Tag Archive: eve online


Ganked – again

Filed under: Backstory, Day to Day Blog — Leave a comment
January 4, 2024

"...if you gaze long enough into an abyss, the abyss will gaze back into you." Friedrich Nietzsche

Karen spilled out of the clone bay in 1DQ, vomited and lay shivering on the floor. She was crying. She had been travelling to Cabeki to look at the location as a source of isogen for corporation projects. The plan was to try and find a good space to operate from that was not too far from 1DQ but afforded some freedom for high sec partners to join the team. A corporate associate had friends there. Hence the scouting mission. She had wanted Uldizo to do the run but he was setting up a cyno for Ekloke’s jump freighter. Abby was working on some science projects. And Mori was on a strategic op with Mist.

She had been careful, making sure she did not warp directly to gates. Taking time to scan them wherever possible in advance. Nothing could have prepared her for a cloaked Rokh sitting on the Goudiyah gate out of Baratar. The usual cheap ganker, to be expected really. For many this kind of death is pretty routine in New Eden. Gankers like to sit in the hope of catching

For Karen pod death was never a good experience. Something was wrong, very wrong. Every time she had been pod killed something happened to her in the spaces in between.

It always started with the darkness. Floating in darkness, suspended in the black, caught between New Eden and somewhere else. The first time she died it just seemed unusual that there was a delay before she woke. The next time she felt something grasping at her ankles and legs. A hand or tentacles slowly reaching around her ankles. The next time it was a full blown attack, she felt cloying slime, a tightening grip around her body, holding her from rebirth. Each time she died it took longer for her to wake up.

Image courtesy of Hotpot: https://hotpot.ai/art-generator

This time was worse, much worse. She saw herself surrounded by crushing tentacles, grasping, holding her, and tearing her limb from limb. A voice deep and dark inside her head.

“Stay with us.”

Image courtesy of Hotpot: https://hotpot.ai/art-generator

Then, a sudden whiteness fading, she woke up rolled onto her side on the floor. A new clone. It was some time before she moved from her cold, shuddering poise. The memory. The horror, the claustrophobic, cloying, grasping crush was still there. It was, of course, technically impossible to have a ‘memory’ from ‘in between’ and yet there it was. The tightness gripping her, tearing her limb from limb.

Worse still, she had to go back.

Her new clone felt strange, alien, almost roomy. Worse, in fact, it was voluptuous, long wavy hair, almost Gallente.

“Ugh, for the love of …..what is wrong?” Karen got up slowly, looked around, caught sight of a strange looking woman in the mirror and awkwardly went to the shower. The clone remould would have to wait. She had promised to scout the pocket for the corporation. A few hours later she was back down the pipe towards the system beyond Baratar making note of stations and the location of allies. She compiled her report for Dan and returned home.

She returned to 1DQ and started to research the next manifest for the corporation builds but couldn’t focus. The flashbacks kept coming, much, much worse this time. She turned to her neocom and started to browse Pod Technology. Something was very wrong.

The history of the capsule and it’s link to the clone proved interesting reading, there was history of things going wrong. Sure this was a long time ago and reports of problems with the current technology were few and far between. But there are risks associated with cloning and it certainly is possible that something is malfunctioning with her tech. If something can go wrong with technology, as it did in the Peralles incident then perhaps clone technology was equally problematic? Karen took some more time browsing the information on pod technology and decided that she needed to go speak to someone at the Ishukone Corporation. This would mean a trip to high sec.

Tags: , , , , , , , , ,
Comment

X47 The Vanguard

Filed under: Day to Day Blog — Leave a comment
December 30, 2023

This is what he had been waiting for, a large scale battle with capital ships, a structure to kill and some glory fighting in New Eden. He had chosen the Onathura for this fight. A sleek Oneiros with a Serpentis coating, it had already served him and his crew well in the early skirmishes for this deployment.

Mori was in the Onathura tingling with anticipation. This was his first major deployment since the FI.RE coalition days where they fought a mostly out numbered, rear-guard guerrilla campaign against his new Allies the Goonswarm Federation.  It’s funny how allegiances shift in New Eden.  Cosmos felt the betrayal of FI.RE by Pandemic Horde particularily hard. It was time for some payback.

The Onathura.

Karen’s passivism was rubbing off on him. He was not so keen to be shooting things and had started to appreciate the kind of work that support does in a fleet. He enjoyed keeping people alive for longer, making a fleet hard to break, driving the opposition to despair. Logistics had grown on him over the past few months. Especially in the Onathura, there was no need for cap chains, no need for any extra support. She had borne the brunt of more than a few scrapes so far. The fit was a standard GSF fit with no frills.

The previous days had seen Goons pushing to break the cyno jammer in x47, but they had failed to do this.  Mori had felt the tension behind this moment, from the day Pandemic Horde had backstabbed FI.RE, finally he had a chance to fight back. The extraction from Immensea had been weary and challenging. Taking weeks along with Ekloke, Karen and Abby. Harassed all the way by Pandemic Horde and neutrals, they had lost a lot of stuff, but they had made it, finally arriving in 1DQ exhausted and anxious. Since then, life had settled down. Goonswarm had turned out to be a completely different place to live. Everyone was pleasantly surprised by the friendliness and warmth of their welcome. Karen and Abby immediately threw themselves into corporation projects, building Mackinaws and Occators for Ekloke to move and sell. Ekloke started trading in and out of 1DQ. Mori had been running in the Strategic fleets, getting used to a different pace, getting to know new friends.

He snapped out of his reverie, would Goonswarm attack a Keepstar with no ability to Cyno in Cap support? If they did, surely they would be driven off? Whatever the case, he was going to be there. The ping went out for the Tempest Fleet Issue doctrine.

“Yes!” Mori rushed to find the fleet and applied to join. The time had come. The Onathura was primed and ready.

Fleet chat was full of excitement, we were really going to do this. It took some time before everything was ready and the command to undock arrived. The Journey to X47 was already planned by the Fleet Commanders and so went very smoothly. The closer they got to the destination the more blue fleets along with a few red scouts could be seen in local and in the immediate vicinity.

“Check your stations, everyone is coming to this party.” Mori issued the command.

