Well, my friends, this weekend was certainly eventful for both me and my Caldari companion, and I'll introduce you to my money maker for the first time.
The Lethal Library
I'll start with her tale, since it is short, and the pain easily sympathized. Kechara Rye, that silly minx, went and bought herself 13 new skill books all at once. Millions of ISK spent all in one big shot, she floated on towards the system of purchase in her naked Navitas. Aura warned her when she went into the system, that it was low security, but what else could she do but retrieve her library from the clutches of pirate space. Well she could have asked for help, but that's beside the point.
She made it into the system very easily, no problems, no pirates, and she let out a great big sigh as she nestled her Navitas into the station's docking bay. The dock hands had her 13 skill books all packaged up and ready for pickup. She double checked her inventory and then sped on her way back towards the safety of high security. When this was over, she would be very glad to be safe and secure once again.
Kechara didn't like low security one bit. She didn't like me calling her a carebear either, but if the pod fits...
As she glided back through her warp bubble to the gate that would lead her to safety, Kechara drooled over the hoard of knowledge she would soon be pouring through. The Navitas dropped out of warp just outside of jump range for the gate, and she moved for it quickly. Alas, not quickly enough. Out of nowhere the shots came, slamming into her naked Navitas round after round, shaking the tiny ship so much that she couldn't even get her bearings. Within moments, the ship was destroyed and her pod floated amidst the wreckage. Swearing vehemently, she willed her pod back to high sec, where she brought up comms with yours truly and vented quite harshly.
I gave Kechara some advice on trying to run through low sec and survive, and actually got an apology for her loss of temper; shocking from a Caldari, but true none-the-less. I could feel her pain, especially considering my first trip in a Vexor ended badly with a bit less than 30m ISK lost, but such is life in New Eden and hopefully she has learned from the incident.
Experience Learned is Experience Earned
Shortly before leaving ASPOT, my friend Ralcoss had tugged me out to null sec and given me some very handy advice for traveling in relative safety. He had me power off my weapons and equip warp stabbers to all of my low slots (5 in the Thorax), and I had already known to turn off my auto target back. The powering off of the weapons wasn't strictly necessary, but with all those warp stabbers, I didn't have enough power for the rest of my ship. We weren't interested in a fight; it was all about escape and evasion.
Well, only a few days after Ralcoss' helpful insights, I got to put them to use for myself. I was trekking my way through Placid's null-sec tracking down a skill book I had purchased. Enroute to a stargate, I got caught in a warp bubble with lots of pretty, floaty, dead things all around me. My first act: In the local comms I shout out, "Someone left their warp bubble out here." It wasn't an intentional cry for abuse, but in retrospect it was rather humorous.
Moments later, I catch a glimpse of a Helios just before it vanishes behind a cloak. Ah-hah! So it's not abandoned... Let's move! I immediately set my Thorax to warp to a belt that was out of line with the gate and warp bubble. Thankfully there was one, otherwise I might have been screwed. I warped off and laughed quietly to myself as Aura informed me that he was trying to warp scramble me. As soon as I left warp, I set warp for the gate once more and waved at the Helios as I jumped through.
After jumping, once the systems had all come back online and started showing me my surroundings, I saw several nice flashy red things moving towards me. Luckily, this was the system in which my precious skill book was waiting and there was only one station. I managed to swing my ship about and get into warp just as the second volley of shots dropped my shield to about 60% strength. Once more, I laughed to myself and waved goodbye to my aggressors as my warp bubble enveloped me.
Just for fun, I tossed a jibe into local comms telling them, "nice try!" I received no response. After docking and injecting my skill, I decided not to tempt fate and I chatted with some friends for a while before I retired for the evening... well, it was morning in Eve Standard Time, but the beauty of living among the stars is that we set our own biological schedules.
Mining: A Good Day to Die
Greetin's, strangers. I'm not willin' to impart my real name 'cept to those I trust, but ya can call me L, or whatever the hell ya want. I mine. It's a shitty job with no additional benefits, but the pay is very good if'n you know where to look. Most of the time it's just plain boring, but it is my duty to refill Caels' pockets when 'e goes and gets 'imself blow'd up like a moron. And don't ya think otherwise, 'e is indeed a moron, but most people seem to like 'im well enough. Maybe they's morons too, I dunno, and I don't care.
Anyhow, I don't reckon ya'll wanna hear me talk much, but I got me a decent story the past few days, so I'ma flap my gums at ya anyway. I've been 'round a mite longer than most might think, seein' as this is my first tellin'.
I's out mining, minding my own, when this 'ere thievin' Drake comes and flips my can on me. Now, I seen 'im coming, an' I towed in all my drones 'cuz I knew what he was after. I got no weapons fitted to my barge, 'cuz that's jus' stupid, an' I even had myself two little asteroids locked so I couldn't even have locked onto this 'ere freak 'less I wanted. I also had my can open to me the whole time, so I know 'e didn't pull a fast one on me, but somehow 'e opened fire on me, blow'd up my baby in only a few shots, an' them CONCORD fellas didn't do a thing.
Somehow, 'spite all my precautions, when I tried to rescue what ore I could from 'is clutches, it dinged me red to 'im. I jus' don't get it. Anyhow, it don't really matter none, I only spent 3 million on the ship an' equipment an' a million on the insurance for a 5 million payout. All that together meant I made myself a nice million just from gettin' blow'd up. Top it off with a boon from the corp when they gave me another barge, fully fitted for free... ahh, a good day to die.
