Monday 10 September 2012

Day 83 : Fracking Frigate Five


I was mining over breakfast while I scanned the market. This is always a bad sign that the EVE addiction is peaking again. I use the morning mine as an excuse to look for blueprints to buy. I need to run a swathe of experiments or I’ll just end up on my current products for ever, making tiny profits. Whenever I consider buying blueprints the lack of ME research slots begins to drive me mad. Now I see why people anchor POS in hi sec and keep them closed down when out of use. I’m thinking of looking into doing the same.

While at work I run EVEMON. I get a kick out of my small sales business out there doing stuff and watching the cash dribble in. If I’m in a bad mood I use it to glare at the skill queue. It’s the skill queue that gets me now. This appears in the Windows taskbar.

                              


I need to get home now, but I’m stuck here for 3 more hours! What can I do with Gallente Frigate V? I can spend, spend, spend. Buying and learning Assault ships, buying an Ishkur even though T2 drones are four days away, start planning for CovOps ships, so many things to do, plan and waste ISK on. Except when I finally get home I realise that I don’t have Mechanics V. Bastard. On top of drone training that puts a fully operational Ish’ over another full week away. DAMN, DAMN, DAMN. The problem with having an interest in everything is lack of focus, and some lack of attention to detail obviously. I’d missed the Prerequisites because I’d skipped to the new “Required For” tab and started dreaming about all the stuff I could be doing once I’ve learned it. Right now I am back in skill queue hell. The Queue goes ever on and on, down from Couster where it began.....

At least this weekend I have friends visiting London so I can escape and take my mind off it all. Two of my best friends, RL ones before Warcraft and one of them a casual EVE player, are in town. It might make for some short entries on the blog but knowing me I’ll squeeze in the time somehow.

Still annoyed I decide to measure the run to Jita in a autopiloted pod. It takes about 25 minutes. I still don’t like travelling by pod. I’m going back to shuttles. I feel naked out there without some form of hull wrapped around the pod. It gives me a chance to survive a speculative one shot from some bored suicide ganker on the Uedama gate.

Once at Jita, still trying to avoid looking at the skill queue, I decide to spend all the cash I’ve made making and shipping Navitas hulls up here. From the deliveries I think that at one point I must have actually been racing a freighter carrying my courier contract up there. The freighter pilots are pretty mysterious to me but they are the only people who could have been ferrying multiple 30,000m3 contracts all in one go. How do they work? Do they just drift round a section of empire space filling the hold with goods and contracts for Jita and then go once the hold is full? How much danger are they in? This is EVE after all, has anyone ever decided to cut one of the routes into Jita (other than Burn Jita)?

Since Procurer hulls have come back down in price, after the huge spike following the patch, I decide that it is time to grab one. This might get me out mining in lowsec. Mining in hisec is becoming more boring than restful. I grab the Procurer and fit it out with a full on tank. So much for saving money on the hull, the rigs cost me twice that. Something odd happens then that I didn’t expect. I’ve seen a Procurer before, done show info, rotated the preview around to have a look at the ship but it is different once you have one and you are flying it. I actually like this ship for the ships sake. When I bought the Retriever it was all about what it would bring in. Not so with the Procurer. It looks great. It is powerful, squat and yet retains an element of almost brutal elegance, it looks “space worthy” whatever that means. For some reason it has a big fat radiator grill in the front of it. Basically it’s a space HumVee. I can’t shake the feeling that instead of mining it wants me to put the largest piece of artillery I can fit on it and go and have a fight. It could probably handle it too. Fully kitted out with the modules running it is cap stable at 46K EHP. It is my toughest ship by a long stretch since I haven’t found the time to research a proper fit for the Myrmidon. Spending so much on the Procurer, and liking it as much as I do, means it’ll be harder to risk it in lowsec. I’ll get over it.

So, once again, it is all about the flying of shiny new ships. I wonder if this feeling fades once you’ve tried flying everything. Flying everything I can is high on my lists of “must do” in EVE. I’m just a big fan of spaceships when it comes down to it, and there are plenty of them. I’ve yet to fly even the other three races frigates, except the Rifter which I couldn't resist. Mind you, I’ll end up having to learn the other racial frigate skills to level V too. At least I’ll have Mechanics V when I finally do. Stupid f***** skill queue.

