An Agony in Fits: The tragic tails from the other side of the looking glass of an Eve Online "noobie" exploration pilot. Wspace is scary in a good way.
4.11.14
The Broken, the Beaten and the Damned
Just as an example we have been roaming low and null in frigate fleets, cheep fits mind you, but every time "engage" is called by the FC, I confirm target, close and engage ... BUT the rest of the fleet jumps away because things get too hot before they even start to fight back. As a result I've lost A LOT of ships in a very short time, and my income is not keeping up. Lots of cheep ships when you lose them add up fast.
Well after some pushing the CEO finally saw reason, (I couldn't spot him another days worth of Fuel and the POS went off line,) So we scouted out and he found an "abandoned" C5. Our corp is mostly young players... point in fact I am the ONLY capsulteer in the corp that can fly a HAC, HAF, CovOP... any T2 ship, let alone a BS or T3. BUT C5 it is,. While moving in the CEO loses a hauler full of BPs and other equipment I've ended up "donating" to the corp... well that was the rest of my half billion. Now I'm back to 20 million in my wallet, a Mammoth and my Cheetara 2. I have a Rupture sitting in a hanger in highsec but I'm not sure I am ready to lose that one just yet.
So now still bleeding isk like a gusher, we have a large tower, 20 site, C1 static, a few new recruits, and no one to run content... Oh and I forgot to add the system has seven POCO at 100% tax. I wonder if I can solo bash a POCO in a Tornado or a Hound.
I think I am gonna have to take some "me" time soon and simply explore down the chain and leave everyone else to the fleets for a while. I guess readers the good news is that I am not desperate enough to just mine yet.
13.10.14
Falling Down
Well you may throw your rock and hide your hand
Workin' in the dark against your fellow man
But as sure as Bob made black and white
What's done in the dark will be brought to the light
You can run on for a long time
Run on for a long time
Run on for a long time
Sooner or later Bob'll cut you down
Sooner or later Bob'll cut you down
Go tell that long tongue liar
Go and tell that midnight rider
Tell the rambler, the gambler, the back biter
Tell 'em that Bob's gonna cut 'em down
Tell 'em that Bob's gonna cut 'em down
Readers, if one of you are my victim, I apologize for my out burst, you should have known better, you should have known that you had no hope once I had locked on. You should have asked forgiveness and mercy rather than persisted, but that is the past and now we must live with our decisions. Again I apologize, that is not who I am, that is not who I want to be, please do not make me become that again, for I will reaper the frozen corpses from your twisted remains and sacrifice them to Bob should you push me again!
In other news readers I joined a small WH corp, and have move permanently into wspace. It is a small group and looking to grow, but I think we will find new and industrious ways to fail, so stay tuned. Things promise to become more interesting.
25.9.14
In Loving Memory of Cheetara
When tears are in your eyes, I will dry them all;
I'm on your side. When times get rough
And friends just can't be found,
Like a bridge over troubled water
I will lay me down.
Like a bridge over troubled water
I will lay me down.
When you're down and out,
When you're on the street,
When evening falls so hard
I will comfort you.
I'll take your part.
When darkness comes
And pain is all around,
Like a bridge over troubled water
I will lay me down.
Like a bridge over troubled water
I will lay me down.
Sail on silvergirl,
Sail on by.
Your time has come to shine.
All your dreams are on their way.
See how they shine.
If you need a friend
I'm sailing right behind.
Like a bridge over troubled water
I will ease your mind.
Like a bridge over troubled water
I will ease your mind.
free.
Important to remember - Capsulteers are Mean.
Readers, last night on my way home from Jita a low sec gate disco turned ugly and my precious Cheetara what gone, I landed on the gate and she was gone! I was suddenly in my pod with only 25% hull. She wasn't fancy, she wasn't high class like some other ships, but she was mine. I have literally had her with me since I came back to New Eden. My lose cannot be measured in isk this time my readers, she was not a ship was a friend, only an hour earlier we had ninjaed a relic sight together. She was so sexy in that cloak getting right up on those cans and hacking them then warping off before sleepers or the site runner could realized we where there. Our gains weren't worth the risks but it was fun, we laughed and sighed panting at our ss and went back two more times. I thought nothing could take her from me... I thought I would never need to say good bye.
I've tried to move on, dear readers, but it isn't the same. I have her twin sister in my hanger, she can wear all the same outfits. She can play all the same games, make the same moves, but dear readers, she is not my lost Cheetara. I say again my readers, she IS not.
I ask you readers that we all observe a moment of silence for a fallen friend and faithful companion. I should never have taken her back there, we should have take the time to go around, enjoyed the evening together on a leisurely stroll though so many lovely high sec neighborhoods, rather than take that stinking urine stained low sec back alley.
CHEETARA NO, What have I done!!! I will avenge you, I will try to find some way, I promise... although maybe I'll just be happy I made it with my pod and head full of implants, Cheetara would want that for me after all.
