After what felt like ages I was finally tucked back into my pod and nestled in the belly of my Rifter. I had finally achieved Sophomore status at the Uni which entitled me to some goodies like free Rifter hulls. I was a bit demoralized as I am painfully still training just to use my new larger auto-cannons for my new cruiser so it was back to my Rifter frigate to fly around in.
I had previously purchased several modules to fill out my compliment of 3 Rifter fits and 3 Rupture fits. The rub was that to get a decent price I needed to pick up these items from the space station in Hek. Hek is probably the nearest trading hub to my home station in Aldrat. The worry stems from the fact that once again we are at war with the Omniscient Order, a group of mercenaries that has twice blown up my ship. They like to patrol this route between Aldrat and the Hek trade hub for easy kills. So I purchased these items with my plan to make the run at a time when the fewest number of capsuleers are flying. I was a bit nervous by this journey as not only would I have several million isk worth of supplies in my cargo hold on the return leg but I also could only fit two of my usual three auto-cannons on my outward journey. I also didn't have the ammo type, barrage, that I like to use against other capsuleers. So it was with these worries in my mind that I set off for the short journey to Hek. About one or two jumps into the route I looked at local and saw several red to me capusleers. This means they have very poor standing but as they were not blinking (oh man I hope I really did fix my overview) I should be safer (as a blinking red target means a war target). Well despite the brief uptick in my pulse I was soon safely docking at the Hek space station that held my goods. The return trip was also fortunately uneventful.
So in my home station with a good compliment of supplies I was thinking about turning in. I still don't feel like my Rifter is the right ship for my kind of isk earning venture especially as we are now at war with three different groups. I don't have enough isk to go and search out duels in Libold so I figured I was done. Before I signed off for the night I noticed a noob fleet would be forming in about half an hour. As I have been lean on adventures recently I couldn't resist.
The night foretold of some adventure. It was only my third fleet and as we were forming up I noticed in my squad chat these jokes about being tasty. A little later I noticed our squad was called tasty pie. A bit after this I learned why, we were the bait squad. I wanted action but I was not so sure I wanted to be the hunted again.
The patrol started off normal enough and then shortly our squad was sent ahead of the fleet to look, well be tasty. We were two small frigates and a battlecruiser. We were the lure, a small group not intimidating enough to put pirates or war targets (WT) off but juicy enough to arouse interest. This certainly kept me on my toes. On patrols events happen quickly. The large lapses of boredom interrupted by sudden violence. Soon enough we encountered the violence. My recollection is spotty as I am still so inexperienced it's hard for me to follow what is actually going on. It seems our scouts found some pirates gate camping and the fleet was ordered in. Our fleet was over 50 strong and the pirate group despite having some fine ships was heavily outnumbered. I quickly targeted and set off to engage the primary target. Being a tackler my job is to get in quick and disable his warp drives so that he can't leave the field quickly. My skills are poor enough that I am not ever the first tackler to arrive. What was curious and what I wasn't aware of at the time is that the fellow tackler in our squad was killed. I noticed that I had begun to take some damage so the pirates were aware of me. Like a fool I did not approach the target correctly. With all the ships flying around I could not take in the battlefield correctly and rushed straight in making myself an easy target. Fortune was with me as the battleship I was sprinting towards must of switched targets to something more substantial. Our fleet was able to pin him down, I had my afterburners on, reached my range and began to orbit opening up my auto-cannons. The battleship died shortly after and I had my first shots fired in anger in a battle that wasn't a duel.
We had two engagements that night and they were similar. I clumsily arriving at the fight a bit late having difficulty finding the target and approaching stupidly head on. I managed to get on four kills. I didn't do much damage but I was a part it (our fleet killed 15 targets that patrol so I really should of done better and been a part of more kills). One comical and nearly deadly event occurred when we were ordered to warp off of a target and warp back in on the target. A strategy designed to close the gap in distance faster than just burning straight to the target at sub warp speeds. Well I warped off OK but then forgot where I was supposed to warp back to. Everyone was fighting so no one could answer my desperate pleas. I saw the last of two fleet mates warp away from the planet I was at back to the fight. Time began to slip away as I nervously wondered what I should do. I had a sinking feeling that I shouldn't stay in one place too long, especially a planet that is easy to warp to. As the moments grew longer I think I warped off to another location. I eventually learned where the fight was happening and joined the fray, perhaps that's how I got on some other kills but I am not clear. It seemed the whole night targets were dying before I could get to them. After the fight for some reason, in the lull, I clicked over to local (this is the local system communication channel) and saw my name in the chatter. Another pilot was calling me out stating how lucky I was that I warped away when I did. I unknowingly was being hunted. Fortune was with me. I sent out the good fight call and chatted briefly with my would be killer. I was safe with the fleet now but it was a stark reminder of the dangers of Eve.
So I still have 6 or so days until I finish training my guns for my Rupture. I will then need to train a few more skills to fit the all modules I have chosen, I hope only a few more days training after that. We are at war with new enemies and some deadly and familiar ones. My bank account is half of what it once was and I have shown no ability to earn isk. I am learning lessons like situational awareness, keeping myself moving around a target and seem to be developing some instincts for my own preservation. I will have some time before I can ventrue out in my Rupture and the days will pass slowly, I will see how I can use this time wisely. There is still so much to learn but I long to fly, fight, make some isk. My wormhole group seems stuck but I will see if I can get them motivated. I kind of like the fleet actions and am thinking of training towards becoming a member of the Ivy League, our combat fleet (as opposed the noob fleets I have been flying with). It's good to be back in the saddle.
Wednesday, August 29, 2012
Friday, August 17, 2012
Going Nowhere
Well I have managed to stem the tide of steady losses to my isk balance. The rub is I haven't flown in about a week. So no shiny ships getting popped but no new isk earned either. This isn't really what I had in mind when I ventured to become a capsuleer.
So what's the rub, why can't I seem to get some traction on one of the most basic and fundamental aspects to this lifestyle? Well the obvious is that I am not very good at this. While that is true the other is that many of the standard money making ventrues don't appeal to me. I don't want to grind missions or mine for a living. The idea of trading or hauling seems so boring. How about an industrialist, well all of these things I may do on a small scale to support myself but the idea of this being a major component of my life in Eve seems depressing. So that leaves exploration and PVP. So that is what I do and that is why I lose ships.
So I trained up and was ready to pilot a Rupture, a cruiser, a bigger ship than my trusty Rifter frigate. This was to be a key in my expanding financial empire. So what happened? Well lets just say I have spent almost a week just training to be able to use the guns for this ship, then I need to train for the defenses, and a bunch of other modules I want to fit... I had no idea this would all take so long.
I tried to buy a couple of Rifters to fly around, earn some isk and get some good fights but have blown about 60,000 isk on doing contracts improperly. Somehow I managed to do a contract for my Rupture but can't seem to duplicate this action. I have also been hoping I can run out the clock until I am granted Sophomore status at the Uni so I can get the Rifter hulls for free from the corporation hanger. The truth is I am cheap, I mean two Rifter hulls cost under a million isk.
So it seems I am a bit paralyzed by my circular logic. Waiting to train up this darn Rupture and wanting to wait out my promotion to get more Rifters for free. So in the interim I have been hearing recorded classes on exploration and trying to get together a small group of corp-mates to run some C1 wormholes (easiest wormhole [WH]). Both I am afraid with limited success. I do seem to be learning a bit more about WH life but am still pretty uneducated and I have two maybe three other capsuleers expressing some interest in the WH venture.
I have been trying to keep up with the goings on in the greater strategic aspect of null-sec space but I can't really find a concise source of information. Eve News 24 is of very mixed quality. Seems war is still raging in the North but I can't really follow who is winning and havent spent the time to try to figure it out on my own.