Monday, November 9, 2009
Wednesday, November 4, 2009
At Home Among the Stars
My first venture into 0.0 space was rather short, but not a bad turnaround from it.
A corps-mate, Ralcoss, after giving me a short lecture on why my wanting to join some pirate friends was disappointing, was kind enough to drag my sorry pirate-loving arse to ASPOT's little pocket of CVA space.
For clarification, my corporation's philosophy on what makes one a pirate is probably drastically different from that of people who actually call themselves pirates. According to ASPOT, the unprovoked killing of people in null-sec is piracy, and I will be banished from the corporation if I partake in such activities. According to the people I wanted run off and play with, namely Casiella, Chainer Cygnus, and Denovin Zyrinax, it's just life in null-sec. I believe Casiella's exact words were, "I'm not a pirate! I'm a trader with a pirate's heart... and Chainer is 'unfocused'," to which Chainer only agreed. I didn't get Denovin's take on it, because he likes to sleep while I'm harassing everyone else in New Eden. Bastard. Get a New Eden Life!
Back to the story! After changing the subject to steer it away from Ralcoss' dissertation on the evils of piracy and the corporation's take on good morals, I convinced Ralcoss to make the 26 jumps or so back to high security to haul me back to null security with him. He played scout for me as went slowly from system to system, watching for gate camps and reds. The trip itself was rather uneventful for the most part. After arriving in 0.0, we only encountered one gate camping blob (my first blob encounter!) in our route. We ended up docking for about 15 minutes while the camp fire was getting doused and we moved along.
Upon reaching our "pocket" Ralcoss showed me the major POS and stations, as well as a nifty jump bridge that would make the trip a bit easier next time. After acquiring the passwords and bookmarking locations around the groups of systems, we jumped in on top of a group of pirates. Two battleships and three frigates against us, a single cruiser and battleship, seemed like a fair fight so we decided to keep on them.
Well, I quickly discovered that when two battleships and three frigates primary a cruiser... it frigging hurts! Apparently, I was doing more damage than my Dominix counterpart as he had only drones at the time, and I made a good target. I warped out just as they broke my armor about 50%, and let Ralcoss take some of the heat again.
I warped back in right on top of the frigates and took them out with my drones, as my rail guns weren't posing much of a threat to them at less than 10km. They fell slowly, but before my shields broke again, and I quickly threw on my afterburners and maneuvered myself around some giant asteroids that were keeping me from the battleships. At about 50km out I threw my drones forward and discovered my control limit was about 40km. No big deal, 10km at 380m/s... still waiting... still waiting... damn finally! Go, go, gadget Hammerheads!
I opened fire as my drones closed in, and I grinned smugly as the other battleship, which had been fending off Ralcoss' drones, exploded and quickly went dark. Now with 10 drones and my rail guns all over him, the remaining battleship stood little chance. She went down valiantly, fighting to the death. I gave them a moment of silence while I bounced from wreck to wreck looting and salvaging. Having never ratted below 0.5 security before, I had expected much more from the looting and salvaging, but alas it was very similar.
A few moments later, however, the big difference between 0.5 and 0.0 became instantly clear when my neocom blinked at me about a deposit. I opened up the wallet on the neocom and nearly choked on my pod fluid as I saw a nice fat 950k ISK deposit from bounties. Null sec rocks! I can't wait to get some more action, and hopefully some good fights.
I feel that at this time it is probably prudent to give ASPOT the warning that I'm still planning on helping my friends out in their "piracy" endeavors, and I had hoped that I could remain with ASPOT, as I don't consider it piracy. Since it truly seems to be a problem, then I'm sorry... You guys have been a fantastic corporation, very helpful and fun, but I'm looking for more activity and to get myself blown up over stupid stuff. I will keep all of you on my buddy list and I will go out of my way to not have to kill you guys if you wander into BKAT's area, but I can't stop a corporation function, and I won't back out of something I'm already committed to.
I will say this about ASPOT, if you need a friendly corporation with a range of activities and are willing to adhere to the NRDS (Not Red, Don't Shoot) lifestyle even in null-sec, then ASPOT is a great place for you.
To BKAT I present a warning: I hope you are ready for a fairly active pilot who wants to do just about everything in New Eden. I'm brash, sometimes crazy, and I love nothing more than spending hours covered in pod fluid with some good people flying nearby, each helping tear a path through the cosmos.
A corps-mate, Ralcoss, after giving me a short lecture on why my wanting to join some pirate friends was disappointing, was kind enough to drag my sorry pirate-loving arse to ASPOT's little pocket of CVA space.
For clarification, my corporation's philosophy on what makes one a pirate is probably drastically different from that of people who actually call themselves pirates. According to ASPOT, the unprovoked killing of people in null-sec is piracy, and I will be banished from the corporation if I partake in such activities. According to the people I wanted run off and play with, namely Casiella, Chainer Cygnus, and Denovin Zyrinax, it's just life in null-sec. I believe Casiella's exact words were, "I'm not a pirate! I'm a trader with a pirate's heart... and Chainer is 'unfocused'," to which Chainer only agreed. I didn't get Denovin's take on it, because he likes to sleep while I'm harassing everyone else in New Eden. Bastard. Get a New Eden Life!