Oh by the way readers, last night I went into a C1 and while scanning down sites I found a relic site with a Stratios pew-pewing the sleepers. I snuck in and hacked the cans and looted some of the wrecks before he noticed me. I got about 5 million out of it. It was a fun bit of ninjaing and worth the risk from a fun standpoint. Had I been in my Bandersnatch II (or maybe it XXI I cannot remember anymore) I might have tried to jump him. But readers I thought that the time it would take to go back get my BC and get back would have been too long and I would have lost the Stratios totally. So I think I am starting to get this wspace thing.
18.9.14
An update on the 7th Fit
16.9.14
Bob is good.
By Rens I was up 31.5 million. Now I don't mean to brag dear readers, or say that I am more blessed by Bod than others because he prefers my cakes to what ever it is the others they call their sacrifices. But I think it's obvious what Bob prefers, don't you? Needless to say readers, by Jita my account balance skyrocketed to just under 110 million isk. Over 100 million in isk. The nanofibers were my big winner on this trip (netting me about 70 million alone), but I must say the T2 and faction drones that I found just floating lost and alone while looking for other capsulteers in w-space helped my totals considerable also. Plus I cannot stand to see the poor defenseless drones left alone and scared to suffer what ever fate awaits them because their former owners couldn't take care of them. Honestly readers, the local shelters are packed with abandoned or unwanted drones. You should adopt some, sometimes capsulteers invest in expensive breeds of these wonderful pets and then just leave them without a care to fend for themselves out in the vast oceans of space. Its a crime, really it is. No wonder there are some many packs of feral drones wondering w-space making it unsafe.
Well now readers, I am a lazy seller when it comes to the market. I know I could maybe increase my returns by at lest another quarter, but I just don't waste my time with sell orders. It doesn't appeal to me. Trader PvPers you win against me, it is almost unfair. I know I should follow my favorite Kilrathi saying and "fight back, there is no honor in slaughter!" But meh, The most I do is I set up a small spreadsheet that tracks my loot and the highest buy orders and quantities in the hubs and plan a run to Jita, stopping off here or there along the way. If my sheet says something will sell higher there I stop and off load it, so I had an idea that I would come close to 100 million isk this trip.
Readers, by now I think you know me well enough to know that I do not have that dark part of the human soul that is required to be able to sell the brighter happier bits to an Anti-Bob in order to Plex every weekend, and make other scream "my ship! Why Bob, why! Those supplies where for the orphans! Those poor mutant orphan freaks will never get another chance at to hunt for the colorful and deadly Bobsmas eggs delivered and hidden like landmines by Old Saint Andta Claws during the Reign of Deers, the Great Red Slayer!" I care about the orphans of Eve, and want them to find the eggs that do not hiss or tick menacingly. Does this make me a bad capsulteer? Inferior in skills and style to those depraved monsters that would see the return of INFOD and the Church, I say thee nay. Isk is merely a matrix by which we may keep score. I accept that I am not in the top percentiles, or even the top bottom percentiles of capsulteers. Many younger pilots make much more than me on a trial account. BUT as a solo pilot I know my income is limited to what I can handle alone, and I put a greater percentage of my personal wealth on the line than others in larger corporations and alliances. I know dear readers, that I will lose, often and more... and often more than I can afford, but somehow I say afloat. I make just enough to replace what I have lost and maybe upgrade a bit. I am able to indulge in some expensive habits aswell, (Quafe Zero how can I not keep a case or two in my hanger to enjoy after I find my hands and toes no longer feel like they fit quite right in that new clone I find myself in.) And for all this I am content.All I am saying is dear readers is that Bob watches out for the soloist it seems, and he keeps us flying. Fly safe or fly dangerous... just don't forget that I fly scared.
14.9.14
Fit the Seventh - Bob giveth and Bob rippith away in violent fire and pain
Ballistic Control System II
Ballistic Control System II
Phased Muon Sensor Disruptor I, Targeting Range Dampening Script
Phased Muon Sensor Disruptor I, Targeting Range Dampening Script
Limited 1MN Microwarpdrive I
Covert Ops Cloaking Device II
Prototype 'Arbalest' Torpedo Launcher, Nova Torpedo
Prototype 'Arbalest' Torpedo Launcher, Nova Torpedo
Prototype 'Arbalest' Torpedo Launcher, Nova Torpedo
Expanded Probe Launcher I (off-line)
Small Bay Loading Accelerator I
Small Bay Loading Accelerator I
450x Nova Torpedo
8x Sisters Combat Scanner Probe
Mobile Depot
Happily, readers, did I cleared sites for almost two hours! My cargo wasn't nearly full and I had about 70 million in blue loot and nanoribbons. Though I am sure you know, that higher class holes yield much more and faster than a lowly C1, but in all it beats mission running hands down. And readers, I was doing it, I was soloing a hole all by myself. Watching my d-scan and ready to jump at a moments notice. I took my loot back to my station in k-space because I had other things requiring my attention, but planned to return afterwards.
