Cockbag has emerged victorious and those can be epic fun.

Cockbag Fleets.

Half a dozen Cockbag Thrashers are nasty. They can deal a huge amount of DPS and make a fun fleet. Just watch those cruisers and battlecrusiers die in surprise (cockbag). Just remember, whilst your DPS is great, your tanks are no-existent. Think on that when picking your fights.

A fleet of cockbag thrashers are perfect zero on a stargate, waiting for a much larger frigate/destroyer fleet to jump into you, and they will generally decloak in the 10-15 km range of your fleet.

First shot - not all of the enemy fleet has decloaked yet, the first salvo is off (damage done, 1800 x number in fleet. Every 2-4 people in your fleet tends equals a dead frigate right away)

Second shot - 5 seconds later, the second shot is out, and most of the enemy fleet has decloaked at this point (same as first shot, generally the enemy is still locking your fleet and maybe a friendly is starting to take damage)

Third shot - 10 seconds into the fight, the third shot is out and it's usually around this time that your fleet will start taking significant damage if there's anything left alive.

In 10 seconds, each player has dealt 5,400 damage which equates to around 540 dps applied directly to targets within your optimal range with no manoeuvring required. If your enemy is mostly in ships with a single damage type weakness, this dps can be of the appropriate type. This is a fantastic way to start a fight.

Fleet fighting in plexes is similar - get your fleet of cockbags 10km off the warp in for a plex, preferably behind the button so that approaching frigates will bump off of it while approaching you.

So there you have it. The Cockbag Thrasher. If you are going to try this make sure you have a selection of 10mn arty Thrashers and some armour AC Thrashers too as well as the standard MSE fit. It can be hilarious "Cockbagging" someone only to have them reship and come for you.... but you've already reshipped and their clever tactics of taking your Cockbag fall to pieces as you tear them a new one in a different fit. Seriously all, hours of fun!

Unfriendly Fire - The Minmatar Militia

Chatgris stared out of the window at the planet below. Behind her she could hear half a dozen heated debates between various people. This would not be a fun meeting she thought. A pair of Thrasher class destroyers undocked from the station and passed the window before slipping into warp together. It was ironic that they used so much from the Minmatar Republic, yet this meeting was having to take place.

She took her place at the head of the table and cleared her throat. The discussions died down.

"Right. Thank you all for attending. This meeting has only one thing on the agenda."

The Quantum Cats Syndicate CEO waved her hand over the conference table and it came alive with holographic projects of starships engaging in combat.

"These are the recordings of the last two weeks where the Minmatar Militia have engaged in unprovoked aggression against QCATS pilots. So the question is what do we do?"

Chatgris turned to her right and looked at JAF Anders.

"We need to remonstrate with the Matari leadership. We're supposed to be allies in this war, not attacking each other. Haven't we got any diplomatic options here Kirk?"

MinutemanKirk steepled his fingers under his chin and lent forward.

"The Matari militia is as bad as ours for working together. There is no single leader or leadership, it's a collection of corporations and alliances each doing their own thing. The attacks on our pilots come from a number of alliances who in the end answer to nobody. But I agree, we need a diplomatic solution to this.

"Drack? I think we all know where you stand on this...." Chatgris was cut off as Drackarn raised his hand in a stop sign.

"I've changed my mind. I know I said we should keep them allied but now I say we treat them as neutrals."

"Wow. Thats a pretty impressive u-turn in less than a week. What changed your mind?" Kirk asked.

Drackarn leaned into the table and tapped a few commands into the holo-projector. Rather than the initial show of a dozen separate dog-fights, there now was just one.

"I was capturing a Caldari complex yesterday and had neutralised the State Navy defence force. My crew were hacking the installation to capture it. We got a Wolf class assault frigate on short-scan and went to battle stations. As he dropped out of warp threat indicators showed he was allied. So we went back to hacking the installation. After about 20 seconds...."

"Let me guess" Andre Vauban cut in "You got ganked?".

Drackarn just nodded.

"Been there, done that, got the loss-mail. As far as I see it we need to treat the Matari like any other neutral in the warzone. If it's not blue, we can engage freely." Andre followed up.

"Well we don't have any doubt where your vote will be going Andre. But all I ask is you remember, the Gallente and Minmatar are long standing allies. We almost fund their entire republic in aid payments. A quarter of their civilisation live with in the borders of the Federation. They are allies in the end." Chatgris replied. "Jetty?"

"To be honest I don't know which way to go. I agree with you boss, the Matari are supposed to be our allies. Hell they are fighting the Amarr and nobody likes the Amarr, they get the blame for everything. But, and it is a huge but, they are coming over here and attacking us."

"Nexxala?"

"No discussion needed as far as I am concerned. They shot first, we need to make sure we shoot back bigger and harder."

"Chan?"

"I'm with Nexxala. We cannot keep them blue if they are engaging us. We are losing ships to these supposed allies. Revoke their blue status and give our pilots a chance to fight back."

Chatgris knew the tide was turning. The meeting had been off to a good start, but now there was a growing feeling of animosity towards the Matari. Revoking their blue status would weaken the combined war effort and create a diplomatic headache for all.

"OK. Rabugento, what do you think?"

"I agree that we should be allies fighting together against the Amarr-Caldari axis of evil."

"Well thank..."