12 comments:

  1. You know with your picture that you posted you just gave away your in game character name...

    -Xianax

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. Its been out there since I mentioned the Corp name really for those that wanted to track me down. I think I left other clues as well. My blogger name is my character name too since I updated to Google+ profile. Google wouldn't let me be called Space Noob!

      Basically it is out there and has been for a while!

      Delete
  2. I just got into a proc for the first time myself, it feels like the Mazda Miata of mining ships. :P I'm doing my mining in a wormhole though, which has its' own slew of benefits, drawbacks, and risks.

    On top of that, I'm a mere 11 days from sitting in a cloaked stealth bomber. I feel like you and I are kind of on a parallel track here, you mining and working manufacturing, me mining and killing sleepers. +1

    Ray

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. My manufacturing is a little blocked at the moment due to other priorities in the skill queue and the lack of ME research slots.

      I did find a slow but very good use for the Procurer that I will post about as I get through the backlog (this post was Thursday, Sunday I put it to good Noob use)

      PS - what the hell is a Mazda Miata? I know nothing about cars!

      Delete
    2. It's a little 2-door sportster http://tinyurl.com/8tjh98v

      The Retriever is the 'mining station wagon,' and the covetor/hulk are like XL vans. Think about it, lol.

      If you ever want to give wormhole life a spin, we've got a reddit training corp going. We open into Gallente space all the time.

      Delete
  3. Don't worry too much about travelling around Empire in a POD. You are VERY unlikely to get podded in Empire, high or low sec. The Sec hit for poding someone is SO high, even dedicated gankers generally won't pod you.

    Okay, skills.. oh god skills!!! You have just hit the worst time of the game for new players. You know you want to play, have the basics down and now want to do more better.. but really before you can do that you hit the support skills!

    These are a miserable grind only slightly mitigated by the fact you only have to train them once, and because they help you in every hull and mod, they are by far the best bang for your buck. I will try and go through them one by one, but I am bound to miss a few. I will try and put the levels you want these at, but generally IV or V as a minimum.

    Drones:

    Drone Drability - IV
    Drone Interfaceing - IV then V (long grind, but 20% increase in drone damage/yield makes this a grind worth taking)
    Drone Navigation - IV
    Combat Drone Operation - IV

    Electronics:

    Long Range Targeting - V

    Engineering:

    Energy Grid Upgrades - IV
    Energy Management - IV
    Energy Systems Operation - V
    Shield Management - IV
    Shield Operation - IV
    Shield Upgrades - IV
    Tactical Shield Manipulation - IV

    Gunnery (you will need some of these at V for large specs):

    Weapon Upgrades / Advanced Weapon Upgrades - V/IV (**EXTREMELY important!!! All fits ASSUME you have this!** Get it to V as fast as you can)
    Controlled Bursts - IV
    Motion Prediction - IV
    Rapid Firing - IV
    Sharpshooter - IV
    Surgical Strike - IV
    Trajectory Analysis - IV

    Missile Launcher Operation:

    Rapid Launch - IV
    Missile Projection - IV
    Target Navigation Prediction - IV
    Warhead Upgrades - IV

    Navigation:

    Acceleration Control - IV
    Evasive Manoeuvring - V
    Fuel Conservation - IV

    Those are the ones I can think of going quickly through my character sheet. Generally, anything rank 1 or 2 in that list should be trained to V right off the bat. Weapon Upgrades/Advanced Weapon Upgrades are BY FAR the most important things on that list or you simply won't be able to fit the vast majority of fits that people will put up or give you to use. It is an assumed you have it.

    Hope that helps. I am sure I have missed a few, and every major career has their own. For my invention characters there is a whole 'nother list, and I would imagine it would be the same for miners. Bite the bullet, find a ship you like and get those trained up. Spice it up every now and again with a new hull or hull class, but keep that as a reward for completing parts of the support skill grind.