So my life has been boring. I will write some more e-mails and post again on the Uni forum to see if I can get some more eager volunteers. I will keep plugging away at training up my skill-books and suffer the wait to actually get to fly and fit out my Rupture. I will cross my fingers and hope that I make Sophomore at the Uni soon and access to the hanger so I can throw my free Rifter hulls into the face of danger but meanwhile New Eden rolls along without me, not what I had envisioned.
So what's the rub, why can't I seem to get some traction on one of the most basic and fundamental aspects to this lifestyle? Well the obvious is that I am not very good at this. While that is true the other is that many of the standard money making ventrues don't appeal to me. I don't want to grind missions or mine for a living. The idea of trading or hauling seems so boring. How about an industrialist, well all of these things I may do on a small scale to support myself but the idea of this being a major component of my life in Eve seems depressing. So that leaves exploration and PVP. So that is what I do and that is why I lose ships.
So I trained up and was ready to pilot a Rupture, a cruiser, a bigger ship than my trusty Rifter frigate. This was to be a key in my expanding financial empire. So what happened? Well lets just say I have spent almost a week just training to be able to use the guns for this ship, then I need to train for the defenses, and a bunch of other modules I want to fit... I had no idea this would all take so long.
I tried to buy a couple of Rifters to fly around, earn some isk and get some good fights but have blown about 60,000 isk on doing contracts improperly. Somehow I managed to do a contract for my Rupture but can't seem to duplicate this action. I have also been hoping I can run out the clock until I am granted Sophomore status at the Uni so I can get the Rifter hulls for free from the corporation hanger. The truth is I am cheap, I mean two Rifter hulls cost under a million isk.
So it seems I am a bit paralyzed by my circular logic. Waiting to train up this darn Rupture and wanting to wait out my promotion to get more Rifters for free. So in the interim I have been hearing recorded classes on exploration and trying to get together a small group of corp-mates to run some C1 wormholes (easiest wormhole [WH]). Both I am afraid with limited success. I do seem to be learning a bit more about WH life but am still pretty uneducated and I have two maybe three other capsuleers expressing some interest in the WH venture.
I have been trying to keep up with the goings on in the greater strategic aspect of null-sec space but I can't really find a concise source of information. Eve News 24 is of very mixed quality. Seems war is still raging in the North but I can't really follow who is winning and havent spent the time to try to figure it out on my own.
So my life has been boring. I will write some more e-mails and post again on the Uni forum to see if I can get some more eager volunteers. I will keep plugging away at training up my skill-books and suffer the wait to actually get to fly and fit out my Rupture. I will cross my fingers and hope that I make Sophomore at the Uni soon and access to the hanger so I can throw my free Rifter hulls into the face of danger but meanwhile New Eden rolls along without me, not what I had envisioned.
Saturday, August 11, 2012
Oops, I did it again
My confessions were supposed to describe the delicate intellectual and emotional struggles faced by immortal capsuleers as they traverse New Eden. The psychological streams of mighty corporations or individual miners and how they interplay. The loss of ones humanity and the growth of sociopathy. Deep ties of friendship set against the backdrop of danger and destruction. Unfortunately I am struggling just to stay afloat and the basic needs of life have super-ceded these higher philosophical realms. My current actions have only made this dilemma more stark.
So I last wrote just a couple of days ago describing my current malaise. Well it just got worse. While purchasing the modules to fit out my new Rupture cruiser I made a costly mistake. Yes another one. This one was perhaps my most dumb and easily avoided. With my bigger ship I can fit bigger guns, yeah! Bigger guns especially the advanced tech II variety cost more, boo. I was going to buy enough modules for three ships as losing said ships has become the norm for me and I didn't want to have to repeat this process too often. My home space station is not a major trading hub so usually to get decent prices on the modules I need I have to travel a few jumps to get there. Each new system one has to jump into yields more chances for danger especially when my corporation is currently at war and those adversaries are just looking to kill some Unistas. So each of these auto-cannons (AC) ran almost 1.5 million isk, my particular Rupture fit called for four of these to be installed for one wickedly powerful (at least for me) offensive capability. So three times four equals 12, not too hard. So why in the world did I just buy 32 of these AC's? This is around 50 million isk worth of guns, 8 Rupture fits worth, or almost 2 full brand new Ruptures fully fitted out. I was already hurting in the the isk department before this, now my situation is approaching critical. I really don't have an explanation for why, obviously I wasn't paying close enough attention and my finger strayed.
So now I was left the task of hauling said guns back to Aldrat in one piece. I fitted out my Probe (not a good ship for this but I am running low on ships at the moment and taking out a naked Rupture isn't a good idea, (which I did anyway briefly accidentally undocking from the space station but fortunately able to dock again without getting blown up) so I threw whatever modules I had lying around the hanger to try to make her a bit more robust and purchased a warp core stabilizer just in case I was tackled (this might provide me a way to escape if they enemy targets my warp core trying to keep me from being able to warp away). Luckily (which is a new sensation for me) I made the round trip in one piece and now have a small fortune in AC's in my hanger. My next pick up was for all the other modules in the system Hek. The journey to this system is considered a pipe. Not that I knew this before I left but a pipe is basically a kind of funnel in terms of star-gates (that which one jumps between systems in) and which basically forces traffic along a certain route (one basically has to go through certain systems to get from point a to b for lack of alternative jump gate options). Hek had been a system which I had feared as traveling there previously to buy some parts I saw some former war targets. It's a good place to get ambushed as it is the nearest trading hub to Aldrat (I think), my and the Uni's home system. I would be piling in some 45 million isk worth of modules in it so I certainly didn't want to pop. Luck was with me again and I planned my journey for a time where there are a lower number of capsuleer pilots flying around and made it back to Aldrat in one piece.
So now I can focus on fitting out my Rupture and finishing up training the required skills for some of these modules so I can use them (like my small stockpile of expensive AC's). This will take some time. In the mean time I have no real combat vessels in my hanger having lost my Rifter, so in wartime am really limited in what I can do. I put an order in for two more Rifters and hope to be flying around enveloped in danger trying to earn some isk soon. I also hope to be promoted from freshman to sophomore status in a couple of weeks in the Uni so that I might have access to the Alpha hanger and thus free frigates (like all my ships with the exception of my Rupture) and thus not need to buy them again and again. I will still need to pay for the modules, and with how I fit my ships (I don't go too cheap) is the bulk of the cost but when you are going broke as quickly as I am any little bit helps.
So that's it for now, more lessons learned and a basic game plan. I only hope my next confession does not yet again highlight how bad a capsuleer I am.
So I last wrote just a couple of days ago describing my current malaise. Well it just got worse. While purchasing the modules to fit out my new Rupture cruiser I made a costly mistake. Yes another one. This one was perhaps my most dumb and easily avoided. With my bigger ship I can fit bigger guns, yeah! Bigger guns especially the advanced tech II variety cost more, boo. I was going to buy enough modules for three ships as losing said ships has become the norm for me and I didn't want to have to repeat this process too often. My home space station is not a major trading hub so usually to get decent prices on the modules I need I have to travel a few jumps to get there. Each new system one has to jump into yields more chances for danger especially when my corporation is currently at war and those adversaries are just looking to kill some Unistas. So each of these auto-cannons (AC) ran almost 1.5 million isk, my particular Rupture fit called for four of these to be installed for one wickedly powerful (at least for me) offensive capability. So three times four equals 12, not too hard. So why in the world did I just buy 32 of these AC's? This is around 50 million isk worth of guns, 8 Rupture fits worth, or almost 2 full brand new Ruptures fully fitted out. I was already hurting in the the isk department before this, now my situation is approaching critical. I really don't have an explanation for why, obviously I wasn't paying close enough attention and my finger strayed.
