Arzad, and the character of the Crusade

Sleep has been elusive of late.

When I first started in the Crusade, it was when the Amarr forces had been pushed to their breaking point. Only a few strongholds held out.

My own contribution to the inevitable turning tide was negligible. But turn, the tide did.

Crusdaers had a sudden surge in skill, passion and above all, luck. They pushed the Republic capsuleers back, taking several systems.

One such system was Arzad.

The taking of Arzad was... special.

Jamyl Sarum, the Emperor of Amarr ordered the system to be bathed in slave blood. Not warior's blood. Not Matari. But slave.

A freighter was brought to the Infrastructure hub by capsuleers. It was full of slaves. The Crusdaers fired upon the defenseless freighter. Their lasers stripped it's hull quickly, and it detonated, killing many of the slaves inside.

They were the lucky ones.

The wreck floated in space, slaves still surviving inside. Slowly, their pressurised cargo containers lost integrity, and they suffered an agonizingly slow death, as their oxygen was depleted.

After an hour or two of taunting the Republic, daring them to rescue their bretheren, the Crusaders opened fire again, vaporizing the wreck, condemning the slaves inside to the harsh vacuum of space.

I very nearly left the Crusade that day, King's orders be damned.

I stayed believing in Khanid II. I stayed trusting his leadership would never set the Khanid Kingdom on such a bloody thirsty and psychotic path. We Khanid may be harsh taskmasters, but slaves are still a valuable resource for us. We are never so wasteful.

So I stayed, turning a blind eye to the psychotic nature of the Imperial Navy, and the Crusade.

There are many fine pilots here. Many who are helpful, and many who act like decent human beings. But even these could not stop Arzad. And so now, they are tarnished by the actions of others they could not stop.

And that includes me.

Strategikon Arcani: The Kataphract Slicer

My return to the battlefield also brings with it a new direction. I must start learning new flight techniques. The Kontos Executioner has served me well as a training vessel, teaching me the importance of range control and damage application. Now, we will look at how to effectively wield a kontoss, without the aid of a Webifier.

But first, a history lesson.

Early Khanid settlements were on Arthra, now caled Amarr Prime. The Amarr civilization grew on an island of the coast of Khanid lands, the isolation no doubt leading to their zealous obsession with God. The Khanid themselves lived on the mainland, tribes of horse masters engaging in petty squabbles with each other.

When the Amarr left their cloistered island in the Reclaiming, the Khanid were the first to be absorbed into their growing empire. We became famed mounted warriors, adopting a heavily armoured style. Our warriors and mounts were covered in gleaming chain mail. Such was our prowess, that the Amarr, whilst all other civilizations crumbled before them, recognized the Khanid as equals.

This heavy cavalry warrior is known as the kataphract: quite literally meaning 'fully enclosed.'

Heavily armed and armoured, these were flexible assault troops, often required to field both lance and bow, well defended, but used offensively.

To mirror this, we will need a true master of frigates.

The Imperial Navy Slicer.

Advanced laser technologies increase the range of this vessels weaponry, extending our reach beyond that of the Kontos Executioner. Significant increases in power output to weapon hard points give this ships two turrets more punch. It can be flexibly fitted, giving more armour, more speed, or even more range. For those in the Crusade, this ship is easily obtained.

Today, we will look at a balanced ship, one that lives up to the potential of the thinking warrior.

The Kataphract Slicer

[Imperial Navy Slicer, Kataphract]
Fourier Transform Tracking Program
Heat Sink II
Overdrive Injector System II
Small Ancillary Armor Repairer, Nanite Repair Paste
Damage Control II

Faint Warp Disruptor I
Limited 1MN Microwarpdrive I

Small Focused Pulse Laser II, Scorch S
Small Focused Pulse Laser II, Scorch S
[empty high slot]

Small Capacitor Control Circuit I
Small Energy Locus Coordinator I
Small Energy Locus Coordinator I

The rig slots are my personal preference, but at least one Locus Coordinator is a must. My own ship exchanges the Fourier Transfrom Tracking Program for a Tracking Enhancer 2, but this requires some implants.

