So Long and Thanks for all The Fish

Well with our W-space lives finally 100% concluded (at least for now), I wanted to bid this blog and my followers a fond farewell.

I don't want to blend my current exploites into this blog, as they have nothing to do with w-space.

For those of you wishing to continue to follow my eve experience, I have started a new blog dedictaed to my new corps exploites.  Please feel free to visit me at Hey Koolaid.

Again, thanks to all those who have followed, and I look forward to the possibility of someday joining the ranks of the w-space faithful again.

Fly Safe,
Mick

And I thought sitting in an empty wormhole was boring

So back in high sec and here is my to-do list.

1. Get Standings with main Fighting Character
2. Get Standings for main refiner (by fleeting with main fighter)
3. Form a High Sec Indy corp with possible POS for research (deligated)
4. Recruit for Indy corp
5. Recruit for PvP corp
6. Figure out a Passive income stream
7. Find a Class 4 WH with Static Class 4
8. Figure out just how much Isk I am going to need for upcoming expansion

So here I sat all weekend, trying desperately to increase my standings with the corp we settled on for our Indy side.  So either I can fleet along with the other 3-4 guys doing level 4's (and getting about one mission done per hour and splitting it 4 ways) or I can "power" through Level 2's on my own.  I choose the Level 2's since I can get 5-6 done in a hour just by powering through them in my Harbinger with 5 Hammerheads.

So I can honestly say I have now accomplished one other thing in Eve I never thought I would.  Falling asleep at the keyboard while playing. 

I have had several times where someone on a mining op fell asleep/passed out and thankfully the Corp had a POS in system to warp them to safely.  But I never understood how that happens.  Defiently never thought I would accomplish that task, especially in a mission.  But do it I did.  Friday night, watched a movie with the SO and decided to settle in to a few hours of killing frigs.  About the 4th mission, warp in to a central pocket and unfortunetly this mission has timmed waves so there were several "gaps" in the mission.  I think I fell asleep in the second wait time.  All I know is I woke up about 25 minutes later, head slumped back in the chair and my dogs staring at me with their legs crossed.  I expected to look at the screen and see a pod, but all I saw were enemy wrecks and 3 drones happily circling me (and yes I started with 5).

So I pulled the drones, set course for the Dock, let the dogs out and went to bed.  Yes I even forgot to turn the mission in.  Realised the next day when I went to get another mission that I still had one to turn in.

So in the end I have determined that there are things worse then sitting around in a W-Space system, with no anoms, your 2 statics, and crappy neighbors.  Its power running low level missions.

Fly Safe,
Mick

Life is not fair, why should EVE be different

It amazes me why people always expect stuff to be "fair" and even further what their views of "fair" are.

Now I know I have views of things that are "wrong" with the game, like the freaking exit from Jita 4-4 (I mean who doesn't love to play bumper ships in Inty V's with people trying to scan your cargo, and why is scanning someones cargo not an aggressive act).  But overall I don't complain about the mechanics of the game very often.  I don't LIKE suicide gankers at gates, I don't LIKE the imbalance of indy ships being able to be ganked by destroyers that can be fully insured to amount to zero loss for the gankers.  But I don't think these things are "unfair".

So again the other night we are flying in a small frig fleet looking for trouble.  We are all in seperate areas of the same system trying to get a fight (okay trying to piss people off enough to shoot us), when a pilot in a Harpy decides for whatever reason to mess with us.  Usually a T2 frig is not a fight we would look to take on, but we were bored and there were three of us.  Well he decides to flip one of our cans in front of a station and draws aggro for our whole corp.  We promtly decide that yes this is a fight we are willing to take on. 