So now I was left the task of hauling said guns back to Aldrat in one piece. I fitted out my Probe (not a good ship for this but I am running low on ships at the moment and taking out a naked Rupture isn't a good idea, (which I did anyway briefly accidentally undocking from the space station but fortunately able to dock again without getting blown up) so I threw whatever modules I had lying around the hanger to try to make her a bit more robust and purchased a warp core stabilizer just in case I was tackled (this might provide me a way to escape if they enemy targets my warp core trying to keep me from being able to warp away). Luckily (which is a new sensation for me) I made the round trip in one piece and now have a small fortune in AC's in my hanger. My next pick up was for all the other modules in the system Hek. The journey to this system is considered a pipe. Not that I knew this before I left but a pipe is basically a kind of funnel in terms of star-gates (that which one jumps between systems in) and which basically forces traffic along a certain route (one basically has to go through certain systems to get from point a to b for lack of alternative jump gate options). Hek had been a system which I had feared as traveling there previously to buy some parts I saw some former war targets. It's a good place to get ambushed as it is the nearest trading hub to Aldrat (I think), my and the Uni's home system. I would be piling in some 45 million isk worth of modules in it so I certainly didn't want to pop. Luck was with me again and I planned my journey for a time where there are a lower number of capsuleer pilots flying around and made it back to Aldrat in one piece.
So now I can focus on fitting out my Rupture and finishing up training the required skills for some of these modules so I can use them (like my small stockpile of expensive AC's). This will take some time. In the mean time I have no real combat vessels in my hanger having lost my Rifter, so in wartime am really limited in what I can do. I put an order in for two more Rifters and hope to be flying around enveloped in danger trying to earn some isk soon. I also hope to be promoted from freshman to sophomore status in a couple of weeks in the Uni so that I might have access to the Alpha hanger and thus free frigates (like all my ships with the exception of my Rupture) and thus not need to buy them again and again. I will still need to pay for the modules, and with how I fit my ships (I don't go too cheap) is the bulk of the cost but when you are going broke as quickly as I am any little bit helps.
So that's it for now, more lessons learned and a basic game plan. I only hope my next confession does not yet again highlight how bad a capsuleer I am.
Friday, August 10, 2012
From bad to worse
So I am getting a feeling that these confessions are beginning to highlight a rather unfortunate streak in my capsuleer career. My interpretation of this leads me to believe that I am not a good capsuleer pilot. This is not a good first step in my dreams of Eve domination.
The latest misfortunes relate to my issues earning isk. Had it not been for initial my windfall by cashing in through another capsuleer on my entry into the capsuleer life (described in my earlier posts) I would be running roughly 20 million isk in the red. There are a couple of reasons for this. The first being that I am not very good at making isk. I could do missions through NPC mission agents but I find them so boring, I want to roll with capsuleers. I could mine, but again to me it's one thing to mine to make something for myself and another to sit there every day just to turn a profit. I don't want to be an industrialist as it's not really specific to being a capsuleer, I mean I can fly these cool ships with big guns shouldn't I be hunting something? So this really limits me.
My idea is to do high sec exploration. It's non-linear and I get to blow things up. Unfortunately the fact that were at war and I am being hunted, successfully I must admit, has slowed down my work. The last couple of days I have grown more confident and more careful and have begun again to poke around a bit. Well last night I found an angel hideout, not really knowing what this was and wanting to clear it before other capsuleers go in on the action I hopped out of my probe (I really need to learn how to scan these down on my D-scan so I can stay in my combat ship) and into my Rifter and proceeded to the site. Lots of Angel Cartel NPC's, actually a lot more than I have ever fought at once. No worries my quick Rifter can get the job done but then I see another capsuleer in a Rupture has joined me and is taking out these NPC's faster than I can. In fact there are so many NPC's that I am having to warp out and dock to replenish my shields before I can engage again while the more tanky Rupture gets more kills. Well we clear the site and proceed to salvage. Sensing a bit of lack of honor on the Rupture pilot rudely interrupting my killing spree I pick up my loot and salvage my wrecks and then begin to ninja salvage his wrecks. Ninja salvaging is a not so honorable practice of getting to the NPC wrecks that the Rupture killed before he can. While this is not technically a hostile act, as oppossed to say taking cargo directly out of said wrecks which would of given the stronger Rupture kill rights on me (meaning I would not have Concords heavy stick to back me up), it certainly is not a noble act. I did it because I am going to the poorhouse and in my little mental world it's a form of payback for him getting in on my site (I was there first).
I get back to the station and drop off my meagre loot and begin the process again. Switch ships to my Probe and find another site, switch ships again and clear it in my Rifter and drop the loot off in my hanger. Not having a lot of luck the value of the loot is small. Repeat the process and I am back clearing another hideout on my own and something goes wrong. I am having to warp out and repair my shields within only a minute or so at engaging with the NPC's. There is just too many of them and now miss the Rupture who I had previously scorned. My speed is not enough to protect me from all of the Angel Cartels ships and I am only getting one kill before I need to bug out again. So I decide to engage the ships I think are the strongest and pick them off first and then perhaps I can clear the whole area. So after repairing my shields I drop back in flick on my afterburners and choose my target, his shields are dropping so are mine, he is into armor, I almost have him into structure. My shield alarm goes off, I am running out of shields my primary defense. Just a little bit more and I can finish him off, out of shields and my paper thin armor vanishes. Crap warp away, like a frightened weakling, too late I lose my 10 million isk Rifter, pop.
I humbly return to the station in my capsule defeated. With bounty kills and value of my loot I probably made less than a million isk. My venture yielded me negative 9 million isk. This is not working out so well.
So lessons learned, I need to disengage when I hear my shield alarm. I had been doing this consistently but got overconfident and greedy. I also need the right ship for the right job, it was obvious that the way I fly my Rifter this was not a good engagement for me. Too many enemy vessels and my speed tanking (flying really fast around my target so that they can't hit me) does not work against many multiple targets because some of those targets will be able to track and hit me as my angular velocity to them will be slower.
So I have been playing with my Rupture fit and designed one of my own rather than just borrowing one like I did with my Rifter fit. I figure you need to learn and just can't copy. So my Rupture when fitted will cost close to 30 million isk when I have the skills trained. I hope it will allow me to engage more of these cosmic anomalies I am hunting and then when my skills train get into some cosmic signature sites.
The rub is I have no more Rifters, my Rupture is a barren hull. My corporation is at war an I will need to fly around in dangerous space in a weak ship to pick up all these valuable modules. I will need to buy more Rifters and Ruptures and my bank account is hurting. An auspicious start to my Eve career.
The latest misfortunes relate to my issues earning isk. Had it not been for initial my windfall by cashing in through another capsuleer on my entry into the capsuleer life (described in my earlier posts) I would be running roughly 20 million isk in the red. There are a couple of reasons for this. The first being that I am not very good at making isk. I could do missions through NPC mission agents but I find them so boring, I want to roll with capsuleers. I could mine, but again to me it's one thing to mine to make something for myself and another to sit there every day just to turn a profit. I don't want to be an industrialist as it's not really specific to being a capsuleer, I mean I can fly these cool ships with big guns shouldn't I be hunting something? So this really limits me.
