Introducing the Solo Senpai Interview Series

We are all in Black Shark Cult to learn, and that includes your friendly neighbourhood priests… With that in mind, I am proud to present the first instalment of a new resource offered by our Hunter Sect: the Solo Senpai interview series! We will be talking to experienced Solo PvP pilots, who have racked up hundreds or even thousands of solo kills — each one through a different unique mix of skill, talent and tactics (and maybe also some SP and ISK…).

Raylan Yutani

For this first interview, I talked to Raylan Yutani of Stay Frosty corporation (Zkillboard). Raylan has been playing for a while, but his focus on solo PvP is fairly recent — he has become very, very good at it very quickly. Raylan was nice enough to give us some insights into his tactics, learning processes, and favorite fits. Enjoy and learn!

Capsuleer Raylan Yutani of Stay Frosty

Thanks for taking the time for interview, Raylan! Can we start off by talking about when you started playing Eve, and how you ended up with Stay Frosty?

I started playing EVE in 2013. I opened a trial account and was immediately hooked on the depth of the game and the possibilities that the sandbox environment offered. Raylan currently has 66M SP, including approximately 15M SP extracted from my redundant alts. My first taste of PvP was a brief dabble with Faction Warfare after 12 months of carebearing. Overall, it was quite disappointing and I learned very little about PvP. Opposing faction pilots weren’t interested in fighting and I was clearly outclassed by pirates that would invade ‘my’ plexes.

It might have gone better if I had joined a FW corporation…

…but of course I’m quite solitary and self-reliant IRL and prefer to figure things out for myself rather than ask for help. I did take away some positives from that experience though; the thrill of my first solo kill (https://zkillboard.com/kill/39579990/), the camaraderie of helping fleetmates destroy an enemy (https://zkillboard.com/kill/38985135/) and a constructive conversation with a member of Tuskers after he inevitably destroyed my Firetail following quite a lengthy cat and mouse chase around Vifrevaert. He returned the salvage from my wreck (unheard of!), we discussed fits and he suggested I put in an application with Tuskers when I eventually honed my skills. I then became involved in anti-ganking after a friend lost his Leopard while auto-piloting through some system I’d never heard of named ‘Uedama’. He wasn’t particularly bothered by the loss but I set off on a crusade to hunt the criminal down and bring him to justice. Unfortunately, CCP beat me to it and struck the perp down with their mighty banhammer following the ‘Bonus Room’ episode.

Can you share any cool anti-ganking anecdotes? It’s not something I am very familiar with…

One of my favourite anti-ganking moments was interfering with the infamous Santo Trafficante when I prevented him from boarding his Maller and stole it from under his nose as he sat helpless in his pod…

Anti-ganking was interesting for a while but it wasn’t what I would call ‘proper PvP’ — despite what they may tell you on MinerBumping.com.

I did gain confidence in engaging enemies and learning about CONCORD and Crimewatch mechanics. I eventually moved away from anti-ganking. We managed to save the occasional freighter but it seemed to make little impact on the antics of CODE. Most victims failed to take even the basic measures to help themselves and I stopped caring. I then began running burner missions in highsec as a source of ISK. Burners taught me a lot about managing speed, tackle, repping and over-heating.

I also learned a few tricks from Feyd’s blog (http://evedarklord.blogspot.co.uk/). The Lords.of.Midnight seemed to have a lot of fun testing the boundaries of the sandbox. I experimented with a few shady practices such as suspect baiting, ninja looting and ganking for a while; they taught me how to hunt targets and line up the perfect warp-in. Reading Zappity’s Adventures forum post and blog (http://zappitysadventures.blogspot.co.uk/) inspired me to try out life as a lowsec pirate and proved it was a viable and entertaining occupation for a solo pilot. I reassessed my goals in EVE and decided I had to change things to get the fun back. I looked at various possible corps to join and Stay Frosty’s laid back attitude and ‘no drama, no demands’ ethos seemed like a perfect fit. So I dismantled my mining fleet, flogged off my assets, closed a couple of accounts and put in an application with Stay Frosty. It took a few weeks to find my feet and a playstyle that worked for me until I eventually topped the monthly killboard in November.

Nice! Now, can you tell us a little about how you fly with Stay Frosty? Do you enjoy flying fleets as well as flying solo?

The relaxed approach of Stay Frosty allows us to roam solo or team up in ad hoc fleets. We constantly share intel in our standing fleet chat regarding the local neighbourhood, and can count on each other if we need to bring moar firepower. I frequently help out local corpies and vice versa.

I’m not precious about my killboard so I’m more than happy if a Frosty dives in to help me out during a fight.

I do join the occasional organised fleet with comms and hope to do more of that, but I don’t really get involved in the kitchen sink roaming fleets (which more often than not become more akin to the Judean suicide squad. I’m not choosy about what I kill (farmers/miners/explorers whatever). I have a lot of time for people willing to learn and will frequently refund newbro losses.

Great, and thanks for that attitude by the way. We try to be the same in Black Shark Cult, and to teach our new pilots about pirate etiquette like that. Now, what is your number one favorite ship in Eve?

My absolute favourite ship is the Stratios. It’s gorgeous to look at — when it’s not cloaked, it’s very flexible and a tempting target that makes people linger in fight when they should really GTFO. My second favourite would be the Tristan. It’s a beast of a ship for a T1 frigate.

I have yet to actually fly the Stratios, but I agree it’s the best looking ship in the game for sure. Can you tell us in which ship you’ve been the most successful so far?

It depends on how you define successful… I have racked up many more kills with my Keres and Ishkur but I just love the sneaky-bastardness of the Stratios. Cloaky, drones, neuts and dual-rep sauciness!

Now, I realize this might be sensitive and OPSEC info, but could you shed some light on how you operate when you are looking for solo fights?