We wait a few minutes for him to resume ratting from belt to belt and launch our attack.  We quickly get a point on him and soon enough have him in armor.  The first request in local is 5M to stop.  Nah.  Second is 10M. Nah. We finish the job.  Then the onslaught in local begins about how 3 v 1 is not "Fair" and we "cheated" and this game is not "fair".  Really?  How so?  Oh he EXPECTED a 1v1 battle with a Punisher.  A quick scan of local would have showed him he should have EXPECTED a 3 v 1.  He did not ask in local for a 1 v1.  He did not seek to clarify the rules of engagement.  Not that we would have taken a 1 v 1 fight (please a t2 frig v t1, that is not even).

In the end, his lack of looking at the situation, not scanning local for the number of people he was about to aggro and not negoiating the rules of engagement before hand all fell back on him, but we were the ones that were "not fair" and he was simply a victim.  Please. 

Mick

How old is old enough to know ...

With almost 2 years of game play there are things I know, and things I don’t about Eve. I would like to think that I know a lot about the game. In three short days experiencing frig based PvP, I have learned that there are people out there who don’t know much about the game and beg the question, “How old is old enough to know …”.

My first question for the day, “How old is old enough to know not to Jet Can Mine?”

I know I learned the hard way a whooping two weeks into my first stent in the game that Jet Can mining in a busy system is not a good idea. Even worse is fighting a guy who obviously wants you to fight him. This lesson cost me an Osprey and, at the time, a lot of work to fill that can. I joined a noob mining corp and saw several of them learn this lesson quickly. Quickly we learned the proper way to mine with several ships and haulers. Throw the ore quickly and scoop it completely. Sure we still used Jet Cans with bookmarks in them, but we didn’t leave full cans around. And we were all under 2 months old and learned this lesson.

So fast forward to my first night of frig based PvP. As I learned the ropes in my Punisher with another Punisher and Rifter along teaching me, I was amazed to stumble upon a mining op in high sec with 3 ships all with Jet Cans out. A quick check of the toons showed all were over 6 months old, and part of an 80 person indy corp. No haulers in site. I gladly accepted my target and promptly flipped his half filled can. I assume this was not the first time this had happened and expected no response other then a few shouts in local. But nothing, no response at all. Within a minute though the hauler came swooping in and to my amazement, scoped a can right in front of us. I mean really, three red frigs on your overview, a message you are about to steal, and I would hope a warning from your corp mates and he still steals the ore? Oh well, 1 dead Badger.

Well then the fun starts. The Osprey decides he is going to help and quickly draws aggression. Bye Bye Osprey.

The belt quickly empties as the other two miners must have decided they had seen enough. A few shouts in local regarding our manhood, challenging our bravery and providing a few choice suggestions about what we can do with ourselves in our spare time ensue.

This brings me to question number two, “How old is old enough to know how to properly fit a ship for a fight?”.

I ask this cause after my two trainers flew off to look for more adventures, I hung around waiting for the aggression to wear off and see if our fun there was really done. Sure enough back comes the Osprey pilot in his Drake. Now my first instinct in a Punisher when seeing a Drake was “Oh Crap”, but my trainers talked me down.

“Get Transverse on him”, like I knew what the hell that meant, oh yeah that means orbit him fast. Okay, orbit at 2k. check. Afterburner on. check.

“Point him”, okay that one I knew.

“Watch for drones”, really drones? Not the 7 Caldari Navy Heavies flying at me every 6 seconds? Oh yeah, I’m a frig, those things can’t hurt me. But Hammerhead II’s will rip me a new one (funny being on the other side of that fight).

So I point the Drake, orbit and start using my pulse lasers to do absolutely nothing to him.

Soon enough my trainers are back by my side and together we eventually crack his tank and I succeed at getting my first rage-log.

In looking over his setup, it was great, for killing cruisers and other battle cruisers. But he knew he was coming out to fight frigs, and he left his most important weapon, drones, at home. Again we faced an 8 month old toon, capable of fitting out a t2 setup Drake, but not knowing enough to fit it properly for the fight at hand. A toon in an 80 person, established, indy corp. The best was he really thought, as demonstrated by his chat in local, he was in for a simple kill of three frigs, and yet he had no hope of ever doing any damage to us. Sure against one of us it is a stalemate, as we could not hope to crack his tank. But in the fight he knew he would get when he undocked, he was already dead.

