I tried to follow a single bird, but my efforts were futile: Transformation is natural to their existence. Those birds surrounded us, each one a different shape, an altered species, a new wonder. Brilliant colors, dancing lights, beautiful cacophonies, wafting ambrosia. Details Official Description: The Tengu "When we first saw the flock, we were surrounded, caught in a spectacle of stimuli. Unlike Tech 1 and Tech 2 Ships, Tech 3 Ships can only be produced using the salvaged and recovered remains of Sleeper NPC's, which are only found in the unknown systems beyond wormholes. The subsystems also have an influence on the Slot-Layout as well as the appearance of the Tengu. This way the Tengu can be equipped with a Cloaking Device, Turrets, Missiles and/or an Interdiction Nullifier, which renders Warp Disruptor Bubbles ineffective, and even a subsystem which enhances shield booster effectiveness, core of the most common PVE fit. Like other Strategic Cruisers, the Tengu can be equipped with 4 different Subsystems in 5 different Slots, this grants the abilty to be extremly versatile.
The Tengu is quite common when it comes to PVE activties, but still a rare sight on PVP fleets, mainly due to its relatively high costs. This Ship is capable of fitting a hefty active as well as passive shield tank, while still beeing able to deal very good DPS. But until that day it will continue to serve as both a connection to the past and a rather effective (if often not needed) hammer.The Tengu is one of the new Tech 3 Cruiser (or Strategic Cruiser) sized Ships introduced with Apocrypha. Someday, like all ships, it will eventually explode into a billion pieces and be forgotten. I'm not trying to save it, but it has managed to still be in one piece. It is rather remarkable that it is still alive. I could, if need be, cash that chip in someday. The Tengu, on most days, is like a GTC with guns. It isn't that useful to me, it is expensive, and I am a seriously poor pirate that keeps every dime he has tied up in his ships. The truth is I don't often need the Tengu. A connection back thru the thread, back to Null and all the steps between then and now? Maybe I am a tiny bit afraid to see that thread explode? Maybe, as many ships as I go thru, as many as I blatantly undock into danger each and every day - just maybe having one constant is somehow important? Maybe there is some history attached to this thing. And maybe that is getting closer to the truth of it. Or maybe it has something to do with the fact that I still haven't gone down to Dodixie to pick up the Loki and Legion hulls waiting for me down there? Despite being able to fly the other T3 Cruisers, I still haven't done so.
I suppose never having lost a Strategic Cruiser I might be loathe to register my first loss mail in one. If I was given to sentiment I might start thinking I have an attachment to it. I'm trying to figure out why the darn thing is still alive. I'm not trying to justify the reason why I have a Tengu. It has never once been used for PvE and has always been PvP fit. So the ship has seen its fair share of action over the past four years. And I bring it out rather regularly for show of force, or to score some much needed final blows when someone is in trouble. It has scored some rather good kills that I can remember. It has been in several Shadow public roams.
But it has been a regular go-to ship over that time period when it has been needed. Granted, the Tengu doesn't see a lot of action. And it has been in my hangar for four years!? I know what you are thinking right now, that Rixx is afraid to fly it and it has been sitting in the hangar gathering dust all this time. I've only ever bought one Tengu, and while it has changed components over the years, it remains the same one. Sometime around July of 2010 according to a quick search through the archives. I bought that exact Tengu the day I could fly it. I suspect most of you reading this already suspected that. Even so, the oldest ship among them is probably the Curse, which is about eight months old. Then there are the "support" ships, the Curse, the Pilgrim, the Lach, the Arazu, the Rapier, and others of their ilk, which can sit for long periods of time just waiting for the day when they are needed. I tend to fit the smaller ships "on the fly" as needed, since small ships don't seem to last long when I fly them. Some still need to be reviewed given recent changes, mostly the BCs and BSs, since I don't fly them very often these days. Most of them are fitted and ready for combat. I currently have somewhere around 147 ships in my main Hangar.