Hey, I’m giving away my trade secrets here!

I tend to operate from a number of small bases and stay within a radius of 4–5 systems of those hubs. Jump clones make it easy to avoid camp situations, stop things from getting stale and means I always have a good selection of ready-made ships to hand. I run two concurrent EVE sessions and use a scout to help locate targets or act as a warp-in for Raylan, if necessary. (I don’t use links for PvP.) Some more background about my setup: the overview tabs I use are PvP, Fleet, NPC, Drones, Salvage, Misc, All and GTFO. Auto-tracking camera is enabled (shift-C) so the camera follows any object I select. That helps me see where a target has run to. On entering a system, whilst still under gatecloak, I copy the contents of local into the Pirate’s Little Helper tool and identify potential targets and their probable fits. Then I start locating those targets, firstly with a full directional scan, gradually reducing the range and angle. If, for example, the target is between 5AU and 10AU I then manually adjust the distance until I have them within 0.1AU and compare that distance with the objects in my ‘All’ overview tab. With the angle set to 5 degrees, I select each object at that distance and scan. If the gatecloak expires before I finish, I will warp to a safespot central to the system and continue with d-scan. The typical places to look are FW plexes, belts and anomalies. If I can’t locate targets with d-scan, I pop out the Sisters combat probes to find their safespot or mission plex. Failing that, I will check if they are docked and wait outside the station to see where they are headed. After doing this for a while, you get a good feeling for where potential targets are likely to be hanging out depending on their ship and background, and it speeds up the process. i.e. LP farmers will be in plexes, a non-FW pilot in a plex wants to fight, a non-FW pilot in a belt is usually ratting, etc. Get familiar with the locals — learn who are the link and cyno alts. Ratters typically move from belt to belt, top to bottom, landing at the same distance from the beacon each time. So it’s easy to predict where they will land next and to sit waiting for them. I bookmark any safe spots. You will be surprised at how many pilots re-use the same safe spot even after being caught there in the past and it saves me the effort of making my own safe spots.

Wow, that is a boatload of valuable tips right there! Good stuff… So, more inside information please! What are your favorite fits you can share with us?

Well, I’m no fitting guru so don’t expect any revelations here. I borrow most of my fits from zKill or corpmates! The ship I’m probably best known for in Stay Frosty is my Keres anti-farming fit, which was spawned from my frustration with the number of FW pilots using warp core stabilisers and ‘forgetting’ to fit guns. It’s fast and has surprisingly good scram range; Warp Scrambler II is 18.9km heated. The negatives; DPS is low and tank is virtually non-existant so don’t engage any drone boats.

[Keres, Superweapon!]

Magnetic Field Stabilizer II

Damage Control II

Tracking Enhancer II 5MN Y-T8 Compact Microwarpdrive

Warp Scrambler II

Caldari Navy Warp Scrambler

Warp Scrambler II

Sensor Booster II, Scan Resolution Script 150mm Railgun II, Caldari Navy Antimatter Charge S

150mm Railgun II, Caldari Navy Antimatter Charge S Small Hyperspatial Velocity Optimizer II

Small Low Friction Nozzle Joints II 'Augmented' Hobgoblin x2

Caldari Navy Antimatter Charge S x3000

Spike S x1000

Nanite Repair Paste x40

The scram/kite Ishkur tends to be my go-to ship despite it being the ginger step-child of the assault frigate family. Overheat all the things, keep at range. Swap out the web for a second scram if the situation calls for it.

[Ishkur, Mortal Sword!]

Damage Control II

Coreli A-Type Explosive Plating

Magnetic Field Stabilizer II

Small Ancillary Armor Repairer, Nanite Repair Paste Coreli A-Type 1MN Afterburner

Federation Navy Stasis Webifier

Caldari Navy Warp Scrambler 125mm Railgun II, Caldari Navy Antimatter Charge S

125mm Railgun II, Caldari Navy Antimatter Charge S

Small Knave Scoped Energy Nosferatu

125mm Railgun II, Caldari Navy Antimatter Charge S Small Hybrid Collision Accelerator I

Small Hybrid Burst Aerator I 'Augmented' Hobgoblin x5

Acolyte II x5

Caldari Navy Antimatter Charge S x3000

Spike S x1000

Nanite Repair Paste x40

I’ll have to try out that Ishkur one of these days. I suppose part of its success is that is flown very rarely and people will tend to underestimate it… Let’s pick your brain even more thoroughly. Do you fly with implants? If so, what is your typical solo PvP pod?

I use minimal impants — mainly for fitting purposes:- Slot 4: Genolution Core Augmentation CA-2 Slot 6: Inherent Implants ‘Squire’ Power Grid Management EG-603 Slot 7: Zor’s Custom Navigation Link Slot 10: Zainou ‘Gnome’ Weapon Upgrades WU-1003 I use Synth Exile for +3% armour repairer boost (although I normally forget that I have it in the cargo bay). I will be trying some stronger drugs soon now that transport of them in empire space is legal. I don’t use links for PvP.

What some people tend to forget is that flying solo, especially when you don’t fly super-blinged and without links, can be a costly playstyle. How do you make your ISK in game?

To make ISK, I use an alt to blitz L4 security missions in highsec or run burner missions, although recently the Sisters of EVE LP conversion rate has reduced significantly. I recently drained all the skill points from my redundant alts and sold the spare extractors, so I’m ISK positive for the foreseeable future. Looting my PvP kills covers my day-to-day piracy activities. I fund my subs with cash. PLEXing accounts can become a second job and that’s time you could be having fun instead.

Thanks so much for talking to us, Raylan. Lots of good insights and practical tips, just what I had hoped for… Do you have any parting wisdom for our Sharkies who aspire to solo greatness?

Flying blind into a situation will usually get you dead.