This vessel is a true Kataphract; able to wield it's 'short' range weapons to beyond 20km, with the speed and agility that was once associated with cavalry. Not only that, but it fields the armour lacking on the Kontoss Executioner, able to withstand more punishment, and patrol for longer before re-docking, truly a ship 'fully covered'. It also carries several plates of black armour... hardly the true Khanid Black, but better than nothing.

I cannot claim full credit for this fitting, as I started with a basic layout given by a very dark shadow indeed: Rixx Javix. His fitting for the Slicer formed the basis for the Kataphract.

Like his ship, this is a flexible vessel. Our running order is still to kite, to give us a chance of tactical withdrawal. However, our much improved defenses allow us to engage in close quarter fighting as well. Since we can only control range with our speed and piloting, this option proves extremely useful.

Fighting drill:

• Overheat weapons
• Orbit at 18-20km
• Fire
• Manage heat
• Repair as needed (turn auto-repeat off)
• If the enemy closes and lands a scram on you, switch to Multi-frequency crystals, and hope God is smiling on you that day.

This ship is fairly expensive. If you are still unsure of your skill, stick to the Kontos Executioner.

As the infamous pirate Javix says, be daring. This ship will be enable you to engage a wide variety of targets. However, my own advice is this: be smart. This ship is flexible, but flexibility comes at the price of excellence in any one field. Brave men die in glorious fashion. Smart men go home to their wives.

Return of the Kataphract!

Whilst I freely admit I am a slave to my King's commands, that doesn't mean I don't see value in what I do. it certainly doesn't mean I can't have my own goals in mind.

My investigations of wormhole space reveled far more mysterious than this soldier can decipher. Exploration, whilst a pleasant break from the battlefield, is clearly not my forte.

I will post my findings later on, but for now, I am returning to the crusade. My King has put far more learned men than me to the task of investigating wormhole space, and exploration in general. I will post my own findings here in due time.

For now, I have been returned to the Crusade. Let the Minmatar rebels tremble in fear. Let pirates retreat to their shadows. Let Amarrians bear witness once more to a true Khanid warrior.

My goal is as always:

Walk in dark places,
Learn from shadows,
Bring the light.

I will learn and teach my fellow pilots how to succeed in combat. I will teach them how to survive to come home to their families. I will show them that civility need not be lost on the battlefield between immortals.

The Khanid Kataphract has returned!

Not much of value

So my careful investigations of the Khanid revealed this:

There are Blood Raider pirates in the region.

My King was hardly pleased with this, and was even less than pleased with the material I liberated from the pirates. He already knew the Blood Raiders were around.

In total I acquired around 20 million ISK worth of parts and training manuals. This is mostly due to my terribly inefficient scanning and collection routines, which will be the topic of a later Strategikon. Hardly worth the two-week effort, considering my one day patrol netted me around 50 million ISK in loyalty store goods.

I think, perhaps, that exploration is not my defining skill.

I ran a combat site, however, a Blood Cathedral. I picked up some bounties, and some some interesting items, along with the pleasure of eradicating the Raiders from Khanid space. That proved lucrative, and might be a potential supplementary income source, particularly in the worm hole sites.

All in all, not a very fruitful investigation. With more practice, I'm sure I can increase my exploration findings, and I'm sure that the Anoikis space data and archaeology sites will be more bountiful.

I did come across something perplexing in Geztic though...

Trade Log: Starting off in Regional Trading

...amn pie.. of Min..tar junk! Why does anything made in Rens break the second you leave system?! Wait, is it on now?

Oh. Well... good.

My name is Benh Thanh. I am Vehrokior. I am a slave.

Lets clear away the obvious question. Do I like being a slave? To be honest, I never really think about it. What would I do with freedom? Probably the same thing as now, but I'd worry more about a steady pay check. As a slave, my family is taken care of by the Arcani, and as long as we work, we won't starve.

The Arcanis are good people, as most Holder families go. They treat us fairly, and show us trust. They don't have to. The Khanid aren't exactly known for the good treatment of slaves. If you want to know more, ask my Master. he loves to ramble on about crap like that..