Back to the story! After changing the subject to steer it away from Ralcoss' dissertation on the evils of piracy and the corporation's take on good morals, I convinced Ralcoss to make the 26 jumps or so back to high security to haul me back to null security with him. He played scout for me as went slowly from system to system, watching for gate camps and reds. The trip itself was rather uneventful for the most part. After arriving in 0.0, we only encountered one gate camping blob (my first blob encounter!) in our route. We ended up docking for about 15 minutes while the camp fire was getting doused and we moved along.
Upon reaching our "pocket" Ralcoss showed me the major POS and stations, as well as a nifty jump bridge that would make the trip a bit easier next time. After acquiring the passwords and bookmarking locations around the groups of systems, we jumped in on top of a group of pirates. Two battleships and three frigates against us, a single cruiser and battleship, seemed like a fair fight so we decided to keep on them.
Well, I quickly discovered that when two battleships and three frigates primary a cruiser... it frigging hurts! Apparently, I was doing more damage than my Dominix counterpart as he had only drones at the time, and I made a good target. I warped out just as they broke my armor about 50%, and let Ralcoss take some of the heat again.
I warped back in right on top of the frigates and took them out with my drones, as my rail guns weren't posing much of a threat to them at less than 10km. They fell slowly, but before my shields broke again, and I quickly threw on my afterburners and maneuvered myself around some giant asteroids that were keeping me from the battleships. At about 50km out I threw my drones forward and discovered my control limit was about 40km. No big deal, 10km at 380m/s... still waiting... still waiting... damn finally! Go, go, gadget Hammerheads!
I opened fire as my drones closed in, and I grinned smugly as the other battleship, which had been fending off Ralcoss' drones, exploded and quickly went dark. Now with 10 drones and my rail guns all over him, the remaining battleship stood little chance. She went down valiantly, fighting to the death. I gave them a moment of silence while I bounced from wreck to wreck looting and salvaging. Having never ratted below 0.5 security before, I had expected much more from the looting and salvaging, but alas it was very similar.
A few moments later, however, the big difference between 0.5 and 0.0 became instantly clear when my neocom blinked at me about a deposit. I opened up the wallet on the neocom and nearly choked on my pod fluid as I saw a nice fat 950k ISK deposit from bounties. Null sec rocks! I can't wait to get some more action, and hopefully some good fights.
I feel that at this time it is probably prudent to give ASPOT the warning that I'm still planning on helping my friends out in their "piracy" endeavors, and I had hoped that I could remain with ASPOT, as I don't consider it piracy. Since it truly seems to be a problem, then I'm sorry... You guys have been a fantastic corporation, very helpful and fun, but I'm looking for more activity and to get myself blown up over stupid stuff. I will keep all of you on my buddy list and I will go out of my way to not have to kill you guys if you wander into BKAT's area, but I can't stop a corporation function, and I won't back out of something I'm already committed to.
I will say this about ASPOT, if you need a friendly corporation with a range of activities and are willing to adhere to the NRDS (Not Red, Don't Shoot) lifestyle even in null-sec, then ASPOT is a great place for you.
To BKAT I present a warning: I hope you are ready for a fairly active pilot who wants to do just about everything in New Eden. I'm brash, sometimes crazy, and I love nothing more than spending hours covered in pod fluid with some good people flying nearby, each helping tear a path through the cosmos.
Thursday, October 29, 2009
[Informational] Overview Settings
I'm not going to redo an entire tutorial on how to set up your overview, there are already several in existence that are very in-depth and helpful. What I am going to do here is talk about an overlooked issue when using the filters and states. I'm at work right now, so I can't pull up any pretty screenshots and show you, but I will try to add them in for you later.
I'm going to give you the short version first, so as to not bore you with too many details that you may not wish to read...
Short Version:
The wrecks of ships you destroy are tagged as "Pilot is in your alliance" and this state must be checked in the overview settings, under Appearance, if you want to see them.
If you feel like reading the rest of the story, keep reading.
Long Version:
Last night I was setting up my overview with multiple tabs and filtering out things for each tab when I came across a strange problem: My own wrecks (as in, wrecks that I caused) didn't show up in a tab that I had specifically set them to show in.
I have an enemies tab, in which I want to show only npc enemies, people with bad standings, or even people with neutral standings if I'm in low sec. But when I'm out ratting, I don't want to switch tabs just to find the wrecks, because salvaging takes time and sometimes more enemies come to pew pew you. I tried and tried to get the wrecks to show up in this tab as well, but was unsuccessful for a good bit. Not being able to leave the spot I was at because I needed to keep my wrecks nearby to watch the changes to my overview.
I unchecked, rechecked, asked the bloggers in game, double tabbed, control tabbed, cursed and, an hour later, chose to select all and poof there it was! I knew it wasn't a GUI issue, so I went through all the blocks and one by one, narrowed down what it was that stole my wrecks from Aura's senses. It didn't take me terribly long to figure out, but I was highly annoyed by the time I finally did, and of course relieved as well.
I make a post of this because I had searched Google, EveOnline.com, Massively, and every other place I could find a tutorial on overview settings and came up with absolutely nothing. In any case, my problem is solved, and hopefully I can save some other people some time and frustration in the future with this post.
If anyone else has any helpful tips that aren't typically covered in the guides or cover something often overlooked in the overview, please feel free to share.
I'm going to give you the short version first, so as to not bore you with too many details that you may not wish to read...
