Guardian Angel

'Listen. It's a tough universe. There's all sorts of people and things trying to do you, kill you, rip you off, everything. If you're going to survive out there, you've really got to know where your towel is."

                Douglas Adams - The Hitchhikers Guide to the Galaxy

I don't often post about flying cartoon spaceships, but I can't let Rixx Javix and Laedy have all the fun all the time. 

When I answer a CTA, more often than not I'll end up bringing a logistics ship. Flying a logistics boat can be more than a little intimidating. You're sort of like the medic in a World War II movie, running around in a battlefield with a BIG red cross on your front and back that practically screams "Shoot Me First!  Shoot Me First!" to the enemy. 

You go into combat with little in the way of speed or firepower at your disposal and surrounded by a fleet of heavy hitters. Yet, when battle is finally joined, you know the FC on the other side will have your demise very high on his list of things to do. If you're packing a flight of light drones you might get in on a kill or two, but in the overall scheme of things you're not there to collect kill-mails. It's a high risk job that doesn't pad your kill stats.

But, heck, I'm a giver.

Besides, flying logistics follows my first rule of getting on in your corporation or alliance: Be of use. In terms of ship cost to value delivered, logistics ships offer a high return on investment. Owing to their non-sexy mission, there are rarely as many of them in fleet as an FC would want. For that reason, the brave and selfless logistics pilots are welcome in almost any fleet. In addition to a warm welcome in fleet, many alliances will reimburse logistics lost in CTAs for more than the ship's market value. They know you're a prime target and want to make you're not shy about coming to the big fleet fights.

Up to now, with my skills slanted toward the Gallente as they are, I've been flying an Onieros for armor fleets. But the true flavor of the month for armor logis is the Guardian. I recently notched my Amarr cruiser skill to max so I can finally fly this little wonder (as well as a Zealot) which I'm presently fitting up for its maiden sortie.

Like the towel, in Douglas Adam's Hitchhiker's universe, the logistics ship is an accessory whose humble, innocuous and somewhat dull nature belies its importance. After all, nullsec's tough. There's all sorts of people and things trying to do you, kill you, rip you off, everything. If you're going to survive out there, you've got to know where your logistics pilots are.

Don't Panic