My idea is to do high sec exploration. It's non-linear and I get to blow things up. Unfortunately the fact that were at war and I am being hunted, successfully I must admit, has slowed down my work. The last couple of days I have grown more confident and more careful and have begun again to poke around a bit. Well last night I found an angel hideout, not really knowing what this was and wanting to clear it before other capsuleers go in on the action I hopped out of my probe (I really need to learn how to scan these down on my D-scan so I can stay in my combat ship) and into my Rifter and proceeded to the site. Lots of Angel Cartel NPC's, actually a lot more than I have ever fought at once. No worries my quick Rifter can get the job done but then I see another capsuleer in a Rupture has joined me and is taking out these NPC's faster than I can. In fact there are so many NPC's that I am having to warp out and dock to replenish my shields before I can engage again while the more tanky Rupture gets more kills. Well we clear the site and proceed to salvage. Sensing a bit of lack of honor on the Rupture pilot rudely interrupting my killing spree I pick up my loot and salvage my wrecks and then begin to ninja salvage his wrecks. Ninja salvaging is a not so honorable practice of getting to the NPC wrecks that the Rupture killed before he can. While this is not technically a hostile act, as oppossed to say taking cargo directly out of said wrecks which would of given the stronger Rupture kill rights on me (meaning I would not have Concords heavy stick to back me up), it certainly is not a noble act. I did it because I am going to the poorhouse and in my little mental world it's a form of payback for him getting in on my site (I was there first).
I get back to the station and drop off my meagre loot and begin the process again. Switch ships to my Probe and find another site, switch ships again and clear it in my Rifter and drop the loot off in my hanger. Not having a lot of luck the value of the loot is small. Repeat the process and I am back clearing another hideout on my own and something goes wrong. I am having to warp out and repair my shields within only a minute or so at engaging with the NPC's. There is just too many of them and now miss the Rupture who I had previously scorned. My speed is not enough to protect me from all of the Angel Cartels ships and I am only getting one kill before I need to bug out again. So I decide to engage the ships I think are the strongest and pick them off first and then perhaps I can clear the whole area. So after repairing my shields I drop back in flick on my afterburners and choose my target, his shields are dropping so are mine, he is into armor, I almost have him into structure. My shield alarm goes off, I am running out of shields my primary defense. Just a little bit more and I can finish him off, out of shields and my paper thin armor vanishes. Crap warp away, like a frightened weakling, too late I lose my 10 million isk Rifter, pop.
I humbly return to the station in my capsule defeated. With bounty kills and value of my loot I probably made less than a million isk. My venture yielded me negative 9 million isk. This is not working out so well.
So lessons learned, I need to disengage when I hear my shield alarm. I had been doing this consistently but got overconfident and greedy. I also need the right ship for the right job, it was obvious that the way I fly my Rifter this was not a good engagement for me. Too many enemy vessels and my speed tanking (flying really fast around my target so that they can't hit me) does not work against many multiple targets because some of those targets will be able to track and hit me as my angular velocity to them will be slower.
So I have been playing with my Rupture fit and designed one of my own rather than just borrowing one like I did with my Rifter fit. I figure you need to learn and just can't copy. So my Rupture when fitted will cost close to 30 million isk when I have the skills trained. I hope it will allow me to engage more of these cosmic anomalies I am hunting and then when my skills train get into some cosmic signature sites.
The rub is I have no more Rifters, my Rupture is a barren hull. My corporation is at war an I will need to fly around in dangerous space in a weak ship to pick up all these valuable modules. I will need to buy more Rifters and Ruptures and my bank account is hurting. An auspicious start to my Eve career.
Monday, August 6, 2012
Too scared to work, so why not dream
Since the loss of my first few ships and pod my adventures in Eve have slowed a bit. I will capture them here in this confessional but first I would like to explore a bit the larger political theater. For a rookie pilot starting out, just managing your ship, fitting it out, earning some isk and in my case staying alive is difficult enough. You could tuck yourself safely in high security space (hi-sec) and make sure you are not in a corporation or in one that is not at war, run missions, or mine, or trade or whatever but if you do that you are missing a very interesting part of New Eden. The reality is that most of the capsuleers live in high security space. My fascination though is with no security (null-sec, no-sec) space and the politics and conquests of the large capsuleer corporations.
While being very naive I have tried to piece together a narrative of the history for some context. I quickly get it confused, forget bits as sometimes the names change but the players remain the same or the players change and the names hardly change. As I begin my life as a capsuleer there has been many interesting events that I have stumbled across. I guess one of the larger events involve the Goonswarm Federation. Probably the biggest of all the alliances and certainly the most active in the propaganda department. To be honest in my one or two patrols that actually spent some time in no-sec I really didn't even know where I was on the star map. Goonswarm owns a rather large and from what I have read moon mineral rich area in the northwest. Reports state that they bring in a trillion isk in profit a month from these moons. To the south of Goonswarm is Test Alliance another very large but newer alliance on the scene (with Goonswarm being very established). Below Test Alliance in the southwest corner of the star map were members of other corporations or alliances in a area called Delve.
The short of it in the web of tangled alliance politics that I don't understand very well is that Test Alliance basically declared war on some smaller corporations in this area and this brought in the Southern Coalition (a group of alliances that runs along the bottom of the map) against them. Test Alliance through the Honeybadger Coalition also had Pandemic Legion (a smaller group with a good fighting reputation and history) on their side as well as a few other smaller corporations and war was begun. When the numbers of ships that the Southern Coalition were bringing got too large Test called in their big brothers Goonswarm (all part of the CFC, another bigger alliance that includes many corporations and might be the single most powerful block in New Eden).
The short of it is in a few days the Southern Coalition had been kicked out of Delve. Now I learn that in the north the Northern Coalition. (NC.) has just fallen out with Goonswarm. They were both members of OTEC, a cartel that pedals and controls most of the moons that can produce a substance called technetium. Please excuse my only superficial understanding of all this but things like mining ships and many other products use much of this material in their construction. So now there is another war in the north which I am curious to see the results of. It seems Goonswarm thus far is too strong to be stopped and they can always call in their allies in the CFC.
My corporation the UNI recently ended one war (with one still outstanding) and just last night an 11 member mercenary capsuleer corporation declared war on us. I was saddened to hear that the corporation with RS Spyder who was the last capsuleer to pop one of my ships is not longer a war target and thus my imagined revenge will have to wait a bit.
So who really cares and why is this interesting. Well null-sec (no-sec, no security space) is the ultimate in terms of strategic strategy in New Eden. It is in these waters that my ship will eventually roam. This is where I hope to make a name and a difference in New Eden. Delusions of grandeur from a really bad rookie pilot.
So in my little story here in Aldrat my soloing efforts have been curtailed secondary to recently described losses and a greater appreciation of the dangers in this region whilst at war. I went on another patrol with the noob fleet and felt more confident. We saw a couple of carriers, a Machariel (a battleship I really hope to fly one day) and had a brief battle with some ships but didn't get any kills and our fleet lost a Vexor (we were tangling with much bigger ships but swarming them). I actually engaged and got some shots off but the fleet commander ordered "scramble" as he somehow (I really don't know how) noticed a cyno (a device that allows bigger ships to jump other ships directly into the system). We had the one ship we were attacking in half structure (an Abaddon I think near death) but we disengaged. Then a carrier a Nidel-something or other entered the system. We were outmatched and promptly left the engagement.
I really don't get or maybe there isn't a larger strategic purpose to these roams other than providing some experience for new pilots. I really like the Uni and still feel it's a good fit for me. I am beginning to utilize some of there services like purchasing skill books and put in an order for a ship to be built, but they seem to lack a cohesive strategic or even tactical vision. I am still disturbed that a small assault frigate shut down our home station for so long. I just can't imagine this happening in a PVP corporation. It is good to be learned but it is also advantagous to be feared.
