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.
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