"Wait a sec boss. I said 'should' and the reality is they are coming over here and engaging in unprovoked acts of aggression against our pilots. I was for keeping them blue, now, seeing the loses we've suffered, I say we revoke the automatic blue status and treat them as neutral."

"Right. Cromwell?"

"I'm against revoking their blue status to be honest. We can treat them with suspicion and expect a possible attack without firing the first shot. If they start targeting you or approaching our ships in an attack posture then either get the frack out or return the target lock and start evasive manoeuvres. Its not rocket science."

"And last but not least, Onezen?"

"I'm sorry? Did every one not see that Rapier class recon ship they attacked? If any other organisation had attacked us this many times in two weeks we'd have set them 'kill on sight' 13 days ago and we certainly wouldn't be having this discussion!"

Chatgris typed some more commands into the holodesk and pressed a button, a holographic bar chart appeared above the table, slowly rotating. The blue bar moved along a notch.

"OK, my votes cast. I say keep them blue and progress through diplomacy. Ladies and gentlemen please cast your votes."

Each of the QCATS leadership team leaned forward and tap their chosen vote on the desk. The red and blue bars on the holodesk chart moved up neck an neck as each vote was cast. As the last vote was given the results displayed.

"MinutemanKirk. I hope you are ready for some diplomatic drama." Chatgris said with resignation in her voice. "Send the mail, the general Matari militia are now neutral standings to us."

The room errupted in heated discussions again and Chatgris had to quieten them down again.

"We're not finished. The result is dissapointing to me, we have good relationships with some of the major power-blocs in the Matari militia. We've fought side-by-side with them. We've gone to help them when they have asked, and they have helped us in return. I'm not prepared to throw the baby out with the bath water just because some Minmatar are a bit bored and are taking advantage of the fact that we won't shoot first. We need to get appropriate blue status with those corporations and alliances we know we can trust and make sure we have negative standings set against those who agress us. Kirk, you've got a lot of work to do. Make it so."

Welcome to Ways of the Mew

Hello and Welcome to Ways of the Mew!

This is the official blog of the Quantum Cats Syndicate. We are an Eve Online PvP corporation operating on NBSI rules of engagement and a founding member of the Samurai Pizza Cats Alliance. Currently we are aligned to the Gallente Federation in Faction War and are based in the low-sec system of Nisuwa in Black Rise.

As you can read below, we're pretty relaxed in game and believe real-life comes first. If you think fun means not serious take a look at our killboard. We are the biggest killer in the Gallente Militia and our kills for March 2013 so far are over 3100 from our 87 members!

We are ranked as 18th on BattleClinic and have a number of members in the top 100.

Whilst we have strategic cruisers, faction battleships and capital ships ready to rock and roll, we also have official corp doctrines such as the "Cockbag Thrasher", "The Snarpy" and the "NAFF - Not A Fleet, Fleet". Members are encouraged to try new fits and tactics and generally enjoy themselves. There is usually constant action with solo, small gang and roaming fleets at different times of the day.

About the QCATS-

Quantum Cats Syndicate [QCATS] is a capsuleer corporation created early into the second Gallente-Caldari war. Since siding with the Gallente Federation, QCATS has been authorized by the CONCORD Emergency Militia War Powers Act to wage "uncontested war within the boundaries of Empire space" on behalf of the Federal Defense Union. QCATS is a privateer corporation operating under a "Not Blue, Shoot It" (NBSI) RoE and will engage both known and potential threats to itself, the Gallente Militia, and the Gallente Federation as a whole. Capsuleer corporations loyal to the Gallente Federation but not part of the FDU that enter the warzone are encouraged to seek positive standings with the QCATS to avoid friendly fire.

QCATS as a corporation is dedicated to excellence amongst our membership and on the battlefield. To act respectfully, give respect to our friends and foes, and in return gain their respect, is our overriding mission. We strive to not start drama, make threats, or talk smack. QCATS is meant to be a place where mature, relaxed individuals interested in fighting for theGallente Federation can join a group of similar capsuleers and enjoy a relatively drama free, active, and respectable environment. QCATS take their internet spaceships very seriously, but are also a real life comes first corporation. While on voice communications, you will often hear babies crying, wives asking for bugs to be killed, children asking for daddy to play with them, etc. QCATS will often have to leave fleet for “wife/baby/child aggression”.

QCATS pilots are expected to enjoy a wide variety of piloting styles. QCATS can be seen roaming solo, in small 2-10 man gangs, or in larger 20-50 man gangs. These fleets consist of both the looser organized “bring what you have” and the more organized “bring exactly this ship and fitting” type fleets. QCATS can also be seen flying in corporate only fleets as well as Gallente Militia fleets with anything from a T1 frigate to capitals. It is not unexpected to be flying in a small T1 frigate or destroyer gang one minute and then be reshipping to battleships and dreadnoughts 5 minutes later. We are proud of our BattleClinic ranking and use our killboard as a major metric of our success. However, we don't care about losses and won't critize members for their losses. We also encourage members to fly experimental fits in small gangs and to try new gang concepts.

We hope this blog will become an essential source of battle reports, fitting and tactics, screenshots and the occasional lolcat.

If you have any queries you can reach us on Twitter @quantumcats or any of the people below in-game.

Chatgris - CEO

MinuteManKirk - Diplomat

Drackarn - Public Relations