I hope I have my overview sorted as the blinking feature was not activated for war targets, a concern of mine from previous engagements. I think I have it sorted but am not sure. I did leave Aldrat in my Rifter to pick up a shield extender which I had purchased for my departed Thrasher but did not have time to fit before said Trahser popped. I saw many red targets and I think a war target was stalking me as he warped in quite close to me but I am now studying my overview and pilots in local much closer so knew he was in system and was able to quickly warp away. I must admit I didn't even check to see what kind of ship he flew. Still much too nervous and not confident enough.
I also stuck my Probe's nose out of the station and scanned down Aldrat for a possible exploration site a couple of times but didn't find anything juicy. My isk earning has hit a standstill and I really need to figure out a means to make some. To that end I decided perhaps a bigger ship might afford some more protection while I am trying to earn isk and have begun to train for cruisers, still a fairly small ship but bigger and hardier than my Rifter and my briefly flown Thrasher. I have one ordered on contract and have begun studying fits for it. I have also been studying what other ships would do me well in high sec exploration but the recommendations that I can fly or afford are basically frigate sized which would be great if my corporation wasn't at war so I will attempt to make the Rupture work for this which isn't ideal. I still have many skills to train and work out my strategy for this but this ship will hopefully provide a bit more defense in case I get jumped again. I still don't think I can fight my way out of a conflict like the Cynabal that RS Spyder got me while flying, but I do think I would of stood a chance possibly against then Enyo (assault frig) that popped my Probe and podded me camping just outside the Aldrat space station. This is all a learning process.
If I can begin making some isk I will also begin furthering my skills at PVP by taking my Rifter and getting in some duels in Libor. I will also continue to go on fleets and get into some classes and study. I can't hide in space stations, there is too much going on and I need to be a part of it.
While being very naive I have tried to piece together a narrative of the history for some context. I quickly get it confused, forget bits as sometimes the names change but the players remain the same or the players change and the names hardly change. As I begin my life as a capsuleer there has been many interesting events that I have stumbled across. I guess one of the larger events involve the Goonswarm Federation. Probably the biggest of all the alliances and certainly the most active in the propaganda department. To be honest in my one or two patrols that actually spent some time in no-sec I really didn't even know where I was on the star map. Goonswarm owns a rather large and from what I have read moon mineral rich area in the northwest. Reports state that they bring in a trillion isk in profit a month from these moons. To the south of Goonswarm is Test Alliance another very large but newer alliance on the scene (with Goonswarm being very established). Below Test Alliance in the southwest corner of the star map were members of other corporations or alliances in a area called Delve.
The short of it in the web of tangled alliance politics that I don't understand very well is that Test Alliance basically declared war on some smaller corporations in this area and this brought in the Southern Coalition (a group of alliances that runs along the bottom of the map) against them. Test Alliance through the Honeybadger Coalition also had Pandemic Legion (a smaller group with a good fighting reputation and history) on their side as well as a few other smaller corporations and war was begun. When the numbers of ships that the Southern Coalition were bringing got too large Test called in their big brothers Goonswarm (all part of the CFC, another bigger alliance that includes many corporations and might be the single most powerful block in New Eden).
The short of it is in a few days the Southern Coalition had been kicked out of Delve. Now I learn that in the north the Northern Coalition. (NC.) has just fallen out with Goonswarm. They were both members of OTEC, a cartel that pedals and controls most of the moons that can produce a substance called technetium. Please excuse my only superficial understanding of all this but things like mining ships and many other products use much of this material in their construction. So now there is another war in the north which I am curious to see the results of. It seems Goonswarm thus far is too strong to be stopped and they can always call in their allies in the CFC.
My corporation the UNI recently ended one war (with one still outstanding) and just last night an 11 member mercenary capsuleer corporation declared war on us. I was saddened to hear that the corporation with RS Spyder who was the last capsuleer to pop one of my ships is not longer a war target and thus my imagined revenge will have to wait a bit.
So who really cares and why is this interesting. Well null-sec (no-sec, no security space) is the ultimate in terms of strategic strategy in New Eden. It is in these waters that my ship will eventually roam. This is where I hope to make a name and a difference in New Eden. Delusions of grandeur from a really bad rookie pilot.
So in my little story here in Aldrat my soloing efforts have been curtailed secondary to recently described losses and a greater appreciation of the dangers in this region whilst at war. I went on another patrol with the noob fleet and felt more confident. We saw a couple of carriers, a Machariel (a battleship I really hope to fly one day) and had a brief battle with some ships but didn't get any kills and our fleet lost a Vexor (we were tangling with much bigger ships but swarming them). I actually engaged and got some shots off but the fleet commander ordered "scramble" as he somehow (I really don't know how) noticed a cyno (a device that allows bigger ships to jump other ships directly into the system). We had the one ship we were attacking in half structure (an Abaddon I think near death) but we disengaged. Then a carrier a Nidel-something or other entered the system. We were outmatched and promptly left the engagement.
I really don't get or maybe there isn't a larger strategic purpose to these roams other than providing some experience for new pilots. I really like the Uni and still feel it's a good fit for me. I am beginning to utilize some of there services like purchasing skill books and put in an order for a ship to be built, but they seem to lack a cohesive strategic or even tactical vision. I am still disturbed that a small assault frigate shut down our home station for so long. I just can't imagine this happening in a PVP corporation. It is good to be learned but it is also advantagous to be feared.
I hope I have my overview sorted as the blinking feature was not activated for war targets, a concern of mine from previous engagements. I think I have it sorted but am not sure. I did leave Aldrat in my Rifter to pick up a shield extender which I had purchased for my departed Thrasher but did not have time to fit before said Trahser popped. I saw many red targets and I think a war target was stalking me as he warped in quite close to me but I am now studying my overview and pilots in local much closer so knew he was in system and was able to quickly warp away. I must admit I didn't even check to see what kind of ship he flew. Still much too nervous and not confident enough.
I also stuck my Probe's nose out of the station and scanned down Aldrat for a possible exploration site a couple of times but didn't find anything juicy. My isk earning has hit a standstill and I really need to figure out a means to make some. To that end I decided perhaps a bigger ship might afford some more protection while I am trying to earn isk and have begun to train for cruisers, still a fairly small ship but bigger and hardier than my Rifter and my briefly flown Thrasher. I have one ordered on contract and have begun studying fits for it. I have also been studying what other ships would do me well in high sec exploration but the recommendations that I can fly or afford are basically frigate sized which would be great if my corporation wasn't at war so I will attempt to make the Rupture work for this which isn't ideal. I still have many skills to train and work out my strategy for this but this ship will hopefully provide a bit more defense in case I get jumped again. I still don't think I can fight my way out of a conflict like the Cynabal that RS Spyder got me while flying, but I do think I would of stood a chance possibly against then Enyo (assault frig) that popped my Probe and podded me camping just outside the Aldrat space station. This is all a learning process.
If I can begin making some isk I will also begin furthering my skills at PVP by taking my Rifter and getting in some duels in Libor. I will also continue to go on fleets and get into some classes and study. I can't hide in space stations, there is too much going on and I need to be a part of it.
Thursday, August 2, 2012
Further debacles
Well too much has been going on so I need to record them lest they slip from my memory taking valuable lessons with them. I engaged in my first Eve University function in the form of a Noob fleet. So with anxious anticipation I made my way over to the player owned structure (POS) that belongs to the Uni and waited for the fleet form up. I quickly set up my overview to Uni standards (something I should of done earlier) so as to ensure the entire fleet is seeing the same information, and waited for my orders. I must admit the whole time I was kind of lost and pestered many of my corp-mates with simpleton questions.