Short Version:
The wrecks of ships you destroy are tagged as "Pilot is in your alliance" and this state must be checked in the overview settings, under Appearance, if you want to see them.
If you feel like reading the rest of the story, keep reading.
Long Version:
Last night I was setting up my overview with multiple tabs and filtering out things for each tab when I came across a strange problem: My own wrecks (as in, wrecks that I caused) didn't show up in a tab that I had specifically set them to show in.
I have an enemies tab, in which I want to show only npc enemies, people with bad standings, or even people with neutral standings if I'm in low sec. But when I'm out ratting, I don't want to switch tabs just to find the wrecks, because salvaging takes time and sometimes more enemies come to pew pew you. I tried and tried to get the wrecks to show up in this tab as well, but was unsuccessful for a good bit. Not being able to leave the spot I was at because I needed to keep my wrecks nearby to watch the changes to my overview.
I unchecked, rechecked, asked the bloggers in game, double tabbed, control tabbed, cursed and, an hour later, chose to select all and poof there it was! I knew it wasn't a GUI issue, so I went through all the blocks and one by one, narrowed down what it was that stole my wrecks from Aura's senses. It didn't take me terribly long to figure out, but I was highly annoyed by the time I finally did, and of course relieved as well.
I make a post of this because I had searched Google, EveOnline.com, Massively, and every other place I could find a tutorial on overview settings and came up with absolutely nothing. In any case, my problem is solved, and hopefully I can save some other people some time and frustration in the future with this post.
If anyone else has any helpful tips that aren't typically covered in the guides or cover something often overlooked in the overview, please feel free to share.
Wednesday, October 28, 2009
Vexing the Vexor, Enter the Thorax
Alas, my friends. A moment of silence for my beloved Vexor...
The sound of space crickets chirping unseen from the nooks and crannies of the ship assaults the peacefulness of the moment.
She lasted mere moments in 0.4 security, a couple of pirates vaporized her hull without a fight. I escaped with my pod somehow, the pirates either not caring or being distracted by looting her carcass. There were no comms, no ransom, no demands of any nature, just sudden and painful destruction. Floating in my pod, out there amidst the endless vacuum of space, I wanted to cry but Aura would have none of it. She continued feeding me warnings as I slinked away to the nearest high security system.
After docking, I didn't yet have the heart to search the market for another ship, so I crawled off to the cheapest pub I could find on station and proceeded to drown my implants in self-pity.
Two days later, a best estimate, I awoke with a start. My head pounding, I crawled to the bathroom from my spot on the floor (as I apparently had not even made it to the bed) and purged myself of all that I couldn't even remember drinking and eating. Hopefully they had tasted better the first time. A good shower and grooming was first priority for me at that point.
Eyes closed, as much against the light as the water, with the steaming water rolling over my face, I considered my next move. As far as I could remember, I still had only my pod--and the Velator granted by the insurance company, but I was going to scrap that as soon as feasible. I considered my training, my recent "discussions" that were more akin to arguments with other pilots as to how best to outfits various ships, and of course, my wallet.
After drawing the shower to a close and drying off, I sat on the bunk and pulled my datapad out of the pile of clothes that marked my 2-day binge. The screen was intact at least, but with nothing flashing me for attention I was mildly concerned. I dug through the logs and saw that I had placed a few rather annoying drunken messages in my lover's mailbox, and I sighed knowing that if she chose to speak to me again I would probably not hear the end of it for quite a while.
Backing out of the logs, I moved over into the market window and began looking at my options for a new ship. I decided to try moving into a Thorax instead of a Vexor this time, and sped a message away to a companion of mine who had helped me fit the Vexor, Chainer Cygnus. Chainer hadn't claimed to be a Gallente cruiser expert by any means, but he was certainly more knowledgeable than me.
I purchased the Thorax and excitedly boarded it. I liked my Vexor, as I do most of the Gallente designs, but the Thorax is just damn sexy. Just sitting in it within my pod, raw and defenseless as it was, made me feel sexier.
After obtaining some of Chainer's helpful hints, as well as some advice from the bloggers' comms, I dug into the wallet and started spreading my remaining wealth all over New Eden. I have yet to finish picking up all of the items I've reserved, and that will have to happen at some point soon. I think I will do my ratting and missioning in 0.5 or higher for now, as I am obviously not yet accustomed to the... delicate... way of life in low security, and, admittedly, I want to feel sexier for a while in the Thorax.
Fly safe, my friends, and fly often.
The sound of space crickets chirping unseen from the nooks and crannies of the ship assaults the peacefulness of the moment.
She lasted mere moments in 0.4 security, a couple of pirates vaporized her hull without a fight. I escaped with my pod somehow, the pirates either not caring or being distracted by looting her carcass. There were no comms, no ransom, no demands of any nature, just sudden and painful destruction. Floating in my pod, out there amidst the endless vacuum of space, I wanted to cry but Aura would have none of it. She continued feeding me warnings as I slinked away to the nearest high security system.
After docking, I didn't yet have the heart to search the market for another ship, so I crawled off to the cheapest pub I could find on station and proceeded to drown my implants in self-pity.
Two days later, a best estimate, I awoke with a start. My head pounding, I crawled to the bathroom from my spot on the floor (as I apparently had not even made it to the bed) and purged myself of all that I couldn't even remember drinking and eating. Hopefully they had tasted better the first time. A good shower and grooming was first priority for me at that point.