The crew also anticipating that something big was about to happen, stood in awe as the fleets around them grew and grew. Mori checked the Onathura’s systems, rechecked them, twitching in his pod with nervous anticipation. One system out and other fleets were already here. Like giant shoals of fish, spinning and weaving through space.

“Check yours systems folks. Emergency evac drill in ten.” Mori had been with this crew for a few years now, he did not like losing people, especially since this team were good at what they did. His consciousness extended out through the ship, listening, looking for signs of weakness. Nothing. They were steady, ripe with anticipation.

“System check complete.” The ship captain responded from the bridge.” Mori smiled inside. Efficient as always.

Mori triggered the emergency signal. The crew immediately left their positions, got to their escape pods and hit buttons to open their respective doors. All but one.

“Midshipman Vanir Alrekmur report to your escape pod.” Mori scanned the ship for the Minmatar citizen locating him moving quickly along a corridor well away from his escape pod.

“Apologies Captain, I was looking for my……..”

“It doesn’t matter what it was because you would be dead now.” Mori’s voice was tense.

Outside the Onathura space seethed with Tempest Fleet issues, Oneiros’, an assortment of ‘boosting’ ships and various small tackle. Boosting ships were known as such because they had the ability to release ‘nanites’ that could spread throughout the fleet enhancing various attributes of those fleet members in range, for example, enhancing reload speeds or improving armour resists. Fleet commanders would frequently give commands to have boosts “up” or “down”. “Up” usually meant a fight was anticipated, “down” meant either the fleet was about to jump into a fight, or the fight was over and the fleet was running for cover. Boosts were known because they would set a timer for the ship and pilot such that gates would lock them out because such an act was considered an act of aggression. Right now the boosts were down.

“Midshipman Alrekmur if we survive the fight I want you to report to the bridge.” Captain Veroga Gikar spoke through comms to Vanir.

“I am sorry Captain, it won’t happen again.” Alrekmur was at his station looking embarrassed.

“Do you mind me asking what exactly it was you had lost?” Gikar was looking at Alrekmur through a digital image. The slight figure motioned to a bag at his feet.

“I had forgotten to bring by toolkit Sir. I am sorry Sir. I have it now.”

“Alrekmur you do realise you are responsible for keeping the remote armour repair systems working?” The Onathura had three Large Solace Scoped repairers and a Medium Ancillary Remote Armor repairer. These systems were mission critical for the coming fight and if they went down many lives could be lost. This did not inspire much confidence in Gikar.

“Sir, yes. I know I am sorry Sir.” He remained motionless at his station. Truth be told, if a black hole could have opened up for him he would have been delighted. The Seibestor hated being the focus of attention. But he was usually so competent.

Gikar switched to private comms. “Are you OK Vanir?”

“Maam yes. Maam. I am just nervous.”

“We all are Vanir, but we have to be on point. Lives depend on us.” The Captain knew it was important to support her crew at times like this. There was little to be gained from further humiliation.

“I know Maam. I won’t let you or Mori down. I promise.” Vanir started to run a systems check on the remote armour repairers she could see from the data passing through her console that he was working very very fast indeed. With a loud thud and swoosh the ship jumped into X47. The sight on the other side had the whole of the Onathura awestruck.

Fleet clusters sitting cross bubbles in X47. Source: Courtesy of CCP Aperture.

The sight in X47 was dumbfounding to someone who had never seen anything on this scale before. Hundreds of warp disruption bubbles clouded the sky. Fleets appeared as small clusters of ships in the distance, there was at least twenty of them. Boosts could be seen spiralling out and around each fleet as they moved through space. At times the numbers of capsule pilots and their crew in and around the keep star numbered upwards on four to five thousand. All being moved around on a very large chess board.

On entering the system the fleet warped to a ‘perch’ sitting high above the gate where everyone waited for further instructions.

“Ladies and gentlemen, it is going to be our job to keep pressure on that Keep star, that means we are in the Vanguard. We will lose many of you but your job is to return to DO6, reship and come back. We must not fail.” Apple Pear’s voice was calm.

Apple Pear

Mori felt a strong burst of adrenalin as the command to align to the keep star appeared in fleet comms. In unison two hundred and fifty ships swung towards the keep star.

“This is it folks. Focus, we are hear to keep people alive.”

Tags: , , , , , , , , ,
Comment

Running the Gauntlet

Filed under: Backstory, Day to Day Blog — Leave a comment
December 21, 2023

“I can’t breathe Abby! I can’t breathe!”

“Karen you don’t have to breathe you are in a pod.”

Karen was twisting and turning in her pod. The ships crew stood and watched helplessly as the ships instruments went crazy.

“She needs to catch herself before we are all killed.” The flying officer remarked as he watched the instrument panel.

“Karen you can do this.” Abby’s voice was calm and steady.

They were running the gauntlet into 1DQ from Efa. This involved, as always a scout, in this instance Abby running ahead in a shuttle. It required timing. The shuttle jumps through each system staying within one jump of the Deep Space Transport. Abby had done this many times for Ekloke whose precision and timing was flawless. But unfortunately Ekloke was not around and they needed to move the low security space ore to the production line in PS-94K. Karen was fine in a blockade runner, the risk was minimal, but ever since the ‘incident’ in Alakgur with Gay Pride Booooom she had not been right. She had only lost four pods in her career but each time she had come back she was more reserved, more introverted.

This image shows a deep space transport (DST) it is a long narrow ship.

“Just take your time. It is easy when you do it, hit align, then cloak and microwarpdrive then as the microwarpdrive cycle ends uncloak and hit warp. Align, Cloak, MWD, Cloak and Warp.” Abby was on the out gate in Efa waiting to jump into 3-FKCZ. Anyone could come through the gate at any moment, the pause stretched out into the void. Then a crackle.

“I am warping, I did it! I did it!”

Abby jumped through to 3-FKCZ and checked local. “It’s clear, I am warping to the out gate jump in when you arrive.” She hit warp, the shuttle aligned and was gone. Meanwhile Karen and her crew where heading to the 3-FKCZ gate in Efa. Karen was shaking, the adrenalin rush making her extremely agitated. She watched the distance close as the Gommorra shuddered its way through warp. It landed on the gate she took a deep breath as it jumped into Null. Abby meanwhile jumped through the Ansiplex into 8BO-IH. Local was clear.