Alas with some guidance I found my way into a squad with the role of a tackler. A tackler is kind of the low man of the fleet, our job is primarily to rush opposing targets and pin them down so that the bigger ships that can deal more damage can hit them easily and finish them off. We do this by either slowing them down (webbing) or keeping them from warping away (pointing) or activating a micro warp drive (mwd) that allows them to fly really fast and slip out of range. I didn't have the skills in order to use a web so I was relying on my warp scrambler and would only be able to point. Ideally you would have both to prevent the enemy from leaving the engagement via his warp or from running away and out of distance of your weapons or target locks by webbing or pointing so he can't use his mwd.
I was pretty much lost at the beginning of the patrol as you have to have a couple of chat windows open, be listening on mumble (voice channel), my objective panel (which shows a bunch of information like enemies, or structures, velocity of enemy etc) with Uni specifications had swelled to a monstrosity and then I had a separate fleet window open. This was quite a change for me who had until then flown in a minimalist fashion with mostly the beauties of space, stars, planets and nebulas in my view, this was all now ruined with boxes and text. Then the mechanics of moving with a fleet took some getting used to and if you don't keep up you put yourself in danger. So most of my attention was drawn just learning how to stay with the fleet and not get lost. This was further complicated by the sheer coolness of flying with so many ships and the temptation to just look at them and bear witness to our rag tag armada.
I didn't count the number of ships we had but I would guess around thirty. The FC would tell us where to go and when to warp or jump. I understood some of the basic tactics and an hour or so into our patrol I was a bit less stressed. It was a slow patrol, which was fine for my first and we only had one encounter. I quickly approached the two targets eager to fill them with my auto-cannon shells but when there are just 2 ships agains the blob of our fleet they don't last long. I couldn't really understand what was going on at the time and still don't really get the strategic aspect of the patrol but the two unfortunate capsuleers who we destroyed seemed to be pirates gate camping (setting up an ambush at a jump gate, an area where when traveling through space allows you to cover large distances very quickly and thus areas of high traffic). Our fleet had cloaked scouts who found them and then some early tacklers who jumped in and kept them in place in order for the rest of the fleet to jump in quickly and finish the job. Unfortunately we didn't get there quite fast enough for one of fleets early tacklers was destroyed, but the greater good was accomplished and the pirates destroyed. Much to my disappointment I didn't even get a shot off before it was all over.
The rest of the 3 and a half hour patrol was basically looking for ships to engage and then returning home. I still have a lot to learn and don't feel completely comfortable but it is good to get my first fleet experience.
Next comes my inglorious evening. Last night I hop in my trusty Probe, a probing ship with minimal guns and defenses and undock in my home station in Aldrat to do what is becoming my usual isk making venture and that is scanning down this system and a few others nearby for cosmic anomalies which typically have some NPC pirates to mop up and then I collect the loot they drop and salvage their twisted and ruined ship remains. So I pop out of the space station and notice on my overview a red box. To me this means be careful as per my overview settings, which I don't completely understand, this is some kind of pirate or something with a poor security status (he has done some naughty things in the eyes of Concord). What I didn't see was a red blinking box which means a war target (WT) or kill on sight. Eve University is presently at war. I don't really know why or with whom but when I joined I learned this and was eager to gain some combat experience. I foolishly at this point or maybe even before I noticed the red boxed foe began to orbit my station in preparation for my custom of launching a probe and scanning down the system. What this does is invalidate a temporary immunity one has for 30 seconds after leaving a space station. Despite the pirate being 33km away I began taking fire. OK I collect my self and begin the procedure to dock back at the station. I watch the agonizing seconds tick by and don't really understand what is taking so long, my shields go down, then my armor and lastly my structure and my ship goes pop. Well I have been here before no need to panic just get my capsule in the darn station which is right in front of me. I am hitting the dock command but am not docking fast enough, my poor little pod starts taking damage and I am pod killed. My clones corpse drifting in space along with millions of isk worth of sister probes which I shouldn't of been carrying in the first place.
So my killer was Ospie flying an Enyo. 9 real kills and no losses. So seems calculating and deadly. I imagine this capsuleer will grow into a fine killing machine with the efficiency attained sthus far. I stood no chance, good tactics, bold.
I wake up in my medical clone which I had moved to my new station and begin to regroup. My first clone loss. Well I have a few lessons to learn from this humiliation. I need to make sure my overview is working correctly. Had I seen a red box blinking I would of immediately initiated my dock sequence and perhaps not broken my invulnerability by starting to orbit the station (once you order you ship to change direction you lose the 30 second invulnerability). I need to check the local channel which shows all pilots in the system and I would of seen the WT (again had my overview been properly set up) and maybe thought twice or at least asked some corp-mates about the wisdom of undocking. Once my ship is taking damage and I kind of know I am going down or might go down I need to switch into pod saving mode. Hit my pod tab on my overview and start spamming (hitting a command repeatedly) to dock or whatever exit I plan to use sooner so as to increase my chances of survival.
Well that sucked, killed without returning a shot. No worries I will hop in my Rifter and go after the scurvy dog in her Incursus (another T1 frigate like mine, the same one which I lost to in the duel). I hop on the Corp chat channel and let them know about the WT. Seems it's not new news as she has been station camping off an on. I also learn it is suicide to engage her in my Rifter and that she is not in an Incursus but in an assault frigate, way out of my class, an Enyo I think. No worries this is the Uni's home system I will just rally up the troops and with their help pop the scurvy dog.
Apparently there are some tactical strategies that lend themselves to taking the offensive in a station camp. If the aggressor sits close to the station she can try and kill anything that comes out and if deadly enough, like Ospie powerful little assualt frig, pop something before they can return to the station. If something exits the station that is too much for station camper than she still has the option to quickly fly away to an established safe spot or simply dock in the station. This she did several times while I was trying to rally the troops. I found that the troops by and large were just as inexperienced and weak as I was. No one was willing to join my hunt as they felt there was no reasonable chance for success. I was deflated but I understood that the Uni is a teaching institution and I can't expect to always have a big brother around with a bad ass ship to get me out of trouble. So I sat in the station trying vainly to devise a strategy that others would feel confident enough in to join me. No one was biting and I can't blame them as I have no credibility when it comes to theory crafting or experience in putting a small fleet together.
Fortunately some time later a fellow Unista in a Zealot, a bad ass ship, engages the scurvy dog who pod killed me and while not returning the favor at least drove him off. That a tiny assault frigate could lock down the space station with the Unis corporate hanger inside for such a long time was a slap in the face to me. I need to get better at this combat thing.
So now I have no probing ship and have lost my way to make some isk. I begin to console myself with other corp-mates when one of them gives me a million isk, partly defraying my loss and grabs a Probe out of the corporation hanger, which I don't have access to yet, and gives it to me. Now this is why I joined a capsuleer corporation.
With WT in the system or close by I am a little too wary to start flying around. That is until I overhear the offer of a fleet forming to do some NPC missions or exploration. Now missions are boring but with some capsuleers working as a team it might be fun. I offer to join in but find they all want to do a missions and not exploration, I decide why not and offer to join them. They are all good pilots and I, well, suck. They will be doing level four mission I haven't even done a level 1 mission only the tutorials and the epic arc (which might be level 1). I express my reservation of joining them in my Rifter frigate and they in their learned ways let me know I can hop in a destroyer and join them assuming the lowly role of salvager. I perk up, I have trained salvaging and am comfortable at this point in my career with the idea of being lowly. The rub is I don't know how to fly a destroyer. While the fleet begins to form I quickly inject the skill book and train away. It will only take 16 minutes. I look at my destroyer a Trahser and it all feels so foreign to me. So different from my Rifter. I purchase four slavagers (wow I had only previously used one at any one time to grab the goodies from wrecked ships) and load up a Rookie ship for the journey to the station which holds my destroyer in my hanger. I haven't yet consolidated all my ships to Aldrat. I toss in a few modules I have laying around and off I go.