Anyway, he asked me to talk about Region Trading. I guess he wants to give away all my secrets, but slave does as slave is told.

Region trading is this:

• Buy stuff in one hub
• Move it to another
• Sell
• Repeat

Got it? Good. That's all. I've got some business to get back- What? Oh. The whole story? Do you want us to lose all our profits?! 

<static>

Ahem. My master informs me, that this is not clear enough. I apologize for my rude outburst.

Anyway.

The above is entirely true. Region trading is simply the process of moving some cheap things in one trade hub to another one where the locals will pay more for it. 

There's all sorts of complicated reasons why there is a price difference. Certain things are in more demand in some places, some things are only produced in other places. Throw hauling time for that with a bunch of other factors, and you have a five hundred page essay, which will amount to a lot of time wasted when you could have been trading for profit.

That said, there are some things you can do to make trading an easy source of income. It takes a bit of effort to set up, but after the intial set up, you can do just a little bit every day to keep a steady profit.

Obviously the more active you are, the more you'll make.

Over the next few weeks I'll be describing each of the above stages in more detail. There are other more trade centered blogs out there, but I want to give you a lazy man's guide to 'enough riches', rather than boast of my riches.

After all... it's not my money. I just spend it.

Strategikon Arcani: Patrol planning: Solo

Time for my first sortie.

Before I even un-docked from Station, I planned out my route. Using a reputable mapping service, I plotted a loop around the Bleak Lands and Devoid.

My objective: Engage pilots in solo duels.

The trick here is to avoid larger roaming fleets. Systems with high numbers of jumps are to be avoided. Large numbers of jumps are indicative of high traffic, and more organised patrol groups. Whilst the traditional Minmatar warrior is very much the heroic personal challenge seeker, the modern Republic soldier has adopted more conservative (and much more effective) military doctrines. This growth in tactical maturity has led to larger patrols focusing fire on single targets.

This is not to be treated as cowardice. Intelligent combat is always better than brave and foolish.

Systems with very-low to no jumps are to be avoided as well, but marked for later. There will be fewer targets here, and thus longer before any meaningful engagement can be made. However, these should be marked for later capture. Victory comes with the capture of systems, not with the number of enemy dead. Equally, the rewards for capturing plexes are higher than that of destroying enemy ships, and rewards will directly fund our own operations.

The course you plot will reflect your daring. Higher traffic will mean higher risk. You will have to decide what risk you will take.

To re-iterate the Strategikon's teachings here:

• Plot your course
• Avoid high traffic
• Avoid very-low to no traffic.

Again, I am by no means a master. Please give your own insights into this strategy.

Strategikon Arcani: Tent-pegging

A practice drill used by ancient Khanids to perfect lancing techniques.

The drill is simple. A small object is placed on the ground, often a ring or a tent peg. A rider must charge at it, and pick the object off the ground with his lance or spear. It teaches accuracy in the placement of the lance, and also controlling the distance at which you approach the peg.

Why is this relevant to space-ships? Kiting.

Kiting is a tactic of using a long range weapon system, and keeping the enemy at distance. You can hurt him, and he can't hurt you.

This is smart, and is actually my preferred tactic. A traditional weapon of the Khanid is the kontos, a cavalry spear about four meters long. It requires two hands to use it effectively, meaning you control your mount with your knees, and you can't carry a shield. However, it has the excellent advantage of length.

It other words, all the danger happens at the other end of the stick.

With that in mind, I present you with my first series of ships:

Kontos Executioner

This ship is fragile, but has relatively good range in the world of frigates. It does require a high degree of training to use. You will need strong Engineering training, and also should be well versed in Advanced Weapon Upgrades to be able field it. Alternatively, you can use Implants to make up the difference whilst you train in these areas.

The kontos is still a melee weapon. Like the ancient weapon this frigate also uses close ranged weapons. Accuracy will be higher, as given by the tracking of close ranged weapons, but is not a true long ranged set up. Caution must be used in maintaining range.

As I am a terrible pilot, this is a good set up for me. The tactic is simple: Maintain distance.