“OK Karen come to me. Align, Cloak, MWD, Cloak and Warp.”

Silence.

More silence.

“Kar….”

“On my way.”

Abby breathed a sigh of relief and hit warp. Time to get rolling. The jumps started to take on a rhythm of their own, Abby running ahead carefully checking local and Karen getting into warp, starting to ease into the Journey. It was when Abby hit YQX that everything changed.

Abby Talia > YQX-7U “CN hanxs” “M2018M” sabre interceptor
MKD-O8 G Munkee
Eddie Achasse > GOP-GE PsyBlade
stargank > Martin Conrad V-LEKM
Kooter Farmer > GOP-GE clr
Abby Talia > YQX-7U “CN hanxs” “M2018M”

“Whaaaat.” Karen’s voice was shaking.

“It’s okay you have an interdiction nullifier.”

“I don’t, I don’t Abby what am I going to do? I can’t do this I caaaa…..”

“Shut up Karen and listen. Look around you. Do you see the outgate?”

“Yes.” Karen responded quietly.

“OK there is a station nearby isn’t there?”

“Yes.”

“Dock up. I will keep eyes on these guys. You get safe.”

Adam Yule > MKD-O8 PsyBlade
Mailly Gaterau > 1M4-FK G Munkee
Mailly Gaterau > Stiletto
Deresh Dovid Elkhavar > L-6BE1 PsyBlade
Abby Talia > YQX-7U CN hanxs M2018M retribution flycatcher and interdiction probe
Mailly Gaterau > 1M4-FK clr
Deresh Dovid Elkhavar > L-6BE1 G Munkee PsyBlade stiletto loki
Zeri Hamu > Anyone know the status of Ashmarir from Arzanni?
Deresh Dovid Elkhavar > L-6BE1 clr
Adam Yule > MKD-O8 G Munkee PsyBlade
Kooter Farmer > G Munkee GOP-GE
Eddie Achasse > GOP-GE G Munkee
stargank > Martin Conrad K7D-II
Abby Talia > YQX-7U CN hanxs M2018M Retri, Flycatcher
Olakin Rethman > Martin Conrad normally flys a kiki
Abby Talia > YQX-7U CN hanxs M2018M looks like they moved to a gate – be careful
Abby Talia > YQX-7U clr

“Okay Karen, Undock and get into YQX before these asshats come back.”

Silence. Abby warped to 8-YNBE. “Karen…….”

“I am in warp, fuuuck Abby how could I have forgotten the nullifier? I am so sorrrry.”

“It’s okay.” It wasn’t.

“I am approaching the gate.”

“YQX is clear jump in.” Abby jumped through into 8-Y. It was clear.

“Karen you are good to go.” Come through.

They completed the next five jumps to PS-9 and delivered the isogen, nocxium, tritanium, pyerite and cadmium for the next corporation project. After a short break Abby persuaded Karen to take the three jumps to 1DQ to get that nullifier. Once it was fitted they flew back to Efa in a very uneventful journey. Karen’s confidence had improved to the point where not even a neutral in local stopped her warping to the station. The plan was to resume mining once more to secure the remaining Isogen and nocxium. But Mr Gillis wasn’t moving.

Clearly a scout. Never left the starter corporations for pod pilots. Karen looked up zkill to see what, if anything he had been involved. What she saw worried her.

Image details a Vargur Kill that totals 3.3 billion ISK.

https://zkillboard.com/kill/112775644/

Even more worrying was that his MO was big kills against Brave Collective. Brave had recently evacuated the north after years of pressure from PANFAM the biggest coalition in the game. PANFAM had wanted more space to rent, or so it seemed. Whatever the case there would be no mining this evening. Karen, Abby, and little Uldizo would be hanging out here for the time being, just to keep an eye on Mr Gillis.

It was several hours before local expanded. Many of these characters with red tickers.
Einherjar Khamsi
Eutectic Reaction
Floki Khamsi
Handsome Jacob
John Vaille
katalysator Tadaruwa
Miko Li
Obi-Twan Kenobi
Peter Gillis
Siliun Vaille
Twan to
Undercovernuke

All working for various corporations in Solyaris Chtonium hunting the simple minded with bling to take.

Imaghe provides details of Dutch Legions who describe themselves as a tight-knit corporation in Eve online. It reads: A formidable force in New Eden, this tight-knit corporation boasts quite a few skilled pilots. Known for their strategic prowess and unwavering determination, they excel in coordinated warfare across all regions. With a strong economic backbone, they're self-sufficient and thrive as a united community. Dutch Legions leaves an indelible mark on EVE Online, embodying the spirit of the Netherlands in the depths of space. In Dutch: Lijkt het je wat om ons te joinen of heb je vragen join dan ons openbaar kanaal: Dutch Legions of maak een application op onze website: https://auth.dutch-legions.nl/

Karen had no idea where the Netherlands was nor had she heard of the ‘Dutch Legions’ before, they looked dangerous enough. Certainly capable of parting a pod pilot from their expensive modules. She showed Abby her findings, boarded her DST and Undocked. The plan was to sit on the undock and see if she could catch a DSCAN of the ships in local. Before long she was rewarded with this:

This image provides a summary image of the content of the fleet Karen caught on DSCAN, these Scans are very important because they alert others to the content of a fleet so they can prepare themselves: See this link for more information. https://dscan.info/v/fd9aac47870c

She pinged this to Abby who opened up the Querious intel channel.

