I was able to catch up with MasL, Eve’s most notorious black ops fisher, and ask him a few questions about his favorite internet space ship hobby. You may remember MasL as the pilot of the 20 billion isk Machariel. Being a lone wolf, he was reluctant to divulge too much information, which as we all know, is the most important thing in Eve. However, being the subject matter expert, he did share some interesting information with me.
How did you get started with solo Black Ops fishing?
Before I started to fly Black Ops, I was flying a Machariel… yes, right… that one which cost was 20bil:) I was actually tired a bit, because everyone wanted to kill my shiny Machariel. Almost every day, when I was online, someone wanted to hunt me down:) So yeah, I got tired, because it’s a big loss to morale, when you lose such ship. But that is why I love Eve. That’s why I fly ships, which after some time become like little children for me.
So the only way to stay in game with my main was to become a shade. A shade which can kill almost every subcap in game solo and there would be no need to camp me, because I would be invisible most of the time. No one will know where I will strike. So I saw that the most perspective ship for that role was Black Ops. I had to choose between the Panther and the Sin. At that moment, I had perfect gunnery skills, but I found it hard to fit the Panther the way I wanted. So the ship was chosen – the SIN. After the Black Ops range buff+drones buff, it became the perfect machine for solo killing almost every subcap in game (thanks CCP). It was much cheaper than the Machariel, so it’s wasn’t such a big loss(but still hurts), because almost all of the fittings I could get from plexes, which was still pretty easy to farm with the Sin.
So day after day I was learning how to do solo Black Ops in the best way. My mind was creating schemes, step by step. I was always updating my knowledge about how to do that. Sometimes I even saw how to catch someone in my dreams:) That’s how it was (maybe IS) interesting for me.
How to make money
So the main idea for killing carebears was not killmails, but profit – loot. Expensive deadspace modules. That’s how I actually earn my ISK. I never used Tengubots or something like that to farm. So kill yourself forum/kb trollz :D. I will say also, I was never farming anomalies actually:) Maybe one or two when I was in ROL alliance, when ROL had territories in Feythabolis. Mostly it was plex making or hunting and killing other players for loot.
Advice for players wanting to do solo blops
About advices for new pilots… hmmm I think my main advice would be – paranoia. You must always have a plan B, because no one will help you. It’s just you alone in a hostile local. No over blobs or something. Targets will die slowly. So you must always follow your created drop plan. If something goes wrong – just leave grid – warp out. And even if you lose your Black Ops, plan B in this case would be to have money for new one – right?
And another piece of advice – do not panic. Even if you jumped into a trap, the possibility to survive is still high, if you have a plan. Fight till the last cap booster or structure %. Yesterday, I lost my SIN just because I didn’t follow my own rules.
Phoebe expansion changes
After the Phoebe expansion, almost nothing have changed for Black Ops pilots. Range remains the same, you only have to wait certain periods of time. It’s ok, because you can scan some plexes or create new routes for hunting or do some home stuff IRL(woohoo). Also less chance to get hot dropped by supers or something…
Would you make any changes to Black Ops ships?
I think mainly everything is ok with Black Ops. I don’t know about the Redeemer (never liked lasers), but when I tried to fit the Widow/Panther in the past, I feel there is a lack of CPU and PG for both. So maybe only these parameters can be “buffed”. Also, I didn’t like that CCP made stealth bombers so slow (warp speed reduction/bigger sig radius/slower agility)… That’s not right I think. It warps out now like battleship
So there you have it: MasL’s wisdom on solo blops. Interesting stuff indeed. What are your thoughts?