• Overheat weapons and web.
• Orbit the enemy at 15km, using the MWD
• Fire.
• Manage heat.
• If the enemy closes to 13km, use the overheated web.
• If the enemy closes and lands a scram on you, switch to Multi-frequency crystals, and hope God is smiling on you that day.

In essence, you will practice tent-pegging. Control the distance, and keep your guns accurate. Overheating the web is important, as an overheated Warp Scrambler can hit out beyond 10km. Once that lands on you, your MWD shuts down, and your speed advantage is gone.

The caveat to this, is that you'll be controlling the ship with your knees. Be wary of the enemy frigate's movements, but focus on the range for now. Work on the more subtle placements of the ship later.

My code urges me to learn, so if there are any suggestions anyone has, please let me know.

(I also apologize for the horrible layout. I'm still learning to use this blasted technology.)

Strategikon: Deployment

My King has ordered me to war. For the Arcani, Khanid and the Kingdom!

But before we go flying off into a blaze of glory and destruction, proper planning and strategy must be discussed.

Contrary to popular belief, successful capsuleer combat rarely follows the form of 'Jump into frigate, find fights, win.' That more than often ends with one dead frigate, one dead clone, and a long, tedious turn around between fights.

To give ourselves more time fighting, and less time preparing to fight, we should choose a system to fight from, and to re-ship from.

My trade hub, where I purchase all of my arms, is Amarr Prime. It is a great hub to work from, and a strategic advantage for the Crusade. Prices and availability of weapons and ships are good here. However, it is too far from the front lines.

As with all warfare, first go to your maps. I have a fantastic cartographer who I use for this.

I have chosen a system near The Bleak Lands to stage from.

The system you choose will be based on what your needs are. As a solo player, I won't be able to mount a consistent defense of a Faction Warfare system. I can only access stations in systems the Crusade has conquered, meaning tht should the Republic take it back, I will have a struggle to reclaim my armoury.

I could choose to stage from a system occupied by other militia corporations, but that would leave me vulnerable to their own defensive capabilities.

Instead, I have chosen a High-security system, just on the outskirts of the Faction Warfare zone: Kuomi. This system gives me to entry points into the War Zone. CONCORD prevents the Republic from invading these systems, so my arms will always be accessible. It also has an allied corporation running the stations there, which I appreciate. Caldari food is satisfying, if a little bland to the Khanid palette.

To move there, I have a choice of hauling it myself in industrials flown by my slaves. Concord should hopefully protect them from pirates, but there is still a risk of lost goods. A second choice, more expensive but less risky, is to use PushX Industries. They are a courier service I've worked with in the past, and have always been reliable.

To begin with, I will move ten frigates plus fittings there. When I fall in battle, I will fly back, and grab another frigate from here. Moving stacks of ships and equipment will allow me to fight many times in one day, without needing to retreat back to Amarr

Eventually, I can set up buy orders at this staging area, to attract traders to courier my weapons for me. This will save me time, and allow me to get on with the task of defending the Empire.

Stages:

• Decide on your needs
• Find a map
• Find a system that suits your needs
• Move many stacks of equipment you need

This will be my first serious deployment. If any have advice about how to do it better, please let me know.

Royal Decree

Khanid II, King of the Khanids, decreed that his kingdom and the Amarr Empire will reconcile their differences.

Why there are differences is a history lesson for later, but part of the negotiations is military aid in the ongoing 24th Crusade. In return, Khanid Kingdom has a seat on the Emperor's Privy Council, whilst keeping it's independence.

Military aid is where I come in.

We Khanid are excellent fighters, with a long martial tradition. Discipline, and cunning are the ideals we strive for. We adhere to past doctrines, but welcome new innovations. We never discount a path to victory.

In ancient times, our ancestors rode into battle on steeds, covered in armour, wielding a variety of weapons. I honour this tradition.

I am Behnid Arcani, son of the Arcani Holder family. We are relatively small family compared to the larger Holders, but we lay claim to a wealthy chain of islands on Khanid Prime.

I now fight for the Imperial Crusade.