What are they teaching kids these days

Last night we were rallying on a low sec gate for a roam, cause why sit in station when you can camp a gate while you wait for the inevitable last 3-4 people to get their crap together 30 minutes after the "start time".

So we setup the camp, put a cloaky scout in High Sec, and wait for Billy Bob and Joe Bob to track down some lost module in the bottom of their CQ's closet they need for the roam.

About 5 minutes into the gate camp, 2 Hurricanes appear on the High Sec side, sit for about 2 minutes, and then warp off.  Disappointment, guess their Spidey Senses were tingling.

A few minutes later a pod and Myrm warp to the gate together, and jump right through.  The pod warps right away, because we don't have any ubber locking pod catcher on the gate.  The Myrm holds cloak, obviously aware that his chances of survival jumping into a 10 man gate camp are near zero.

Finally the Myrm uncloaks and runs for the gate.  Not a chance.  He is popped quickly (too quickly) and warps off in his pod.  A review of his setup reveals that he was headed in to low sec to do some exploring.

Now the chance that these two guys were unrelated, and just happened to show up and jump at the same time is possible, but unlikely.  This begs the question of what the heck corps are teaching people these days.

Why would you jump a massively undertanked battle cruiser into Low Sec, when you have a potential scout with you.  The Myrm would be alive if the pod simply warped in ahead of him, since there is little chance you are going to catch a pod coming off a gate, and relayed the information back to the Myrm pilot.

Even if they were not related, the Myrm pilot could have docked in High Sec, gotten into a shuttle or pod, and warped into Low Sec to check things out.  Sure its not 100% safe, the gate camp can assemble in the 3-4 minutes it would take to reship, but its a heck of a lot safer then a blind jump.

I guess the old PVP adage of "bet on stupid" still applies.  Guess most corps do not do much to teach their players the "ways of EVE" and how best to stay alive.

Fly Safe,
Mick

A Zealot, A Vagabond and 2 Drakes walk into a bar ....

So after overseeing a few minor tweaks to my PI operations, I logged into the Low Sec Pipe to see what was going on.  Turns out the "excitement" for the night was a mining operation at least 10 jumps from where my mothballed Hulk was sitting (unfit of course).  Based on this, I decided to undock the scanner and see what fun might be awaiting in our pocket.

The first system offered nothing of excitement, but the second system offered a Z971 wormhole.  So in I went to find a very vast system.  One of those where none of the 4 planets are visible on D-Scan together.  There was a POS at the planet scannable from the wormhole exit, with a Mammoth and Hurricane on scan.  Quickly locate the POS and saw that the Hurricane was active.  Very nice.  

Next planet offered a small, unoccupied POS. 

Warp to the Planet 3 and bingo, a Covetor, mining drones, and a can.  Warp to Planet 4 and find no moons or activity.  A perfect spot to launch probes and setup to scan without being seen (man I do love no local).

The goal was to minimize the time the probes were visible, so set up a 4 AU pattern of combat probes.  Warped them in to Planet 3, got my results, noted the mining barge location (at 86%), and warped them back out. Reconfigured the probes to 2 AU and warped them back in, 100% hit, warped them out.  Perfect.  Warped to the Covetor at 100km and hoped an asteroid would not uncloak me.  Warp took forever, but I landed, didn't decloak and watched as the Covetor continued to mine.

Bookmarked the can right next to the miner and warped back the wormhole to go get a ship with some firepower.  Also called to anyone else in the area that wanted in on the fun.   Too bad they had no idea the "Fun" that awaited them.

So usually I would grab my dual point, cloaky Legion, but it was 24 jumps away. So my PVP Zealot would have to do.  So I warped back to the entrance and the plan came together.  The Zealot would warp in, fly forever in warp, tackle the Covetor, play around with it and see if the Hurricane would come to its rescue.  So I jumped through and warped the Zealot to the bookmark, and about mid warp to the target someone in Comms piped up "Hey, anyone got probes fitted?", silence, and a few uhh's.  Well no biggie, I would kill the Covetor and see what happened.  Then I got within D-Sacn range and saw the Hurricane was now in the belt with the Covetor.  

So I land on grid, start target locking the Covetor and Hurricane.  "Point the cane, and kill the covetor, is the new plan".  Next thing I hear is "Everyone jump and warp to targets", followed quickly by a "oh crap", and "no way".  Yep, the wormhole had collapsed behind us.