Abby Talia > Efa https://dscan.info/v/fd9aac47870c Einherjar Khamsi Floki Khamsi Handsome Jacob John Vaille ++
Valkhir > Badivefi Twan II Neechi HollanderDanny
Hans-Gustav Mayerling > K-YI1L Keraka <- Heron

Adirim > A-ELE2 +7
Lucuis Castus > Atraxy KEJY-U*
Lucuis Castus > Hidden Rorshach KEJY-U*
Yalla-Habibi > Atraxy , Hidden Rorshach (Gnosis) – KEJY-U
Yalla-Habibi > srry, not gnosis, Drake Navy
Yalla-Habibi > KEJY-U ESS linked
Ray Stelar > Efa that fleet is blops probably
Abby Talia > yeah be warned
Yalla-Habibi > Atraxy bifrost
Karen Sokarad > Efa Arthe Babaganoush III Einherjar Khamsi Floki Khamsi Handsome Jacob John Vaille +6
Valkhir > Badivefi Twan II Neechi HollanderDanny two more blobs
Karen Sokarad > +2 more in Bav
Karen Sokarad > Yeah
Valkhir > Peter Gillis was their dropper have not seen him yet though
Eutectic Reaction > Peter Gillis is in Efa
Eutectic Reaction > will likely be a buzzard^
Karen Sokarad > Peter Gillis yes spotted him earlier he is still in Efa
Abby Talia > Efa https://dscan.info/v/fd9aac47870c Blops fleet still here
Blavish > 14 neuts in Efa , droppers with cyno Peter Gillis
Alexandru Groner > H-4R6Z Peter Gillis
Eutectic Reaction > Peter Gillis left efa
Eutectic Reaction > Efa clear
Jackson Tokila > 3-FKCZ clr
Karen Sokarad > Peter Gillis on zkill : https://zkillboard.com/character/2120923742/
Kremner > Yea they dropped me 😦
Karen Sokarad > Efa clr
Lady Siftt > H-4R6Z +20 blops/T3C
Lady Siftt > Obi-Twan Kenobi
Saints Sasen > YF-6L1 ecarus

There was not much more they could do. Uldizo was keen to go out again but they just could not persuade Karen to leave the station. She clone jumped out to join the Corp operation that evening. Efa was quiet once more. Later Abby was browsing Peter Gillis zkillboard feed and realised that they had already had their kill:

https://zkillboard.com/kill/114163465/

The image is of a 2.9 Billion Paladin kill. The person in the kill is Kremner who had replied in the intel chat above.

The kill was inexplicable to Abby especially with all of the intel they had been providing. Just how?

Tags: , , , , , , , , ,
Comment

Pliction: The debate

Filed under: Backstory — Leave a comment
January 31, 2022

He had a cold swagger about him. His hair was dark brown, cut short. His mouth was firmly closed and his jaw set square. He was browsing through something on his holo-tab, she could see the light flickering across the glasses as the screen scrolled up and then flickered through different tabs. He settled on a post. Looked up at her and smirked.

“Yes?”

“You look like fresh meat. Did someone ‘Gank’ you?” His head tilted to the side, inviting a comment.

She frowned. From the Voluval on his face she knew he was a Kanenald from somewhere near Rens. One of those smug metropolitan types that think they are better than everyone else. ”Bakheth’ scum.’ She thought. She sighed looked down at the bar, thought ‘Mehar! What the hell’.

“Yes. Someone destroyed my ship and pod.”

“You need to do something about your fit.”

‘You need to do something about your manners’ she thought. There was a short pause and without any invitation he continued.

“I mean look. From this readout you didn’t even have a multispec hardener fitted. I’m surprised you survived ‘belt rats’ let alone a ‘Ganker’.”

It was true, she had struggled to control the shields when Gurista’s attacked but she didn’t think it was THAT bad. Johnny had told her to invest in a shield hardener, preferably tech II. But obviously she was focused on getting the skills to handle tech II crystals to boost yield. She hadn’t thought about the vulnerability of the ship. She was getting irritated now. ‘What a wanker!’

“Johnny did say we needed one of those. And excuse me, but what the hell is a ‘Ganker’?”

“You don’t know what a Ganker is?” Behind the glasses she could see the eyebrows rising.

“Err no.”

‘But I bet I am about to find out’. She thought as she shifted her leather clad butt uneasily in the stool. There was an uncomfortable squeaking noise of new leather/butt on leather.

He looked up, seemingly exasperated and then shook his head.

“Gankers are pod pilots who enjoy ‘podding’. They get off on destroying your ship and pod before CONCORD can save you.”

“What?”

“Yup, there are people who get off on podding you. Kinda like jerking off on you or dry humping you while you wait in a queue.” He glanced sideways as if half expecting someone to start jerking off on him.

“Why? Why would anyone…..”

“Because they can. It’s that simple. There are all sorts of arguments about it. You could argue that they love their name flashing up in lights on the kill boards. Gives them some sort of notoriety or something. I think that it is really just ’cause they can.”

“What a bunch of morons!”

“Hmmm… you could say that, but you could also say someone who doesn’t bother equipping their ship properly is the real moron.”

“Are you calling me a moron?” Now she really was getting angry. She could feel the heat building at the back of her neck.

“No, no! Look I’m sorry. It’s just that is what ‘they’ would say!”

“I can’t believe you just called me a moron! Twat!” She couldn’t help herself. Usually if a thought came into her head it would eventually find its way out ….and become ‘a thing’.

“Steady on now. No need to get your knickers in a twist! I’m just sayin’….”

“What exactly? Just what are you sayin’? That Johnny’s death is my fault? That somehow I am the one who pulled the trigger on the neutron blasters? I mean what sort of stoopid is that?”

“Of course not. Gay Pride what’s-his-face, or whatever, is responsible for his own behaviour. But HE would argue that YOU are responsible for begging to be killed. Half asleep floating around on a belt with your ass hanging out.”

“I was only mining. I mean how the fuck does someone make a big deal out of that? What sort of moron would….” She was getting increasingly frustrated with this conversation, had a banging headache and just wanted to go to sleep.

“I know, I know. Maybe look at it another way – I mean some of these people have kinda turned this into an art form.”

“What-the-fuck, are you on? An art form. Do you want me to put that in the letter to Johnny’s family? Sorry Johnny died the way he did, my ass was hanging out and Gay Pride Boooom wanted to make some art – the explosion made a pretty picture if that helps.”

“No no of course not. But they think that managing to ‘gank’ you effectively is somehow. ‘Winning a game’.” He was getting into this now, she could tell. But there was nothing worse than being ‘mansplained’ to, especially after a ‘gank’. He wasn’t stopping either.

“Think about it, CONCORD’s response can be pretty much timed. You only have so many seconds to cut through a ship’s shields, armour and structure.”

“You admire these Mathera fucker’s don’t you?”

“Of course not. But as you say they are Mathera fuckkas!” With that he flicked off his holo-tab, stood up and went to leave. “I have sent through a fit you might like to think about for your ship. Maybe think about it eh?”