Eyes closed, as much against the light as the water, with the steaming water rolling over my face, I considered my next move. As far as I could remember, I still had only my pod--and the Velator granted by the insurance company, but I was going to scrap that as soon as feasible. I considered my training, my recent "discussions" that were more akin to arguments with other pilots as to how best to outfits various ships, and of course, my wallet.
After drawing the shower to a close and drying off, I sat on the bunk and pulled my datapad out of the pile of clothes that marked my 2-day binge. The screen was intact at least, but with nothing flashing me for attention I was mildly concerned. I dug through the logs and saw that I had placed a few rather annoying drunken messages in my lover's mailbox, and I sighed knowing that if she chose to speak to me again I would probably not hear the end of it for quite a while.
Backing out of the logs, I moved over into the market window and began looking at my options for a new ship. I decided to try moving into a Thorax instead of a Vexor this time, and sped a message away to a companion of mine who had helped me fit the Vexor, Chainer Cygnus. Chainer hadn't claimed to be a Gallente cruiser expert by any means, but he was certainly more knowledgeable than me.
I purchased the Thorax and excitedly boarded it. I liked my Vexor, as I do most of the Gallente designs, but the Thorax is just damn sexy. Just sitting in it within my pod, raw and defenseless as it was, made me feel sexier.
After obtaining some of Chainer's helpful hints, as well as some advice from the bloggers' comms, I dug into the wallet and started spreading my remaining wealth all over New Eden. I have yet to finish picking up all of the items I've reserved, and that will have to happen at some point soon. I think I will do my ratting and missioning in 0.5 or higher for now, as I am obviously not yet accustomed to the... delicate... way of life in low security, and, admittedly, I want to feel sexier for a while in the Thorax.
Fly safe, my friends, and fly often.
Wednesday, October 21, 2009
Destroyer Destruction
Another one explodes into thousands of fragments, flames momentarily engulfing my pod before the vacuum sucks out the life-giving oxygen and blackness returns to my vision. Well damn... My "Ratalyst" had just kaboomed around me, and for a few moments I just sat there staring into space as the event sank in. Damn you pirates! Damn you all! Of course, they have probably thought the same of me frequently as I swept away their frigates and cleaned up the loot and wreckage.
I had been helping a friend and corpmate, Sasha Ni'vibra, with some level 2 missions. She was floating about in her battleship for this particular mission, while I played anti-frigate for the ones that got past her sniping. All had been going well up to that point, with my Catalyst taking very little damage throughout the inter-system runs. To keep myself near Sasha, and hopefully being a decent personal bodyguard, I was orbiting her at 500 meters, targeting anything that came in range and blowing them up systematically.
Now, keep in mind that I had been dual outfitted for ratting my level 1 missions. I was running 6 small railguns with a combination of iron and iridium charges, as well as a tractor beam and salvager. Nothing extraordinary was on my mids or lows, though I had dedicated spots for trying to make my capacitor hold out as well as keeping a little speed on me for keeping range.
During that fateful mission, I had gotten myself caught up in some debris that didn't seem to matter to me at first. I bounced around it mainly keeping an eye on my overview and capacitor, armor repping as necessary. The first two waves of pirates went down smoothly and quickly, but the third and fourth waves came on back to back and brought some cruisers with them.
This wasn't my first time against the cruisers, but it was the first time they all decided to go after me at the simultaneously. There wasn't a whole lot I could do but shoot back and repair as much as my poor Small Armor Repair II Module would allow. Sasha had thrown her armor repairing drones all over me before my shields melted away, but it still was not enough.
As I watched my armor dip to about 50% strength, I realized it was time to go. I picked out the nearest station and asked Aura to get me the hell out of there. After a few moments, I was still drifting between the debris, bouncing in different directions trying to find an exit... I began to panick. Armor was all but gone now and my hull started trembling under the force of the impacts. I screamed at Aura mentally to hurry up and find a way out, but she reported losing control of the ship. (OOC - Yes, I actually got a message box stating I had lost control of the ship... what the heck was that all about?)
Less than 3 seconds later, the fireworks began in earnest, though briefly. Thankfully, they focused their attacks on Sasha and turned away from my pod. I sat there, a blank expression on my face, watching the battle raging on around me as if it were a dream. After a few more moments, I decided to head back and start outfitting another ship, since Sasha had things well under control. I picked out a nearby system that would hopefully have most of the stuff I would need, and then bookmarked the battle site so I could come back for my surviving cargo hold.
Well, looky here! I can fly a cruiser? I didn't know that! Ka-ching! Or rather... clink-clink... as after I purchased myself a Vexor, 10 medium scout drones, some medium railguns (another already learned skill of which I had forgotten) and a couple of other things to balance out my first cruiser fitting, my wallet was looking desperately empty. After a 5 million ISK donation by Sasha, I had spent 11 million on everything for my shiny new Vexor.
Her maiden voyage was the trek back out to the battle site where she spent an hour cleaning up the loot from the dozens of wrecks, including my own. Although I had fitted her with a salvager, I was too tired to worry about cleaning out the wrecks entirely. Amazingly, most of the mids and lows from the Destroyer had survived and will serve to save a few ISK for the moment while I attempt to recover.
Alliterative Allocation: Catalyst Catastrophe Causes Cruiser Crusade (Sorry, I couldn't resist!)