Now more wary about checking local for WT's I nervously make the 5 jump journey to my waiting destroyer. On the voice comm I begin to hear the other members of my fleet in far superior ships begin to clear out the NPC's in the mission. My destroyer 1 skill finished training on the way to the to station and I hop into this foreign destroyer. I load up the auto-cannons I brought just in case, although I am assured by my veteran corp-mates that I wont need them as I am just clearing the battlefield of already killed NPC's. I buy a shield extender to give me some more armor but don't have time to pick it up as my fleet has cleared the first NPC room and moved on to the next and I need to get going and grab the loot and salvage the wrecks. A bit nervous so soon after my first pod kill to be in a ship which at this point affords less protection than my Rifter I head off. In my rush I forget to install the afterburner from my Rookie ship, darn. I have guns, ammo, my salvagers and a couple of modules to help my maneuverability in case I need to get out in a hurry and to increase the damage of my weapons. The lack of shields or armor makes me feel very vulnerable, buy hey I am with a fleet with veteran corp-mates, and they all say not to worry.
As complete my final jump and arrive in system I notice a lot of red NPC's on my overview. Now worries says my corp-mates those are just NPC well away from the first room cleared and I will be headed in the opposite direction. I had heard on the comms that there was a WT that had been around so I was a bit nervous but my overview was clear. I began to 80 km journey toward the loot and without the afterburners this would take a minute or two. Then a red box on my overview and I recognize the name from the previous conversation in the comm about the WT. After my recent death experience I don't need any further inducements and I quickly begin to the process to warp and dock to at a station while alerting my fleet of the presence of the war target. "What's going on." My ships not warping and I get a box of text saying something about my warp not working. I start to take damage, I recognize this is not good. I must be scrammed I thought. I didn't even get a chance to see the distance from my assailant or what he was flying, my ship explodes seconds later. I think he was merciful or perhaps I was a little quicker with my pod saving routine and I manage to escape without losing my second pod and clone in an hour but I lose my destroyer which I had only flown for a few minutes. Once again I lose a ship without even returning fire.
I give my fleet mates some more intel on the location of the WT that popped my ship and they immediately all flee for safety. Apparently another fleet member had lost his ship to the same WT minutes before. I hope my memory is wrong here but I don't think he reported his loss to the fleet until after I did. Not too cool, and some warning may have saved my ship. I can't be sure as my memory is not clear but I have this nagging feeling.
OK lesson learning time. OK the biggies, why in the world did I let my corp-mates talk me into leaving in a destroyer that I was unfamiliar with, in war time, without a proper fit and paper thin defenses? Why didn't I just trust my instincts here? I must improve my seamanship.
My killer this time was RS Spyder. He was flying a Cynnabal, one of the ships I was drooling over and that ended my love affair with a Mimatar ship the Vagabond. I really don't know enough to comment but the Cynnabal is very fast and frankly way out of my league. I was doomed. This guy is a pro with 49 kills to 2 losses. Very efficient RS Spyder. He also likes to kill pods so imagine I was able to slip away and it was not an act of mercy. He terrorized my fleet for the next hour or so and eventually calling for a Uni fleet to help us out went unanswered and the surviving members of our fleet limped home with the mission not completed. The lovely thing is, Aeron Solette, our squad commander was gracious enough to reimburse me for my loss (and then some) in isk. The Uni does seem to have some kind souls. Aeron Solette was by his own admission not really a PVP capsuleer mostly running missions so my squad did not feel comfortable engaging RS Spyder. I had no ship and even if I did once again I was far outclassed.
So Eve as expected has proven deadly. I have been sloppy and it has cost me. I am taking steps to improve. I will grow and at least be a bit of a challenge, heck even fire one shot would be an improvement at this point. Oh how my Brutor ancestors must weep at my antics thus far.
Alas with some guidance I found my way into a squad with the role of a tackler. A tackler is kind of the low man of the fleet, our job is primarily to rush opposing targets and pin them down so that the bigger ships that can deal more damage can hit them easily and finish them off. We do this by either slowing them down (webbing) or keeping them from warping away (pointing) or activating a micro warp drive (mwd) that allows them to fly really fast and slip out of range. I didn't have the skills in order to use a web so I was relying on my warp scrambler and would only be able to point. Ideally you would have both to prevent the enemy from leaving the engagement via his warp or from running away and out of distance of your weapons or target locks by webbing or pointing so he can't use his mwd.
I was pretty much lost at the beginning of the patrol as you have to have a couple of chat windows open, be listening on mumble (voice channel), my objective panel (which shows a bunch of information like enemies, or structures, velocity of enemy etc) with Uni specifications had swelled to a monstrosity and then I had a separate fleet window open. This was quite a change for me who had until then flown in a minimalist fashion with mostly the beauties of space, stars, planets and nebulas in my view, this was all now ruined with boxes and text. Then the mechanics of moving with a fleet took some getting used to and if you don't keep up you put yourself in danger. So most of my attention was drawn just learning how to stay with the fleet and not get lost. This was further complicated by the sheer coolness of flying with so many ships and the temptation to just look at them and bear witness to our rag tag armada.
I didn't count the number of ships we had but I would guess around thirty. The FC would tell us where to go and when to warp or jump. I understood some of the basic tactics and an hour or so into our patrol I was a bit less stressed. It was a slow patrol, which was fine for my first and we only had one encounter. I quickly approached the two targets eager to fill them with my auto-cannon shells but when there are just 2 ships agains the blob of our fleet they don't last long. I couldn't really understand what was going on at the time and still don't really get the strategic aspect of the patrol but the two unfortunate capsuleers who we destroyed seemed to be pirates gate camping (setting up an ambush at a jump gate, an area where when traveling through space allows you to cover large distances very quickly and thus areas of high traffic). Our fleet had cloaked scouts who found them and then some early tacklers who jumped in and kept them in place in order for the rest of the fleet to jump in quickly and finish the job. Unfortunately we didn't get there quite fast enough for one of fleets early tacklers was destroyed, but the greater good was accomplished and the pirates destroyed. Much to my disappointment I didn't even get a shot off before it was all over.
The rest of the 3 and a half hour patrol was basically looking for ships to engage and then returning home. I still have a lot to learn and don't feel completely comfortable but it is good to get my first fleet experience.
Next comes my inglorious evening. Last night I hop in my trusty Probe, a probing ship with minimal guns and defenses and undock in my home station in Aldrat to do what is becoming my usual isk making venture and that is scanning down this system and a few others nearby for cosmic anomalies which typically have some NPC pirates to mop up and then I collect the loot they drop and salvage their twisted and ruined ship remains. So I pop out of the space station and notice on my overview a red box. To me this means be careful as per my overview settings, which I don't completely understand, this is some kind of pirate or something with a poor security status (he has done some naughty things in the eyes of Concord). What I didn't see was a red blinking box which means a war target (WT) or kill on sight. Eve University is presently at war. I don't really know why or with whom but when I joined I learned this and was eager to gain some combat experience. I foolishly at this point or maybe even before I noticed the red boxed foe began to orbit my station in preparation for my custom of launching a probe and scanning down the system. What this does is invalidate a temporary immunity one has for 30 seconds after leaving a space station. Despite the pirate being 33km away I began taking fire. OK I collect my self and begin the procedure to dock back at the station. I watch the agonizing seconds tick by and don't really understand what is taking so long, my shields go down, then my armor and lastly my structure and my ship goes pop. Well I have been here before no need to panic just get my capsule in the darn station which is right in front of me. I am hitting the dock command but am not docking fast enough, my poor little pod starts taking damage and I am pod killed. My clones corpse drifting in space along with millions of isk worth of sister probes which I shouldn't of been carrying in the first place.