Should I feel sorry for him? Only in the sense that he has played the game for that long, in an established corp, and not learned some basic principals of the game.

I learned a valuable lesson too. Carebear tears really are sweet.

Mick

Why W-Space

I thought the answer to manasi's comment deserved a seperate post.

So why W-Space.

For me initially it was the increased Isk that coul dbe made mining the ABC roids.  Up to that point all my efforts had been to maximize my ability to generate Isk in an Orca based fleet in high sec.  I accomplished this and was even able to fly my own Orca (though not with all the booster skills).

At first I was attracted to the new scanning skills.  It was one area where true "skill" outside the game could be used.  A young toon with minimal in game skills but a good understanding of the 3-D nature of scanning could hold there own.

First trips into W-Space were for the "thrill" of mining in a 0.0 envirnment and being able to "control" my environment with wormhole management.

Then added to that the Sleepers that actually fought with better AI, switched targets, targeted drones, etc.

In the end what attracted me most was the "unknown" of W-Space.  The not knowing what the day and new hole would bring.  Might be fighting anoms, might be a neighbor linked to a Class 5 and high end Ladar.  Might be an unwanted active neighbor and potential hostile visitors.  Overall, that is why I was drawn to W-Space.  What kept me in W-Space was the increased ability to generate Isk with young toons.  Ultimetly that is what has also lead to our departure as the overall ability to generate income has severly diminished in Class 2 systems.

What will eventually lead me back to W-Space is the unknown of what the day will bring.  Also I can say it is also the small, closer knit nature of W-Space.  A small corp of 5 dedicated players can make a very good living in W-Space, but larger groups are not at that much of an advantage in W-space as mass limits, time limits and other factors inhibit the effectiveness of large corps to muster large roaming forces in lower Class 2 systems.

So I guess its the fact that any day could bring Mining, Gas Harvesting, PVE or PVP (wanted and unwanted) that continues to draw me to W-Space.  The logistics and hassle and potential for boredom are what keeps me away.  For now the Class 2 with a Class 2 static does not tip the scale in W-Space's favor, I will someday find out if a Class 4 with a Class 4 static will.

Fly Safe,
Mick

And now for something completey different

Well the pull out of W-space is complete (except for the corpie that has not logged on for a week, wow is he in for a surprise, and yes i left a scanner in system to lead him out), the Red Frog contracts have our stuff back to our high sec base and well it was time to figure out something new.

So I know that the one glaring hole in my resume for w-spave is PVP stuff, so I moved to a small Frig based PVP corp for a stent in high sec/low sec pvp.

I have to say this is a completely different world.  Flying around in a punisher looking for a fight is way different then shooting roids and scanning sigs.

So far I have my first two kills and have to say I am aching for more.

The goals of this stent are simple.  To work my way up to stealth bombers and other ships used for PVP in w-space, all in preperation for a return to w-space in a Class 4 with a Static Class 4.

Fly safe, or cheap
Mick

What's Next ......

Well the plug has been pulled.

The Lights are Off.

The Fat Lady has Sung.

Its all over but the shouting (or in our case the two Red Frog Courier Contracts).

Enough cliches.

Our decision made, we have pulled our Large POS out of w-space and are calling an end to our "permenant" occupation of w-space.

The reasons?  There are many but it all boiled down to isk.  There simply was not enough advantage over simply mining scordite and running L4 missions to justify staying in w-space.

So we will add w-space stuff to our list of things to do, but not 100% for awhile.

The long term goal still remains a Class 4 with a Static Class 4, but we will need several more experienced w-space people to tackle that.  And I am not sure that won't also end the same way with a limited ROI.

I agree it might be a lifestyle choice to stay in W-space, and maybe for some corps it is.  But unfortunety at this time it is about the isk for this young corp.

So long w-space, for now.

Fly Safe,
Mick