On Frigates

Oursulaert is one of my favorite places in the universe. Sure, nearby Luminaire has more history and more culture.. but a guy like me isn’t so interested in that crap. Oursulaert is like a smaller version of Jita – anything you want can be had for a price – often a pretty reasonable price. But here in Oursulaert, it’s extended to include all manner of Gallentean hedonism.

I’m sitting awake in a rented bunk, not far from a rented hangar where my newly-assembled Rifter, the Restock Three, lies waiting. My rented companion for the evening lies next to me, and I wonder idly if she’s supposed to be back at the pleasure hub by now. I look around at the small room and know it's one of the last times I'll see this system.. CONCORD has been decreasing my security status, and soon they won't let me in.

My thoughts return to the Restock Three, recently purchased. I’ve been flying Rifters a lot lately. Punisher-class frigates were my first love, but despite many pilots being fans of their abilities, I find them lacking for this line of work – their lack of space for propulsion and jamming systems makes hunting difficult. I’m licensed to fly other classes of ship beyond frigates – destroyers, cruisers, and battleships. I have even piloted high-tech assault frigates. But given the state of my bank accounts, I dare not risk such expensive ships against other capsuleers.

I’ve been training recently to pilot interceptors, which I would be much more willing to take into combat than their heavier cousins, the assault frigates. But one thing Assault Frigates have taught me is that I love the ships of the Khanid Kingdom, my homeland. Ships designed for missiles are a perennial favorite of mine. Given that, I wonder if I should cross-train in flying the heavily missile-focused Caldari ships and learn to fly their dreaded Crow-class interceptor. I’ll start with the Khanid version, the Malediction-class interceptor.

I could make the jump to fighting in cruiser-sized vessels, which would be cheaper than interceptors, but I do love frigates. I begin wondering how well a Maller-class cruiser would do, when my Gallentean companion stirs and brings me back to the present.

For now, I’ll stick with my Rifter.