The Covetor melts like butter in a microwave, and the other three ships finally land on grid.  The Hurricane starts to go down quickly under the pressure of 4 ships.  The FC quickly makes a plan to lock both pods and see if we can work out a deal for the location of the High Sec Static.  So the Hurricane goes down, and we get both pods locked.  We were quickly hailed in local by the resident and quickly explained our little "predicament".

By this time the public channel in our comms that we are using (along with the mining op) is erupting with laughter at the 3 wormhole vets and one noob who are stuck in w-space with well over a billion isk in ships and implants because they failed to bring any probes.  We figured the combined W-Space experience for the crew was over 5 years (for the record, it was the w-space noob who asked prior to jumping if anyone had probes).  Also, the Security Status of the guys I was with is not the greatest and two of them have been off Concord's Christmas Card list for awhile now.

Now fortunately, for us, the guy found value in letting us out of his hole and not making us spend days shooting at everything we could find until someone else came along and let us out (which we all knew could be awhile). I kind of equate it to opening the window in your car to let the hornet out while you are driving on the Interstate.  Sure you could try to kill him, but its safer to just let him out.

So the ribbing on comms continued and we saw probes on D-Scan so we hoped he was living up to his side of our arrangement, and not just scanning in all his buddies.  After about 15 long minutes, he finally found the High Sec static and we were able to get our 4 ships to the wormhole.

For the other 3 the fun was just beginning, our first intrepid explorer jumped through, found out he was not welcome and quickly docked his Vagabond.  The news was not great, the hole opened into a .8 system, 26 jumps from home, with several .9 systems in the route.  There would be no easy return to home.

So having been the "mastermind" of this adventure, and the only one still with a positive Sec Status, I offered to get the other 3 ships the 26 jumps home.  So the other two pilots docked and off they went too, flashy red, the 26 jumps back home.

So in the end, we got 2 kills, endured a fair share of deserved ribbing, and had a good laugh (after we were all safe back home).

It goes down as one of the more fun nights I have had in awhile, but despite all the fun, next time I will still bring a probing alt with us.

Fly Safe,

Mick

Revisit to my PVP views

About a year ago, after a lengthy discussion on PVP with a number of players on Vent, I wrote this:

http://eve-lifeinthehole.blogspot.com/2010/06/view-on-pvp.html

Now, after a year of participating and trying to learn more about this side of EVE, I have come to some conclusions about PVP.

#1  Most of PVP in EVE is non-consensual
#2  Like my sex life, it takes way too long to happen and is over too quick
#3  No matter what you do, some people will never, ever voluntarily PVP
#4  Shooting i-HUBS and Stations is not PVP, but can lead to it
#5  Even people who fly the biggest ships still can suck at PVP

Looking at each one a little bit closer.

#1  - So little of EVE PVP is consensual.  Most PVP is the result of small gangs and solo players looking for indy and PVE targets.  The ratter in a belt, the mission runner, the industry player at a Customs Office, the low sec gate camper.  Now this is not to say that there are a lot of combat ships v combat ships fighting, its just that one of the people is not looking for a fight, it finds them due to their stupidity, afk-ness, or other reasons.  While this is not "bad" its just not the glorious vision most people have of PVP.

#2 - Takes too long to find and never lasts.  Sure this might say more about my sex life, but we all have experienced the 2 hour roam to nowhere that ends up in a ball of flames and white light expresses back to our medical clones.  Even worse is when it ends due to the blue of our blue not being blue.

#3 - The Reluctant Carebear - Offer free ships, offer training classes, offer "insert whatever you want here" and the fact of the matter is there are some people, even living in 0.0, that have zero, zip, ziltch, nada desire to ever PVP.  Sure they get blown up in their Tengu's while ratting, or their Rattlesnakes, or even their carriers, but tell them we are going on a frigate roam in corp paid for rifters, and they disappear quicker than a drop of water in the desert.  I can not figure out how they can undock a billion isk ship to go rat, but cant for the life of them undock a free ship to go shoot other players.  Even as incoming roams increase to the point their ability to make isk ratting is in serious jeopardy and they still would never be found in a corp paid for drake shooting at the incoming gang.