“Yeah right Mathera fuckka!” She stood and stomped off from the bar before he could reply. Her holo-tab blinked with the message.

Tags: , , , ,
Comment

Adapting to the ‘New Order’

Filed under: Uncategorized — Leave a comment
January 23, 2022

I am going to have a look at what changed in Eve to see if I can piece together some history around why mining became so misaligned by a section of the player base. Although to be fair, I know before I start, in many respects that question is already wrong. You should be wary of any assumptions (or prejudices) you have before you start concocting a wrong headed questions and answers. 

A lot of MMO players struggle with Eve Online because it strikes them as terrifyingly ‘open ended’. Nothing is obvious to a new player when you start playing. The game gives very few hints. Up until relatively recently CCP has not really helped new players that much. This has been left up to the community . Whilst there is an incredibly dedicated community in Eve they certainly have had their work cut out for them. Thankfully this has now changed dramatically with CCPs recent updates. The game is now much more new player friendly than it has ever been.   

My first challenge was to skill Karen into a proper tank and to develop some decent drone skills. I knew this was probably going to take a while but as long as I stayed alert I would probably be able to survive long enough to have something that was going to make a solo Ganker think twice. I also aimed to be able to stop NPCs from being any kind of threat. This is what it means to go down the rabbit hole of Eve. You start with a problem or even a positive goal, set out your plan to get to your goal and off you go.

This is an eve fit It covers the modules required for a Tanky Retriever. High Power 2 x Modulated Strip Miner II Medium Power 1 x Small Shield Extender II 1 x Explosive Shield Hardener II Low Power 1 x Damage Control II 1 x Reinforced Bulkheads II 1 x Mining Laser Upgrade II Rig Slot 3 x Medium Transverse Bulkhead II Drones 5x Acolyte I
Tanky Retriever Fit.

I wasn’t expecting this part of the game to become such fun!  CCP had completely revamped ship builds with a new in game fitting management tool whilst I had been away. And like Wow! To the right of this text (hopefully) is the build I was aiming for. This can be assembled in game and you can see where your skills are lacking, you can adjust your fit with relevant modules and tweak a fit to your own style of play. You can see that the goal for me was to get a better shield. I knew from playing on Mori that the damage ‘type’ the Non-Player Characters (NPC’s) pump out is important. From the Eve University Wiki I could see that The Angel Cartel Pump out 60% Explosive Damage, so Explosive Resists would be handy, I also added a Damage Control II as well as Reinforced Bulk Heads for added tank. Again Eve University have this covered in a beautifully written page on Tanking.

By the time I had all of the skills into the training queue it was going to be around two full weeks whilst Karen skilled into these modules. Also notice how I only had Acolyte I Drones which only deal 20 EM HP damage – this is of course the wrong type of damage for Angel Cartel rats.  Again showing just how complex the game can be.  I would later need to reskill into Valkyrie II drones after finding this important fact out! Once again you can look at the Eve University Wiki page on Drones for more information. But as always this is the game. It is about problem solving, setting goals and cracking on with doing what you need to do.

The problem though is that I was vulnerable and very aware that this was the case. It was back to some skills I had learned when playing Mori in Low Sec, a really handy tip I learned from an EZStreet member and of course scouting out Gankers from Zkillboard’s Ganked page.

DScan is your friend!

The simplest solution to having no tank is to watch local very closely and just not be there when Gankers appear. This was going to be a bit of an inconvenience but really it wasn’t that big an issue.  I would later learn that this routine is essential to be able to effectively play other parts of the game and it really is so basic it should be developed by everyone.  I got into the habit of watching local, when the number changed I would right click and look at who had arrived.  Characters with a minus security rating, new characters and anyone with mediocre ratings deserved special attention. I would often also look up characters on Zkillboard to see if they were into ganking. I was especially careful when any kind of destroyer came onto DScan especially at low range. I found myself developing a habit of warping at the first sign of anything untoward. I would also just log off for the day if the system looked suspicious or sometimes roll over to Moriarity if I felt like PvP.

Control + A on Local Chat

A second really handy tip was to left click on any character in local chat and hit <Control + A>. This has the effect of highlighting all characters currently in the system.  Anyone new to the system is not highlighted and can be checked out fairly quickly.  These were simple methods I developed over the next week to stay safe. As time went on I was starting to enjoy mining more than running around in factional warfare. This became especially true as the time I spent with Karen in COSMOS developed. This was especially the case when I was introduced to the all ‘new’ moon mining by COSMOS CEO Dan Dingle.

On these ops we would often find ourselves in systems that were at a cross-roads, by this I mean these systems were ‘on the way’ to somewhere. Local was constantly changing and it could get very stressful to figure out who was new to the system. Hitting Control-A and highlighting who I knew was there made it much easier to see who was new. I could use one character to highlight all and another to check the security status of those coming through and D-Scan for new ships.

COSMOS CEO Dan Dingle

Warning signs on D-Scan included any Catalysts or Thrshers. In fact post Gank if I saw any of these in local I would just dock up. My best defence was not to be there when the gankers arrived. Certainly until I had the right skills and ship fit. The interesting thing is that over the next few weeks I got this so well practiced that I became a little complacent.

During one of our ops someone appeared in local annoced themselves as our ‘Ganker for this evening’. I docked immediately and waited, but then they left local. We got back to mining. It was a corp op and we were enjoying chat on vopice comms and before we knew it the ganker was on grid shooting. I panicked thinking quick quick. Found it difficult to get all of the drones in on time and the ore over to Karen’s hold. Honestly if they had landed beside me I was definitely going to lose my ship. Too slow! Too Slow!

There were just no guarantees really other than staying completely alert. This was before CCP decided to update mining of course!

Tags: ,
Comment

The first days in COSMOS

Filed under: Uncategorized — Leave a comment
January 7, 2022

I joined COSMOS with Karen Sokarad two days after the gank in Alakgur. The day after the gank by Gay Pride Boooom a second Gank attempt happened. I received the recruitment email almost right after this second Gank attempt. It wasn’t long until I was in a recruitment channel with Karen chatting to Chase Smackem about the corporation. The first thing he said to me in chat was that they were a mature bunch of players and real life comes first. This was a fundamental condition for me as I can get overloaded in real life with work. The last thing I need is a game starting to feel like a job!

