Day 141 : Extinction Event

I broke a rule today.

EVE is a difficult game in so many ways. It can be bought around, it can be ground around, it can be corp'd and alliance'd around. It's still a difficult game. I think the best players of it did it their own way. That's why at the start I decided to do it the hard way. I love that I have to think when finding things out. Intellect. No gifts. I thought I'd live the hard way from day one. I'd find out how it ran for a noob starting from scratch with no help beyond advice. I'm big on the advice. I guess that's a cheat of sorts, I've made a bit of cash out of it here and there. Still, I still haven't dipped into the initial 50 mill that my cousin sent me when I started. If the game wasn't so difficult I wouldn't love it half as much as I do.

I was passing through Sinq Laison with an empty hauler; my faithful Mammoth, the fastest way to high cargo hauling there is, when I heard the scream of alarms. Apart from a set of drones that got left behind on previous COSMOS mission outings I had nothing of value. Who would risk high sec ganking for almost nothing? It's EVE but no one is that daft, surely?

It turns out I'd picked up a kill right in the Tuskers FFA. Shots were wild down there, what can I say? The pilot in question was hanging of a gate in a Hurricane. It was a nice kill, I'm partly glad that I wasn't carrying much and partly racked with guilt that there was bugger all loot in the hold. It would have been more amusing had I been hauling stuff at the time. To that pilot (I forgot to ask his permission to mention him here - go look at eve-kill) o7! I almost leapt out of my seat when the alarms went off.

I quickly realised what had happened and tweeted it, mocking my own loss. Almost mocking. I loved that Mammoth. A sci-fi hauler appearance second to none, in rust we trust, echoes of the Falcon ethos.

A short time after this a long time contact and blog reader let me know he had left me something on contract. Initially wary about gifts I nontheless had a look.

Named for a ship in a Culture novel, and an appropriate name for a hauler (though not technically a Culture ship - the sauce!).

Full of: Exotic Female Dancers, Coffee, Tobacco, Spirits, HoloReels. In short, an entertaining cargo run. Hell, with this on board I'd have done the Kessel Run in 100 parsecs (yes, I know).

The "Break Even" was designed for me. The hauler I never had. I didn't have a chance. Not a gift I could refuse. I imagine flying through space and turning up lighter at the destination.

So, in other words, thanks to TQ, I never asked if I could mention your name either, as much for the laughs as for the hauler. Comment below!

EVE is dark and difficult but it is shiny. I think the TQ care package might be accompanying me on many a haul in the future.

EVE Track of the Day

I was going to choose My Way by Frank (which is a great EVE track, as so many of Franks tracks - or maybe that's just Fly), but I was gutted to see the Big Apple given a roughing up, so to the occupants of that fine city I need to visit, and particularly those that hung working power extensions out so people could charge mobiles:

New York, New York

One day I'll visit. Start getting ready.