Small gang roam with The Valhalla Project

After my solo adventures in lowsec, a fellow Bombers Bar resident extended an open invitation for pilots to join an armour roam being led by The Valhalla Project.  I needed to ask who TVP when the invite went out, so for those who don't know, they are an incursion group.  From what I could gather from comms, they fly together on a regular basis running incursions and making insane amounts of isk.  Every few days they get together and roam in some pretty blinged out ships, looking to PVP.

After pod-jumping to Amarr, I struggled to figure out a decent armour fit that I could take out.  I settled on a Vexor fit that hadn't held up to well previously, only after I made the mistake of buying an Omen and realizing while I was trying to fit it out that I can't use lasers.  This is a serious gap in my education that needs to be rectified.

I think the fleet that formed was much larger than the TVP pilots were expecting (they underestimated the draw of a roam invite in a channel like Bomber's Bar).  All told it took about an hour to roll the fleet out and get the ball rolling.

What stood out to me in this fleet was how cautious the FC was.  I'm used to flying in public fleets where you basically expect to lose your ship, or if not that, then you're not too worried if you do as the fit you're flying isn't overly expensive.  The FC had multiple scouts ahead of us and didn't rush into any decision.  He also set out pretty clear expectations for fleet members up front.  All in all, I enjoyed the fleet, I just found the atmosphere slightly unnerving.  It makes sense when you consider that most of the TVP pilots would typically be flying some expensive ships that they probably don't want to lose.

I, on the other hand, couldn't give a fuck if I lost my Vexor (the fit needs work anyways).  We ended up running in to a Late Night Alliance fleet in Amamake.  I got pretty excited when I saw that Susan Black was in the fleet, whose blog I read quite regularly.  I told the FC to primary her under the assumption that she was FC, but he reneged in the hope that it would keep the good fight going.  I didn't last too long in the fight, but did manage to Leroy a thrown together Merlin back into the battle after losing my Vexor (I tried to take down an Ares or a Taranis; it of course did not end well, especially as I did not find a prop mod).

A photo of the Fleet set up on the gate where we all got whelped.  Due to the massive amount so things to think about during he 10 seconds I actually survived, I didn't manage to take any screenshots during the actual engagement.

Susan Black tweeted the battle report:

Battle Report courtesy of Late Night Alliance killboard

What I learned:

-  Mo Money, Mo Problems
- Cheap disposable ships make for quick, carefree PVP.  I guess cheap is relative though.
- I think I love lowsec again.
- As I fly with different FCs, I realize more and more what a daunting task it must be.  Your FC deserves a hug and a high five.