I had been helping a friend and corpmate, Sasha Ni'vibra, with some level 2 missions. She was floating about in her battleship for this particular mission, while I played anti-frigate for the ones that got past her sniping. All had been going well up to that point, with my Catalyst taking very little damage throughout the inter-system runs. To keep myself near Sasha, and hopefully being a decent personal bodyguard, I was orbiting her at 500 meters, targeting anything that came in range and blowing them up systematically.
Now, keep in mind that I had been dual outfitted for ratting my level 1 missions. I was running 6 small railguns with a combination of iron and iridium charges, as well as a tractor beam and salvager. Nothing extraordinary was on my mids or lows, though I had dedicated spots for trying to make my capacitor hold out as well as keeping a little speed on me for keeping range.
During that fateful mission, I had gotten myself caught up in some debris that didn't seem to matter to me at first. I bounced around it mainly keeping an eye on my overview and capacitor, armor repping as necessary. The first two waves of pirates went down smoothly and quickly, but the third and fourth waves came on back to back and brought some cruisers with them.
This wasn't my first time against the cruisers, but it was the first time they all decided to go after me at the simultaneously. There wasn't a whole lot I could do but shoot back and repair as much as my poor Small Armor Repair II Module would allow. Sasha had thrown her armor repairing drones all over me before my shields melted away, but it still was not enough.
As I watched my armor dip to about 50% strength, I realized it was time to go. I picked out the nearest station and asked Aura to get me the hell out of there. After a few moments, I was still drifting between the debris, bouncing in different directions trying to find an exit... I began to panick. Armor was all but gone now and my hull started trembling under the force of the impacts. I screamed at Aura mentally to hurry up and find a way out, but she reported losing control of the ship. (OOC - Yes, I actually got a message box stating I had lost control of the ship... what the heck was that all about?)
Less than 3 seconds later, the fireworks began in earnest, though briefly. Thankfully, they focused their attacks on Sasha and turned away from my pod. I sat there, a blank expression on my face, watching the battle raging on around me as if it were a dream. After a few more moments, I decided to head back and start outfitting another ship, since Sasha had things well under control. I picked out a nearby system that would hopefully have most of the stuff I would need, and then bookmarked the battle site so I could come back for my surviving cargo hold.
Well, looky here! I can fly a cruiser? I didn't know that! Ka-ching! Or rather... clink-clink... as after I purchased myself a Vexor, 10 medium scout drones, some medium railguns (another already learned skill of which I had forgotten) and a couple of other things to balance out my first cruiser fitting, my wallet was looking desperately empty. After a 5 million ISK donation by Sasha, I had spent 11 million on everything for my shiny new Vexor.
Her maiden voyage was the trek back out to the battle site where she spent an hour cleaning up the loot from the dozens of wrecks, including my own. Although I had fitted her with a salvager, I was too tired to worry about cleaning out the wrecks entirely. Amazingly, most of the mids and lows from the Destroyer had survived and will serve to save a few ISK for the moment while I attempt to recover.
Alliterative Allocation: Catalyst Catastrophe Causes Cruiser Crusade (Sorry, I couldn't resist!)
Monday, October 19, 2009
[OOC] Influences
Greetings to my readers, how few you are, and a quick note about the blog.
Normally, my blog is posted as from Caels' perspective as a narrative. This will continue to be the case for most of my postings, but I've been inspired by some of my fellow bloggers--such as Shae Tiann, Roc Weiler, and Mike Azariah--to try my hand at writing from the third-person, and a more creative, perspective.
For those who do not follow them regularly, please allow me to sum up the things that, in my opinion, make their writings stand out.
Shae's writing is some of the most creative and visual-inspiring work I have ever read. It is downright moving. Roc has a knack for retelling missions from his character's persona and adding in some fun dialog to make the whole mission much more involving and realistic. Mike likes to share his experiences through very thoughtful and descriptive writing that not only tells a story, but typically expands upon a lesson that he has learned or wants to impress upon his readers.
With my writing, I hope to display a combination of these styles to some degree. I do not expect to be better than any of them, as I greatly enjoy their writings and doubt I have that much creativity in me. I do, however, hope that you enjoy my writings.
I do plan on modifying this a bit with actual agent names and full corporation names once I can look them up.
An excerpt from my, as of yet, untitled work-in-progress follows:
Normally, my blog is posted as from Caels' perspective as a narrative. This will continue to be the case for most of my postings, but I've been inspired by some of my fellow bloggers--such as Shae Tiann, Roc Weiler, and Mike Azariah--to try my hand at writing from the third-person, and a more creative, perspective.
For those who do not follow them regularly, please allow me to sum up the things that, in my opinion, make their writings stand out.
Shae's writing is some of the most creative and visual-inspiring work I have ever read. It is downright moving. Roc has a knack for retelling missions from his character's persona and adding in some fun dialog to make the whole mission much more involving and realistic. Mike likes to share his experiences through very thoughtful and descriptive writing that not only tells a story, but typically expands upon a lesson that he has learned or wants to impress upon his readers.
With my writing, I hope to display a combination of these styles to some degree. I do not expect to be better than any of them, as I greatly enjoy their writings and doubt I have that much creativity in me. I do, however, hope that you enjoy my writings.
I do plan on modifying this a bit with actual agent names and full corporation names once I can look them up.
An excerpt from my, as of yet, untitled work-in-progress follows:
Yawning deeply, Caels rolled over slowly, stretching out his limbs and back after his unusually long slumber. He smiled to himself as he brushed up against Kechara, who still slept soundly. ‘How long has it been,’ he wondered, ‘since I was able to share a bed with her?’