The image is of the left half of a male face. His right eye has a monocle.
Chase Smackem, COSMOS Collective.

In all honesty I was looking for more from the game and COSMOS had a really nice infrastructure to get into. At this stage I wasn’t 100% sure I would extend my subs and was thinking I might not actually keep playing the game, ganking seemed to mean that it the game wasn’t going to be played that casually and there was a lot of hostility on the forums to miners. But Eve is a Sandbox and my sense was that it was worth trying COSMOS out. Chase did say they were in a relatively quiet part space and that ganking rarely happened. I thought “What the hell! What could possibly go wrong?”

I think it was practically within 12 hours that I had moved Karen to Eldjaerin the home of COSMOS. The whole thing was very complicated to my brain at the time. The chat logs show that I had no idea about Player Owned Structures in empire and so it took me a while to figure out where the Athanor was located. But once that was sorted I was up and running. I immediately got back out in a new Retriever and started mining. I still had little or no idea about the way different mining ships had changed, no idea that CCP had adjusted the roles and even less of an idea about the variations in tanking ability. Even worse – I knew nothing about other changes CCP had made to the game. The most important of these was the generation of new PVE content and the Forward Operating Base in particular.

The image displays the tall elongated structure of a Blood Raiders Forward Operating base. It has a rustic look and sit forlorn against the background of space.
Forward Operating Base.

I was merrily mining away and blogging on this site when some rats appeared. It took Karen a while to pop them – she basically had zero tanking ability and her drone skills were poor. Like anyone playing eve as a miner I had sacrificed tank and defence over mining yield. After all that is why she was there – to make ISK as reliably as possible!

So anyway I popped a few belt rats and unbeknownst to me a Blood Raider Forward Operating base had appeared in local. I wasn’t using D-Scan (I was mining after all!) just playing the game on one screen and writing on the other. Within a few minutes of killing the belt rats a load of NPC ships appeared, webbed scrambled and Ganked the Retriever. You can see some of my surprise at this in the following chat log from back then.

> Cannot believe that – a second retriever lost in two days – this time to some weird NPC Gank squad. I think I need a proper tank for this ship.
> Is there a FOB in system?
> What is that?
> Forward operating base for npc,s. sends out tougher npcs than u normally get
> Ahhh there is one at distance…. I think….. heading back now. It was brutal – webbed scrambled and basically killed really quickly. …..Ahh well you live and learn 🙂
> We try.
> Yeh, I wouldn’t mine if theres a FOB in system u will die all the time.
> Yeah – will move system – does it depop or does it have to be killed?
> Needs to be killed I think.
> OK thanks for the info 🙂

It’s weird isn’t it – Even the NPCs hate miners! Basically this was a second shock to the system in two days and the effect it had was quite profound. I started having a chat in Corp about this ‘new’ problem and it was apparent that this was by design. In other words it is what CCP wanted, I just had missed the memo!

> Rats are getting more deadly in Erl. was one that had 57,000 bounty that was taking out my Mining Drone II’s. Good thing I was watching or may have lost them and my Retriever.
Karen Sokarad > I was ganked in Eld earlier by Blood Raiders. Skilling up for a proper tank now. Does anyone have a decent tank fit for a Retriever?
> Not sure you can have a Retriever tanked much. Procurer is much better tank but less ore hold.
Karen Sokarad > I can’t seem to get much on with the CPU. Only small modules.
> Desk11 is mine. not much of a tank. I always watch when mining with this. Only afk when absolutely need to.
> https://www.eveworkbench.com/fitting/search?q= can search on there.
Karen Sokarad > ty
> welcome
Karen Sokarad > Tanky Retriever. Karen Sokarad …Really an anti solo gank but hey
> Not bad
Karen Sokarad > The lack of a scanner can be a bit of a pain but I do think the security is an improvement on where I am right now (Smiles).
> Yeah….. Scanner is nice when your using mining crystals so you don’t waste them on small rocks.
Karen Sokarad > Definitely.
> Speaking of scanner, I think I will go and get Survey Scanner II this one later.
Karen Sokarad > Very handy I bought the wrong one when I replaced this ship earlier (face palm moment) 🙂

If anything this conversation demonstrated the importance of getting into a Corporation in Eve, finding people who can help. But most of all it demonstrated to me at the time that I really should not be getting frustrated at losing ships. I still had a decent amount of ISK available and whilst losing two Retrievers was a blow, it was not the end of the world. The point of Eve is that it is as much about the Journey you are on than anything else. It is not about ‘winning the game’. The whole point of this blog from the outset was to write about that Journey.

The initial days in COSMOS were a revelation, there was so much I had forgotten and even more I had to learn. The game had changed beyond recognition. It was more complicated, yes. But so many changes made it so much more fun. I will come to those in future posts. After all I was still playing with Moriarity in factional warfare. But right now I started to enjoy the challenge in front of me – I had been mining and not realising that the ship was extremely vulnerable. Now both Gay Pride Boooom and CCP had taught me a lesson. Even an industrial character needed some means for self defence and really ought to be paying attention to they were doing or more losses would follow.

So, first things first. I needed to do a few things. Pay more attention in local whilst using D-Scan for mining. I also needed to drop that survey scanner if I was going to be using the Retriever, either that or get a Procurer with it’s tiny cargo hold. You can imagine that the latter wasn’t really an option for me, I prefer to stay on the belt for as long as possible and hate too much ‘piddling around’ unloading. It is just a choice I made at the time. One thing I resolved, was that I wasn’t going to lose another ship anytime soon. So I started training towards a better tank on Karen.

Tags: , , ,
Comment

The question of an alt

Filed under: Uncategorized — Leave a comment
December 13, 2021

Up to now I had spent a lot of time on my main character playing in low security space learning a lot about PvP and doing what I could to survive. But that style of playing Eve is very demanding. You need to be fully alert and focused 100% of the time and lets be honest. There are times when low sec can be very quiet with not a lot happening. I found myself wandering around some evenings seeing nothing and certainly not being able to engage in a lot of fights because I just did not have the tools at hand to do so.  I started Sisters of Eve missions in low sec which was fun and helped make a little bit of ISK on the side and living out of one ship eventually became my focus.  I could not afford to throw ships away too much and whilst I could make enough ISK to stay afloat I had to be careful. Eventually I began to think about starting an ALT.

