Day 100 : Exploding Stories Amongst The Stars

You’ve seen the quote, or some version of it, on a hundred bio entries of pilots in Local. Relevant in so many ways to my EVE experience.

Battle not with monsters, lest ye become a monster, and if you gaze into the abyss, the abyss gazes also into you.


I listen to the HBC State of the Alliance. I was going to skip through it but it was compelling in a weird way. They seem more organised, tactical and, well, normal than I thought most in the null game would be. I’d thought that those people I’ve spoken to already were the exceptions. Now I know I’m inexperienced and other alliances probably have this but I am intrigued. Null is definitely on the list now for me. Exploring that aspect of the game has become an aim despite it being the part of the game I least expected to like. I need to explore some other parts of the game first and get my skills to the point where I can contribute in some realistic way but I'm going at some point. I’m still determined not to become a logistics pilot. No more healing roles for me thank you. Thank god I don’t have the cash or skill queue control for that stuff. I’m still wary about null since, whatever anyone says, it always feels like a type of end-game, like the raiding in WoW I swore never to get back into.

In the afternoon I link up with Jax for one of our fail roams. We’ll get better, we just have to endure the live fire practice that these roams are.  Our first fight is with a Vexor on a gate. The Vexor pilot makes very good choices in a very short amount of time. Ignoring my Incursus he goes after Jax who is flying a faction frigate. The Vexor has a neut fitted and with the capacitor crippled and a decent drone squad all over him Jax is soon a gonner. He’s done enough damage already to wipe out the Vex shields and I’ve given most of the armour a pounding but as soon as Jax is gone the shields start to regenerate at a rate my gunfire can’t really cope with. I should have gone after the drones from the start. Another lesson learned, and against a well flown Vexor. Mutual GFs exchanged. I could almost feel the pilots icy calm. I contrast it with my adrenaline based blackout. Remaining calm is the most important thing I need to learn. I get out of the fight reduced to about 60% hull, saved again by my double repairer fit.

Later on we run into a Thrasher running some of the Faction Warfare outposts. For some reason I neglect to consider that this is an infamous anti frigate platform and consequently I get my ass handed to me. Still suffering from whatever malady has struck me down this weekend I make the peculiar decision to go back in yet another Incursus, though more poorly fit, for a solo attempt. It’s a good lesson for me. Having it hammered home why something is completely stupid is always a good lesson. Don’t fly angry. Dangerous yes. Angry no. If one starts to blend into the other then PUT THE INTERNET SPACESHIP DOWN and back away.

I feel a bit discouraged despite myself and log off for a bit, but fortunately am able to talk myself round and realise what a plank I’ve been. I am Noob! I am meant to be shit at PVP. I am going to explode all the time. The more daft errors made now means less later. Trial by fire? It’s school by fire. I’ve learnt today that I need a set of fully fit ships ready to go, that fighting anti-frigate platforms in a frigate is a bad idea, and not to change tactics just before the start of a fight. Lets face it, it was fun to get blown up once I stopped being annoyed at myself.

Speaking of which, just for a lark and to make myself laugh even more at loss, I launch the Mission Impossible. The Mission Impossible is a basic Iteron hauler with a zero rig fit and a cargo hold packed with a mocking story. The intention is to see how far it gets before I run into trouble so I head to the first null system I can find.

Like a noob I jump directly across the system to the next gate. I run straight into a bubble guarded by a faction frigate. My solution is simple, I don’t need to survive, I just want to see what happens and last for as long as possible. I hit the DC before I get incoming fire, I start up the shield booster once the damage starts to build up. I survive for a lot longer than I expected as I idle towards the gate, I even get to the edge of the bubble though by that time the hull doesn’t last much longer. As expected my pod is also locked and scrambled much to my amusement.

This heinous attacker, this assaulter of poor noob industry ships (ha) then says “ransome” to me in Local. “Ransome”? Is he talking about Arthur Ransome, celebrated author of Swallows and Amazons? It’s a good adventure book for children but this is hardly the time or the place for such a discussion. I give my opponent a cheery wave in local and tell them to enjoy the loot, but the scoundrel shoots me dead! Oh noes! Bye bye +2 implants, hello +3’s.

I brought my assailant many good things in the hold of the Mission Impossible, such as 1 Carbon and a single Janitor. Sadly the Exotic Male Dancer did not drop for them, and I guess they will now have no use for the 1 unit of Antibiotics that did drop. I will try harder to pack more next time my nullsec PVP brothers, o7! Sorry to leave you with only 1 unit of  Frozen Food to eat and only 1 unit of Radioactive Waste to cook it on. Perhaps if you give the 1 Scientist the 1 unit of Spirits he will help you cook. I think I’ve tried hard here, honestly! I’ve created a whole story with a simple cargo and a willingness to get podded. Shame about those implants but the storymakers art is a dangerous one! ;)

http://eve.battleclinic.com/killboard/killmail.php?id=17563083
http://eve-kill.net/?a=kill_detail&kll_id=14725069


Anyway. That’s Day 100. I’m going to take a week off blogging. Next week will be busy in real life and there won’t be much to write about until the London Meet Up. I think the blog will move away from daily posts and tend towards the weekly in future. I’ve been neglecting playing for writing about playing and I need to play to have something to write about. It’s a vicious circle. Still, 100 days ain’t bad!



London Meet Up
If you are going and see someone that looks like an older, fatter, drunker version of Cheradenine Harpers portrait, then that person might well be me. Say hi, and tell me an EVE fact that a Noob needs to know!

PS. 

100 days! Ah wud blog wun hundrud daze, an ah wud blog wun hundrud moar, jus tae be th’ man who blogged..... STOP IT.