Absently brushing a wisp of blonde hair over her small ear, his mind wandered over the events of the past several weeks. An icon flashed several times on his data-pad, drawing him from his reverie. It was a new journal entry from one of his more recent acquaintances in the security field. Another mission he was so urgently needed for—“for what, chasing Gallentean traders out of the area,” he bitterly inquired of his Caldari lover as she stirred.
Caels was normally very even-tempered, but this new string of missions that seemed to revolve only around stamping out the Gallente civilians near his station of choice had him seriously considering relocation. He had hoped things would be different so far from the borders, as he already had belongings scattered throughout twenty systems that he had yet to collect.
This particular agent was very quickly losing patience with him, as he always turned down missions that set him against his own people. Sometimes Caels wondered if the agent found anti-Gallente missions for the sole purpose of harassing him. “Capsuleer Caels Caldanhai,” the agent said stiffly, “we have a new assignment for you… if you aren’t wearing your yellow briefs today.”
“Actually, sir, I’m not wearing any briefs at the moment, not that it’s any of your business,” Caels countered as he stifled another yawn. He attempted to hide his smirk as disgust momentarily flitted over the agent’s features. “What can I do for the great NOH today?”
Wednesday, October 14, 2009
New Eden's Laundry Services
War... It is a funny thing, at times. Allow me to take you back in time a few months...
I remember my time in my first real corporation, Pigothy. The first time we went to war I was still floating around space in a Navitas.
Oh, how war terrified me in those days, and in truth, not all that long ago at all. A matter of just a few months in the New Eden calendar showed a big change in how I view war.
Pigothy saw war quite often, and rarely of our own making. Being that we were a small and newly formed corporation, with very few kills and a fair share of publicized deaths, we became a good target for anyone trying to boost their status via brute force.
My first war in Pigothy led to me hiding out in a space station for several weeks. In retrospect, I am quite surprised that my Caldari lover did not leave me out of disgust. It wasn't so much fear, but a feeling of uselessness. What could I do in my tiny, poorly fitted Navitas? I used the time to immerse myself in my studies.
My second and last war in Pigothy is the one that changed my perspective. I had learned that death was a part of life as a capsuleer. During a particularly long-winded war, I grew tired of waiting around a dock while checking the local comms and eyeballing the other station patrons. My impatience freed me from the needs of my "precious" ship.
I knew they were there. Several angry red blips on my neocom had alerted me to my enemies presence long before I undocked my Tristan. I had no idea what kind of ships they were in -- no intel on them at all. I merely had hoped that they were not camping right outside the hangar doors waiting for some poor fool like me to come zipping out.
Indeed they were.
From the moment I undocked, I willed my ship to warp. Just as my thrusters began to fire, my speed screeched to nearly a stand-still and I swore to all the gods. Immediately I threw on my armor repair module as I felt my shields flicker off under fire from 3 of their ships. Suddenly, my capacitor was dead. It took me a moment to realize that as I wondered why my armor was breaking apart and scattering into space so quickly.
At this point I decided to try and dock again, willing my ship to turn around as fast as its crippled thrusters would permit. I crawled slowly -- so very slowly -- back towards the station and pleaded with the computer to allow me entrance. The answer on my neocom had me cursing again: "DENIED."
I let out a big sigh just as my Tristan's structure gave way and exploded all around me, my pod ejected swiftly and tried to propel me to safety behind the flash of the Tristan's death. They were prepared for that too, however, and my thoughts stuttered for only a moment as I saw the pod engulfed in light only nanoseconds before awakening in a cloning vat.
Coughing and spluttering, I realized I ended up where I was trying to get to in my poor Tristan in the first place. The Brutor staff that assisted me upon my awakening showed me back to the docks and my remaining Catalyst. I used the Catalyst's link to report back to the corporation about the events, and let them know I was okay, I just needed to take the ultra-express flight back to my home station.
Several of the members were distraught that I had so foolishly thrown myself into their jaws, but I did my best to play it down as no big deal, and entirely of my own doing. After my display of stupidity, however, I was asked if I wanted to join the war effort. I hastily accepted and began fitting the Catalyst with the advice of my corp-mates.
Over the next couple of days, we hunted them down for vengeance on my part, for kills scored on the others' parts, and with new allies in tow to help us prove, once and for all, that we were not just a bunch of push-overs just because we did not have hundreds of kills to our names. This, of course, was hard to maintain because we each had our own duties to attend to in addition to the war.
We went through another quiet period, and I became restless again. The war effort had slowed to a crawl with the enemy corporation playing hide-and-seek in their home system. At some point throughout the dragging month-long war, our leadership found a reason to declare war against another corporation.
I loved my time with Pigothy, but I knew I could not financially handle adding another war to my list of things to do. I needed to recoup some of the money I had lost to the war. A friend had asked many times over the past couple of weeks for me to join his corporation, which I had kept turning down. Well, this time I changed my mind and decided that maybe I needed something more stable.
I spent a couple of days closing out my time with Pigothy before joining my current corporation, A Black Spot. Apparently, war follows me. Not a week after I joined, we recieved notice from CONCORD that someone wanted us dead. I thought, 'No big deal, this corporation is used to fighting, since they like to stay in null sec space all the time.'