Now when I am talking about an ALT we are not talking about something that was going to make the game a job. I have always felt that far too many people play Eve like it is a second job. I wanted to start and ALT and play the game in a very different way.  Something that was almost the diagrammatical opposite of what I was used to playing. So I started a mining ALT.

Just to clarify, this ALT was started back in 2012. Back then mining was just as legitimate as any other profession in Eve. Since then, in my time away from the game, something has changed.  I had no idea mining would become something that was hated by a section of the player base. I still have no idea why this happened but back then I just wanted to experience another aspect of the ‘sandbox’ that is Eve.

Since that time a small but very vocal section of the player base, seems to have grown to really dislike mining. Although I am not entirely sure that is even true. But nonetheless if you like to read a lot like me then you would be forgiven, if you follow the forum hype alongside some of the stuff that you see on the internet (You Tube etc.). Reading all of that stuff you might be forgiven for thinking that mining is at the bottom of some sort of food chain. That it should be discouraged at all costs.

KarenSo I rolled another Minmatar character of the name Karen Sokarad and started training mining barges with a major focus on lasers and eventually crystals. First up at that time the big choice was choosing a barge that suited my style of play.  I was working on this blog and so I wanted something I could play on one screen whilst composing my posts. The obvious choice at the time was the Retriever with the larger ore hold. I did not want to have to do fiddly stuff with a hauler. Don’t forget Moriarity was in low sec and to be frank I needed downtime from worrying about always paying attention to the game.

I settled on skilling into a Retriever and found a home called Alakgur which is where I started mining. Back then everything was simpler, you could skill into a Barge like the Retriever relatively easily. Within a few days I would be out on the belts mining, blogging and reading about eve. The eventual changes to mining barges were released and I thought this was a great change to the game. Allowing more choice as well as freedom. This was before I decided to quit Eve because of real life. orefrigate6

It was when I got back – everything had changed. Miners seemed to be some sort of hated figure for sections of the player base. Something to be frowned at and looked down on. I had no idea what exactly had happened. That could be a good topic for another post maybe.

Tags: , ,
Comment

Apologies for the downtime

Filed under: Day to Day Blog — 1 Comment
August 26, 2012

Well its been a while since I updated this blog.  Real life work and the fact I have been doing other things in Eve has meant I have not really had a lot to say about the game recently.  I am still in there playing but focussing on the development of another character.  More about that in good time.

Anyway, this has meant a bit of downtime away from Moriarity and invariably less to talk about.  Moriarity is still developing his skills and floating around different parts of FW.  Its my alt that I have been studying. The truth is I have been mining!  Since the recent changes to mining barges this has become a much more interesting profession.

There is something zen like about mining.  You sit in a very unusual position in eve, at the base of a pyramid of makers generating the minerals that will eventually form the basis of ships, charges and modules.  There is something fascinating about that.  Much is made about pew pew and about going out to grief and irritate others in Eve.  People often sing about the glories of player led events like Hulkageddon.  But there is very little said about those who just quietly get on with the task of harvesting and building.

Having studied this side of eve for some time I am now beginning to see that this kind of thing takes a lot of time to get into.  From the outset it has been a slow process understanding efficiency and how different skills combine to provide you with a meaningful yield.  I have spent days bewildered at how slow output can be and then as my skills have kicked in I am now beginning to see that mining can be very lucrative.

The reason for doing this was quite clear.  I hate missions.  I need a source of income that will allow Moriarity to fly something a bit more than a rifer.  With Mr Miner I can see that is now a real possibility.

 

Tags: ,
Comment

Back Story: any load out for a noob?

Filed under: Backstory — Leave a comment
May 4, 2012

“I explained to you before that we should have bought a Rifter but you wouldn’t listen.” Fletcher glared at Moriarity across the table.  Moriarity stared down at his glass. It looked half empty, it didn’t seem to matter much either way. Fletcher was always moaning, it was a complete mystery why he remained with the ship.

The situation was desperate.  They had just failed to turn in their latest commission and would have to sell everything to be able to pay for this Rifter.  They had some parts from the scrap they had looted from the wrecks in previous missions but altogether it was not looking good.

“Okay Fletcher we will buy a Rifter.  Do you have any suggestions about how to fit it?”

Fletcher looked up his data pad and handed it over to Moriarity.  “This is the cookie cutter fit.  They rave about it – you can even do level II’s in this boat.”

Moriarity took the pad, he knew before he looked much further than the Tech II guns that the fit was not going to work.  “Well for a start we can’t afford it, and secondly it will be impossible with my skills.  We would be waiting three months for the training.”

“Ahh  I forgot we are flying with a noob!”

“Yes and that means you might, for a change, try thinking out of the box.”  Moriarity hated it when Fletcher got to him.

Fletcher looked at Moriarity “OK then the way I see it we should go for artillery, you have a shit tank and the best thing we can do is keep the RATS at range.”

“We will not be able to fit the full range of guns and our DPS is going to be poor.”

“Then you better keep us at range or we are gonna be toast!”

“We can do that at least.”

“Lets drink to that then!” Fletcher got up and walked off to the bar.  Moriarity’s eyes followed him across the smoke filled room.

“Don’t worry about him, he is wound up a bit tight.” Cerbus smiled.  “Mind you I have never seen a wrench bounce so far off a pod before!  That was some funny shit.”

“He certainly knows his stuff when it comes to ship loadouts. But he hasn’t got a clue how it ‘feels’ to try and control it.”

Cerbus just smiled and did not commit to anything, like there was more to be said but she was avoiding some sort of issue.

“What I am trying to say is that it is really difficult to squeeze that extra juice out of a boat.  Sure it looks like it can take this or that loadout but when you put it all together it just doesn’t work.”

“I know, look its alright. Fletcher will sort us out once he gets a feel for what you can handle.”

Fletcher returned with three drinks in his hands.  “That bitch at the bar is a bit crabby.  All I said was she looked a bit fat and she refused to serve me til everyone else was served.”

Cerbus groaned. “I see you are inflicting your charms on the locals again.”

“I do my best.” He grinned.

“Well we might as well settle in at this station folks because we could be here for a while.”  Moriarity smiled.