So my killer was Ospie flying an Enyo. 9 real kills and no losses. So seems calculating and deadly. I imagine this capsuleer will grow into a fine killing machine with the efficiency attained sthus far. I stood no chance, good tactics, bold.
I wake up in my medical clone which I had moved to my new station and begin to regroup. My first clone loss. Well I have a few lessons to learn from this humiliation. I need to make sure my overview is working correctly. Had I seen a red box blinking I would of immediately initiated my dock sequence and perhaps not broken my invulnerability by starting to orbit the station (once you order you ship to change direction you lose the 30 second invulnerability). I need to check the local channel which shows all pilots in the system and I would of seen the WT (again had my overview been properly set up) and maybe thought twice or at least asked some corp-mates about the wisdom of undocking. Once my ship is taking damage and I kind of know I am going down or might go down I need to switch into pod saving mode. Hit my pod tab on my overview and start spamming (hitting a command repeatedly) to dock or whatever exit I plan to use sooner so as to increase my chances of survival.
Well that sucked, killed without returning a shot. No worries I will hop in my Rifter and go after the scurvy dog in her Incursus (another T1 frigate like mine, the same one which I lost to in the duel). I hop on the Corp chat channel and let them know about the WT. Seems it's not new news as she has been station camping off an on. I also learn it is suicide to engage her in my Rifter and that she is not in an Incursus but in an assault frigate, way out of my class, an Enyo I think. No worries this is the Uni's home system I will just rally up the troops and with their help pop the scurvy dog.
Apparently there are some tactical strategies that lend themselves to taking the offensive in a station camp. If the aggressor sits close to the station she can try and kill anything that comes out and if deadly enough, like Ospie powerful little assualt frig, pop something before they can return to the station. If something exits the station that is too much for station camper than she still has the option to quickly fly away to an established safe spot or simply dock in the station. This she did several times while I was trying to rally the troops. I found that the troops by and large were just as inexperienced and weak as I was. No one was willing to join my hunt as they felt there was no reasonable chance for success. I was deflated but I understood that the Uni is a teaching institution and I can't expect to always have a big brother around with a bad ass ship to get me out of trouble. So I sat in the station trying vainly to devise a strategy that others would feel confident enough in to join me. No one was biting and I can't blame them as I have no credibility when it comes to theory crafting or experience in putting a small fleet together.
Fortunately some time later a fellow Unista in a Zealot, a bad ass ship, engages the scurvy dog who pod killed me and while not returning the favor at least drove him off. That a tiny assault frigate could lock down the space station with the Unis corporate hanger inside for such a long time was a slap in the face to me. I need to get better at this combat thing.
So now I have no probing ship and have lost my way to make some isk. I begin to console myself with other corp-mates when one of them gives me a million isk, partly defraying my loss and grabs a Probe out of the corporation hanger, which I don't have access to yet, and gives it to me. Now this is why I joined a capsuleer corporation.
With WT in the system or close by I am a little too wary to start flying around. That is until I overhear the offer of a fleet forming to do some NPC missions or exploration. Now missions are boring but with some capsuleers working as a team it might be fun. I offer to join in but find they all want to do a missions and not exploration, I decide why not and offer to join them. They are all good pilots and I, well, suck. They will be doing level four mission I haven't even done a level 1 mission only the tutorials and the epic arc (which might be level 1). I express my reservation of joining them in my Rifter frigate and they in their learned ways let me know I can hop in a destroyer and join them assuming the lowly role of salvager. I perk up, I have trained salvaging and am comfortable at this point in my career with the idea of being lowly. The rub is I don't know how to fly a destroyer. While the fleet begins to form I quickly inject the skill book and train away. It will only take 16 minutes. I look at my destroyer a Trahser and it all feels so foreign to me. So different from my Rifter. I purchase four slavagers (wow I had only previously used one at any one time to grab the goodies from wrecked ships) and load up a Rookie ship for the journey to the station which holds my destroyer in my hanger. I haven't yet consolidated all my ships to Aldrat. I toss in a few modules I have laying around and off I go.
Now more wary about checking local for WT's I nervously make the 5 jump journey to my waiting destroyer. On the voice comm I begin to hear the other members of my fleet in far superior ships begin to clear out the NPC's in the mission. My destroyer 1 skill finished training on the way to the to station and I hop into this foreign destroyer. I load up the auto-cannons I brought just in case, although I am assured by my veteran corp-mates that I wont need them as I am just clearing the battlefield of already killed NPC's. I buy a shield extender to give me some more armor but don't have time to pick it up as my fleet has cleared the first NPC room and moved on to the next and I need to get going and grab the loot and salvage the wrecks. A bit nervous so soon after my first pod kill to be in a ship which at this point affords less protection than my Rifter I head off. In my rush I forget to install the afterburner from my Rookie ship, darn. I have guns, ammo, my salvagers and a couple of modules to help my maneuverability in case I need to get out in a hurry and to increase the damage of my weapons. The lack of shields or armor makes me feel very vulnerable, buy hey I am with a fleet with veteran corp-mates, and they all say not to worry.
As complete my final jump and arrive in system I notice a lot of red NPC's on my overview. Now worries says my corp-mates those are just NPC well away from the first room cleared and I will be headed in the opposite direction. I had heard on the comms that there was a WT that had been around so I was a bit nervous but my overview was clear. I began to 80 km journey toward the loot and without the afterburners this would take a minute or two. Then a red box on my overview and I recognize the name from the previous conversation in the comm about the WT. After my recent death experience I don't need any further inducements and I quickly begin to the process to warp and dock to at a station while alerting my fleet of the presence of the war target. "What's going on." My ships not warping and I get a box of text saying something about my warp not working. I start to take damage, I recognize this is not good. I must be scrammed I thought. I didn't even get a chance to see the distance from my assailant or what he was flying, my ship explodes seconds later. I think he was merciful or perhaps I was a little quicker with my pod saving routine and I manage to escape without losing my second pod and clone in an hour but I lose my destroyer which I had only flown for a few minutes. Once again I lose a ship without even returning fire.
I give my fleet mates some more intel on the location of the WT that popped my ship and they immediately all flee for safety. Apparently another fleet member had lost his ship to the same WT minutes before. I hope my memory is wrong here but I don't think he reported his loss to the fleet until after I did. Not too cool, and some warning may have saved my ship. I can't be sure as my memory is not clear but I have this nagging feeling.
OK lesson learning time. OK the biggies, why in the world did I let my corp-mates talk me into leaving in a destroyer that I was unfamiliar with, in war time, without a proper fit and paper thin defenses? Why didn't I just trust my instincts here? I must improve my seamanship.
My killer this time was RS Spyder. He was flying a Cynnabal, one of the ships I was drooling over and that ended my love affair with a Mimatar ship the Vagabond. I really don't know enough to comment but the Cynnabal is very fast and frankly way out of my league. I was doomed. This guy is a pro with 49 kills to 2 losses. Very efficient RS Spyder. He also likes to kill pods so imagine I was able to slip away and it was not an act of mercy. He terrorized my fleet for the next hour or so and eventually calling for a Uni fleet to help us out went unanswered and the surviving members of our fleet limped home with the mission not completed. The lovely thing is, Aeron Solette, our squad commander was gracious enough to reimburse me for my loss (and then some) in isk. The Uni does seem to have some kind souls. Aeron Solette was by his own admission not really a PVP capsuleer mostly running missions so my squad did not feel comfortable engaging RS Spyder. I had no ship and even if I did once again I was far outclassed.
So Eve as expected has proven deadly. I have been sloppy and it has cost me. I am taking steps to improve. I will grow and at least be a bit of a challenge, heck even fire one shot would be an improvement at this point. Oh how my Brutor ancestors must weep at my antics thus far.
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