#4 - SOV warfare is broke - end of story.  To have to spend days shooting at targets with a bazgillion HP when the owners could care less is ridiculous and only encourages blobs and crappy lag induced PVP.

#5 - A plethora of ISK and no brains - How else can you rationalize a guy undocking a Rattlesnake when the corp provides all BC's for system defense?  How else can you explain a Titan pliot that cynos himself to the fught instead of opening a jump bridge.  How else can you describe all the crap and fail fits we see on a daily basis.  Too much isk and not enough brains.

So overall my views of the glory of PVP have changed, but the reality is still as I once believed. There are the hunters and the hunted, the high sec afk miner and the suicide ganker, the hot headed mission runner and the ninja salvager, the war dec'n high sec corps and the indy players too dumb to know there is a war on.

There is little PVP that meets the trailer reels CCP makes, but man those trailers are cool.  Maybe the next trailer should be cloaky Tengu or Hound slowly creeping in on a mining op and blowing up an Orca and Hulk, or a Sabre dropping a bubble on a group of Drakes running a Sleeper site, and his friends blowing the crap out of them.  Those would be way more realistic.

Fly Safe,
Mick

News from Great White North Exploration

Well its been a long time since I have updated everyone on my exploits, but since they have involved a couple of stretches in boring w-space corps, null sec, and other non-wormhole things, I have not had much exciting to relate to Wormhole Living.

Well that has changed.

So here's some updates.

First I have sold and bought several characters and my crew has significantly changed.  Hundo is still my oldest character and is back as CEO of my W-Space corp, Great White North Exploration.  My other characters now encompass an almost Rorq pilot, an almost Carrier pilot, and too many PI alts to talk about.

Great White North Exploration has also joined the alliance Gryphon League.  In my desire to return to running my "own show", I set out to find an alliance that could help me offer a wide range of stuff to people I recruited.  Gryphon League represented a nice balance of Low Sec operations in a Low Sec pipe they call home and High Sec operations as well.  I hope to add a little W-space flavor to their alliance.

So that brings me to the shameless plug.

Great White North Exploration is recruiting.  Unlike when I founded GWNE, when w-space was a vast unknown, and people like Star Defender were leading us into the unknown and educating us in the ways of the wormhole, w-space is now much more of a known.  Staticmapper, Dotlan, and other tools have taken a lot of the mystery out of W-space.  Wormholes are bought and sold at an alarming rate on the forums. And PI has once again made W-space living a very profitable venture.

So with that in mind, I look to grow GWNE into a more well rounded corporation, with a focus now on being a little of everything to everyone.  As part of the Gryphon League I am able to offer recruits a chance to experience a lot of the aspects of EVE, while still maintaining a foothold in W-Space.  I decided not to be exclusively W-Space, since I am not sure it offers a long term living environment to sustain a healthy corp.  And really I have little desire to babysit a bunch of people in a wormhole anymore (having done that for several corps).

So check out our recruitment thread and our public channel.

http://www.eveonline.com/ingameboard.asp?a=topic&threadID=1561757

Fly Safe,

Mick Flaherty 

I miss my Orca

For those of you who have followed the blog since early on will realize the "fun" I have had with my first Orca "Shamu".  I have twice been on the wrong side of a wormhole collapse with it, have had to pay a small fee twice to keep it from getting blown up (though I am not convinced the falcon pilot would have ever been able to crack its tank), and countless other adventures.  It has lived in C2, C3, C4 and C5 space, closed countless wormholes and been one of the most useful ships I have owned.  By far, I have probably logged the most hours in the ship the last year and half.

Now that I have settled into a nice C1, Shamu is sitting in High Sec, collecting dust, and helping only occasionally for logistics.

By far, the thing I like least about the C1 is the fact I cannot close holes easily (8 orca passes is so easy).  And I can not use my trusty Orca for logistics.

So while there are a lot of things to like about the C1, the fact I have to leave one of my favorite ships in High Sec is sad.

Too bad I can't tear it down and rebuild it in the C1.

Fly Safe,
Mick

They Came, They Saw, They lost their Noctis

Its been a long time since I've posted and a lot has happened.