“I’ll get busy with the spare parts and we will see what we can fit to a Rifter chassis with your current skills Mori. Don’t worry lad we will have something workable in the next day or so.  Then we can start earning some real ISK.”

“I can drink to that.” Moriarity raised his glass.

It took less than six seconds for three glasses  to clink.  That was three seconds more than it took to agree a deal that would see ‘The Intrepid’ repackaged and sold for a fraction of its price. What price is history?

Tags: , ,
Comment

Angularities

Filed under: Day to Day Blog — 2 Comments
March 31, 2012

Ok so I have spent the last couple of weeks running around looking for trouble.  There is plenty of trouble to be had in Eve and it has been a blast.  I could go through the stories and the tales but I haven’t got time right now as real life is pressing me and I will be offline for a few weeks with work. More details on some of those stories later.

All I can say right now is that PvP in Eve is all it is cracked up to be and more, there is nothing like the rush that comes when you engage someone for a fight.  I have had a lot of fun spending the ISK I made salvaging. A lot of fun. I have not killed one ship solo!

Eve surpasses most other MMO’s.  I have to tell you Eve peeps though Dark Age of Camelot would still give Eve a run for its money in terms of technical PvP content.  Where Eve pips DaoC is because you lose your shit and it should remain like this.  This means that people choose their fights much more carefully and you don’t get the same level of griefing.  Yes I said that.  The level of griefing in Eve PvP especially at the level I have been playing it is miniscule compared to other MMO’s like DaoC. Shocking isn’t it?

That might need some clarification.  In DaoC there are no penalties for dying.  Apart from a period of sickness after you die which reduces your stats.  As a result everyone moshes it up in a big mass on a bridge or at a tower or a keep.  If you try to learn anything about your character and how it is working you won’t often get a chance.  Plus the usual internet mentality kicks in and the usual dicks like to go around killing solo characters, rude spamming and laughing at them.  Combine this behaviour with a relatively small arena and it can often be very frustrating.  To avoid it you get a stealth character only to discover there are 8-10 people in groups stealthing and ass jamming you.  Whilst it can obviously be the case in Eve there is a lot more space and you can choose your fights – especially in small ships.  Of course griefing will be happening but it is not an epidemic like in DaoC.

In addition to lower levels of griefing, especially when you have a small nimble ship,  there is much less of a massive zerg than other MMO’s.  In my travels in Low Sec there are tons of small gangs and lots of small scale PvP going on.  There is in fact more room for solo than in other MMO’s and that is a very good thing.  But the thing is that the fights themselves are amazing.

Watching your shields being stripped away as you frantically try to get the right range and at the same time do damage. Whilst your being killed by drones, missiles, guns and most of all – your own stupidity!  It is adrenaline pumping, much much more than other games.  I love it.

Anyway, first things first these are the people I have very much enjoyed fighting over the last two weeks:

  • Bischopt
  • Jev North
  • Karl Planck
  • Kollron

I have lost 10 Rifters with various fits to the tune of 0.13 billion ISK which isn’t too bad to be frank given the amount of fun I have had!  Special props goes to both Bischopt and Karl Planck for different reasons.

First of all Bischopt.  This is one guy who rips me a new ass each time I fight him.  He could probably kill me blindfold.  Anyway just to give you a sense of why I think he deserves a mention apart from his obvious knowledge of PvP.  Last Sunday night I stumbled across the Eve TV Lemmings group and decided to join them.  We had a real laugh roaming and dying in Low Sec.  It was my first experience in a gang and it was a lot of fun even if I was a bit jittery – having never fought in front of gate guns before. In that roam we came across Bischopt in a Brutix, a Taranis, and an Enyo.  That bloke was so crazy he engaged the Lemmings on gates just for the giggles.  It was funny to watch.

I felt bad that we had this nubbins gang and were mobbing him – in DaoC people would never forgive you for this kind of change from solo to group.  But here was a bloke who just laughed it off.  His view was that it was not very often that he got a chance to blow crap up so easily.  So even though he lost a considerable amount of ISK it didn’t seem to bother him.  Plus he must have blew me up about three times that night.  For me that says it all – a total stand up bloke.

Whilst the lemmings group was a lot of fun the truth is I have  enjoyed the solo roaming more. Some nights I didn’t find much to fight. Being at the bottom of the food chain is like that!  Still I am honing my scanning skills.

Whilst solo my ass has been handed to me on a plate lots of times.  In fact I was losing so badly it was worrying.  Frequently I would not manage to get whomever I was fighting out of shield.  I discovered I was using the wrong ammo, was at the wrong range and so on.  However, there was something much more serious. Reading my game logs didn’t give me many hints about what was going wrong other than my DPS was bloodly awful.  I was only hitting for like 20-40 with 200mm auto cannons.  I might as well fart in their general direction for all the good these auto cannons were doing.  Then a few nights ago I fought a bloke called Karl Planck who very kindly convoed me after to talk through the fight.

He offered to help me out so I went and got another Rifter.  After discussing skills and ammo (I had used the wrong ammo yet again). He asked me “Whats your angular velocity?”

“Err….” I had no clue what he was talking about.  He got me to use my afterburner’s and fly around him whilst he was stationary when we had figured out my tracking it was pretty obvious that I wasn’t going to hit anything with my 200mm auto cannons.  Basically my angular velocity was going over the tracking speed of my guns so frequently that I was not going to hit shit.

We then had another fight but this time rather than travel around him in circles at speed I flew in a straight line and lo and behold the damage went up significantly.  I had spent all this time using guns that were too good for my poor level of skills, even though I have spent weeks ploughing time into the support skills in Gunnery.  I wasn’t good enough for those guns.  Even better I found out you can get your angular velocity and speed onto the overview!!  Like WTF.  So now I have modified my fit and have a lot more of an understanding of PvP.  Thanks to these veterans I have been really enjoying myself.  My only niggling worry is ISK.  I am not sure I will be able to do much as a solo Pirate.

But stuff worrying about that for now! The moral of this story, well its not really a moral because it has no moral content whatsoever, but meh.

If you are gonna fight with gunz in Eve don’t forget your angularities!

Moriarity on Battle clinic – bring on the pain!

Tags: ,
Comment