    Don't worry, you will soon LIKE really long skills! I am training Jump Drive Calibration V right now on one character and that is a cool 38 days without implants.

    Also, GET IMPLANTS!!! I know you can afford +4s so you should get them (+3s for charisma). You should generally always have +3s in. They aren't free by any stretch, but they aren't too bad to lose the odd time you lose your pod and the training time bonus is pretty critical.

    Let me know if you have any questions!

    Fly dangeriously!

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. Hmmm. I haven't done too badly with that list. Weapon Upgrades and Advanced WU is my obvious flaw though its been on the list for a while. You can cope without it in frigates but not in anything bigger. Missiles I've hardly touched being Gallente but they are on the list for being too much of a laugh to fight with. Drone support skills are next after Mechanics and Scout Drone V, though I am already into them a bit. Good tips tho!

      Odd how certificates help you a lot with most of the planning but not really with weapon upgrades. It's probably me reading it wrong.

      Delete
    2. I am really glad certificates help you! I was guided through this mess in a totally different way. First, stumbling my way blindly through with no guidance (They used to just give you 800K SP and say "Go to it!".. you always used them in awful skills) and then I was in the bosom of a 0.0 corp with the Goon wiki and the assorted skill plans and advice that comes with it.

      AWU is a big one, and a horrible grind. You need it for some bombers if you want to fit T2 launchers, but must just go for meta 4s. After that.. Cruisers is a tier that I would simply avoid for now. Once again, an example of a famous EVE progression that isn't really a progression. T1 cruisers are pretty sad right now, hopefully tericide will give them a kick in the pants, but you are better of in Battle Cruisers at your SP level. The Drake is a fantastic boat, so is the Cane. Arguably THE best ships all round in the game. Both do everything pretty damn well (so will be nerfed) so are a must to train for. The myrm.. good ratting boat if you have drone skills. Just fit salvagers and tractors in the highs, have your drones kill the rats and scoop and salvage the loot. One of my favourite ship models as well.

      Most people will just skip cruisers right now. Off to battle cruisers and T2 cruisers for those who want to do special snowflake stuff. Then to battle ships and beyond. Personally, I like to be able to fly lots of stuff, so I can fly and fit everything T2 Destroyer and below. Getting all your racial frigs to V is completely worth it, just as it also unlocks all the dictors as well!

      I hope you don't think I am trying to lecture you. Just sitting around, bored and can type quickly =P. I also genuinely like helping new players and enjoy your blog. Plus, I am still hoping you will take me up my offer to bring yourself and your friends out to 0.0! =). You would not believe the size of the rocks up here. hehehe.

      http://evetravel.files.wordpress.com/2010/10/2010-09-15-03-01-20.jpg

      Delete
    3. Any and all advice is welcome!

      Weapon Upgrades V is currently staring at me. I can't face the queue time at the moment with all the other things I've got planned ahead of it. I'll get there though otherwise I'll be fitting autocannons to everything bigger than a frigate.

      Cruisers I originally got for mining, and then because it was a prereq for Battlecruisers. Haven't taken it above three yet. I am tempted to since I like the Vexor and the Thorax but as you say - battlecruisers are more important. I can always come back for the cruisers when (if) they get rebalanced this winter.

      I'm still a way off my null sec plans but I may give you a shout in game soon with a few questions!

      Delete
  4. Triple rep Myrm FTW!!! With dual 180mm autos... When you have the skills that is. : )

    ReplyDelete
  5. Passive Shield Myrmidon
    Lows:
    6 x Shield Power Relay II
    Mediums:
    3 x Large Shield Extender II
    2 x Adaptive Invulnerability Field II
    Highs:
    Pretty much free, as your drones will do most of the work, but 220mm Vulcan Autocannons for extra DPS never hurts
    Rigs:
    3 x Medium Core Defence Field Purger I

    Easily 800+ DPS tank, with decent skills can get it up to almost 950 DPS

    ReplyDelete
  6. ^^ shield mrym has a tank than exceed that of a drake, which is damn respectable, seen them kitted with tractors and salvagers in the highs like a mini marauder.

    ReplyDelete