I've learned null sec statics make for really sucky logistics, been "evicted" from a wormhole for the first time (staging POS for a move), learned the "joy" of Sov Warfare in 0.0 (an IHUB has how many HP?), gained a lot of small fleet roam experience, and invested a lot of time into learning the ins and outs of PI.

The one area I have "grown" the most is in a willingness to get into situations that might not always have a favorable outcome for me (not to be confused with a Death Wish, but more a Death Apathy).

So in my shiny new wormhole, complete with a crap ton of anomalies (since it had not been "worked" in awhile), I logged on to find 2 T3's, and 2 BC's running sites.  Well, in the past I would have let them go and have their fun, done my resetting of PI extraction units and logged off.  As long as people left my POS alone, I never really cared too much.  I even threw a probe and scanned down the K162 to see it was a "dangerous" route in.

But then they had to bring in a Noctis.  That is too juicy of a target to not try to at least take a pot shot at.  So to the POS I flew and swapped out the scanner for a SB.  Now being in my own "home" here helped.  I had several well positioned spots to use d-scan and quickly was able to determine they were leaving the Noctis alone in sites to salvage.  In the first site I found the Noctis, he was almost done and it was too late to setup a bombing run.  But the next site I caught him just starting to salvage as I warped in at 100km.

So I bookmarked a wreck right next to the target, warped to the closest planet and back at 30km.  Got lucky  on the warp in to not get too close to a wreck, and was able to sneak into 25km away.

Uncloak, fire bomb, target Noctis, overheat point, orbit 20km, hit the torps, wait for target lock, bomb explodes, half armor, volley 1, bye bye rest of armor, second volley and bye bye Noctis.

Forget the Pod, lock the wreck, crap here comes the Calvary, warp off.  Pray the melted nanos died a glorious death in the wreckage.

Warp to a safe, warp back to the site at 100km and watch them orbit the wreck farther and farther out with drones.

Check killmail, and yes the melted nanos didn't drop.  Bye bye 150M in loot (probably closer to 200M at the time of the kill) and a nights work for at least 5 people.

While not my first kill, it does represent the first for the corp that once served as a carebear in w-space corp, that used to run and hide in a POS and would never risk pissing off "dangerous" people.  But having now been in a "dangerous" corp or two, lived in null, and seen the other side of eve, I am more then willing to risk a 20M loss to win a Noctis kill.

http://eve.battleclinic.com/killboard/killmail.php?id=13771475

On the opposite side, I am amazed that a corp experienced in W-space would not 1) Guard the Noctis, or 2) Monitor my POS.  Especially since I had announced my presence with probes, and changed ships at my POS.  They should easily have seen me reship into a Bomber and at the very least sent one of the 4 combat ships to protect the Noctis.  Having the Noctis aligned would have saved it also.  It was sitting still, and easy prey. Overall, they probably had not encountered great resistance in a C1 before, or thought so little of the possible occupants, that they got lazy.  Again the 200M loss probably represents a drop in the bucket to what they make, but its still is 200M.

So if you come to visit my wormhole, please fly lazy.  I like Noctis kills.

Fly Safe everywhere else,
Mick Flaherty

PI, Depletion, and WH life

Personally, PI is what got me back into W-Space life, and PI is the overriding factor keeping me there now. I think that is also the reason that I have seen a resurgence in the number of people living in w-space.  High End Gas Mining, and C5/C6 Sleeper Sites still represent the top of the line Isk generation in W-space, but PI is the backbone of providing the Isk to justify a semi-permanent presence.

So along comes the new depletion, the planets I am making "mining" for my coolant on probably had 5-6 people on them each pulling material.  The planets got significantly poorer in a matter of weeks, yet prices have not risen.  So either people had a backlog, or more people are doing it with the new "ease" of PI (yes, I can not get through 5 toons with login and everything in about 15 minutes on nights I don't need to move materials).

So will the depletion lead to a similar exodus of w-space as the falling ABC mineral prices did?  Will people just spread out more and we will see more systems being run by smaller groups?  Or will people just scale back in the holes they are in and make less per person?

Personally, I moved my merry band of PI toons to a new hole and am happily back to only 2-3 toons on each planet and reaping the hot spots all myself.

Time will tell how the new depletion and PI will work, but for now, I think that w-space remains the best place to operate for PI and the less people doing PI in the hole the better.

Fly Safe,
Mick