As it turns out, I was both right and wrong. There has been battle on both sides, so I have heard. We lost a few nice ships, though to me everything is nicer than what I have.
Even so, I have been absolutely unaffected by this war. I've become so complacent in this war that I do not even remember to check the local comms while I run missions across multiple star systems. Wherever this war is, it seems so far away from me; and even if it were at my hangar door, I think it would change little for me.
I accept death now. It happens, sometimes frequently, sometimes sporadically, but inevitably it happens. I am just thankful that I can overcome it by way of cloning. Ships are simply an investment of time and money. You may not be able to get the time back, but as long as you did something you enjoy with that time, you don't need it back, just do it again to get the money back. Then go get yourself killed again, and then feel welcomed to New Eden's wash cycle. Rinse and repeat as necessary.
I remember my time in my first real corporation, Pigothy. The first time we went to war I was still floating around space in a Navitas.
Oh, how war terrified me in those days, and in truth, not all that long ago at all. A matter of just a few months in the New Eden calendar showed a big change in how I view war.
Pigothy saw war quite often, and rarely of our own making. Being that we were a small and newly formed corporation, with very few kills and a fair share of publicized deaths, we became a good target for anyone trying to boost their status via brute force.
My first war in Pigothy led to me hiding out in a space station for several weeks. In retrospect, I am quite surprised that my Caldari lover did not leave me out of disgust. It wasn't so much fear, but a feeling of uselessness. What could I do in my tiny, poorly fitted Navitas? I used the time to immerse myself in my studies.
My second and last war in Pigothy is the one that changed my perspective. I had learned that death was a part of life as a capsuleer. During a particularly long-winded war, I grew tired of waiting around a dock while checking the local comms and eyeballing the other station patrons. My impatience freed me from the needs of my "precious" ship.
I knew they were there. Several angry red blips on my neocom had alerted me to my enemies presence long before I undocked my Tristan. I had no idea what kind of ships they were in -- no intel on them at all. I merely had hoped that they were not camping right outside the hangar doors waiting for some poor fool like me to come zipping out.
Indeed they were.
From the moment I undocked, I willed my ship to warp. Just as my thrusters began to fire, my speed screeched to nearly a stand-still and I swore to all the gods. Immediately I threw on my armor repair module as I felt my shields flicker off under fire from 3 of their ships. Suddenly, my capacitor was dead. It took me a moment to realize that as I wondered why my armor was breaking apart and scattering into space so quickly.
At this point I decided to try and dock again, willing my ship to turn around as fast as its crippled thrusters would permit. I crawled slowly -- so very slowly -- back towards the station and pleaded with the computer to allow me entrance. The answer on my neocom had me cursing again: "DENIED."
I let out a big sigh just as my Tristan's structure gave way and exploded all around me, my pod ejected swiftly and tried to propel me to safety behind the flash of the Tristan's death. They were prepared for that too, however, and my thoughts stuttered for only a moment as I saw the pod engulfed in light only nanoseconds before awakening in a cloning vat.
Coughing and spluttering, I realized I ended up where I was trying to get to in my poor Tristan in the first place. The Brutor staff that assisted me upon my awakening showed me back to the docks and my remaining Catalyst. I used the Catalyst's link to report back to the corporation about the events, and let them know I was okay, I just needed to take the ultra-express flight back to my home station.
Several of the members were distraught that I had so foolishly thrown myself into their jaws, but I did my best to play it down as no big deal, and entirely of my own doing. After my display of stupidity, however, I was asked if I wanted to join the war effort. I hastily accepted and began fitting the Catalyst with the advice of my corp-mates.
Over the next couple of days, we hunted them down for vengeance on my part, for kills scored on the others' parts, and with new allies in tow to help us prove, once and for all, that we were not just a bunch of push-overs just because we did not have hundreds of kills to our names. This, of course, was hard to maintain because we each had our own duties to attend to in addition to the war.
We went through another quiet period, and I became restless again. The war effort had slowed to a crawl with the enemy corporation playing hide-and-seek in their home system. At some point throughout the dragging month-long war, our leadership found a reason to declare war against another corporation.
I loved my time with Pigothy, but I knew I could not financially handle adding another war to my list of things to do. I needed to recoup some of the money I had lost to the war. A friend had asked many times over the past couple of weeks for me to join his corporation, which I had kept turning down. Well, this time I changed my mind and decided that maybe I needed something more stable.
I spent a couple of days closing out my time with Pigothy before joining my current corporation, A Black Spot. Apparently, war follows me. Not a week after I joined, we recieved notice from CONCORD that someone wanted us dead. I thought, 'No big deal, this corporation is used to fighting, since they like to stay in null sec space all the time.'
As it turns out, I was both right and wrong. There has been battle on both sides, so I have heard. We lost a few nice ships, though to me everything is nicer than what I have.
Even so, I have been absolutely unaffected by this war. I've become so complacent in this war that I do not even remember to check the local comms while I run missions across multiple star systems. Wherever this war is, it seems so far away from me; and even if it were at my hangar door, I think it would change little for me.
I accept death now. It happens, sometimes frequently, sometimes sporadically, but inevitably it happens. I am just thankful that I can overcome it by way of cloning. Ships are simply an investment of time and money. You may not be able to get the time back, but as long as you did something you enjoy with that time, you don't need it back, just do it again to get the money back. Then go get yourself killed again, and then feel welcomed to New Eden's wash cycle. Rinse and repeat as necessary.
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