8.9.14
A message to you.
Dearest Reader, this is a letter to you. You are pleased I know, you always secretly wanted to be the topic of a blog post and now you are.
I am writing this blog for you, and so I must let you know that this blog and Justice Shallow, myself, are trying to find our voice. It isn't easy to write in verse every post, harder still to write in really good bad verse, to stagger the thought flow and make the reader, you, wince with my pain. But you keep ready anyway. Why? You are my friends, or enemies, I really cannot tell from here, you all have such a vaguely human shapes it is hard to tell really.
Bare with me, help me to know when you hear one you like. I hear so many so often I should be able to pick one.
Fit the sixth - Praise Bob
Damage Control II
Gyrostabilizer II
Gyrostabilizer II
Gyrostabilizer II
Tracking Enhancer II
Tracking Enhancer II
Experimental 10MN Microwarpdrive I
Adaptive Invulnerability Field II
Large Shield Extender II
Relic Analyzer I
425mm AutoCannon II, Republic Fleet EMP M
425mm AutoCannon II, Republic Fleet EMP M
425mm AutoCannon II, Republic Fleet EMP M
425mm AutoCannon II, Republic Fleet EMP M
425mm AutoCannon II, Republic Fleet EMP M
425mm AutoCannon II, Republic Fleet EMP M
Improved Cloaking Device II
Medium Anti-Thermal Screen Reinforcer I
Medium Anti-EM Screen Reinforcer I
Medium Anti-EM Screen Reinforcer I
1x Warrior II
5x Salvage Drones
Mobile Depot
Mobile Tractor Unit
Medium Armor Repairer II
Large Shield Booster II
Large Shield Extender II
2x Salvager II
'Arbalest' Heavy Missile Launcher
500x Nova Heavy Missiles
10,000x Republic Fleet EMP M
(No Sacrifice for Bob! Whatever was I thinking)
14.6.14
Fit the Fifth - Lessen on the same.
Energized Adaptive Nano Membrane II
Energized Adaptive Nano Membrane II
Gyrostabilizer II
Damage Control II
Medium Armor Repairer II
Experimental 10MN Afterburner I
Tracking Computer II, Optimal Range Script
Tracking Computer II, Optimal Range Script
Medium Ld-Acid Capacitor Battery I
425mm AutoCannon II, Republic Fleet EMP M
425mm AutoCannon II, Republic Fleet EMP M
425mm AutoCannon II, Republic Fleet EMP M
425mm AutoCannon II, Republic Fleet EMP M
425mm AutoCannon II, Republic Fleet EMP M
425mm AutoCannon II, Republic Fleet EMP M
Core Probe Launcher I, Sisters Scanner Probe
Medium Capacitor Control Circuit I
Medium Projectile Burst Aerator I
Medium Projectile Ambit Extension I
3x Warrior II
3x Salvage Drones
(Cake - 1x Quafe, 1xWheat, 1xDairy Product, mix well, jetcan and cook at the sun)
Towards the end of last month while trying to hone my combat ready skills. When on a whim I scanned down a hole and went in. This tail I've related to others, though uneventful as it was, I will recount it here before more woeful disasters I share.
A day-trip and a little recon was my goal. Hoping to find those who lived in a hole and perhaps share a nice cake to Bob.
I jump in flying my COVOP and First thing I see is a BC just sitting there camping the hole. I BM the hole (so I could make it home unless it got rolled,) launch probes, hit MWD and cloak. Jump to 100km off the nearest anom and start scanning down every sig I could find. The system was big (10 Planets with moons, 20 POS in all (5 or 6 were more than just a tower), 7 Sigs, and another 10 or so Anoms, I though all that took close to an hour.)
I'd scanned for some time not a sight of another soul but some ships parked at their POSes. And in all that time that BC has just sat there, hadn't moved, not eve a twitch. The BC has me nervous, my COVOP had not tank, nor offense or defense. It was little more than a Styrofoam shell with enough to be speedy if I needed it. I have the skills trained, I have the bling, but I don't have the instinct I guess. Because I stat watch him do nothing at all ans wondered what I should do next.
I warp to a 250km BM off the WH back to Kspace, aligned to a 1000km BM at max (non-mwd) speed so I could away jump fast if I needed. I check his pilot info and corp, I uncloak and waited then waited some more. I cam within 30km of him sitting there. From him I got nothing, no response, not a move.
I'm considering jump out, y own Hurricane(though unhappy with it since I lost its twin a few days ago on a day-trip to a cloaky SC with Logi support.) I had this gnawing feeling like Ackbar before me, and "its a trap!" just rung in my head. But my uncloaked baiting for response got me so close and I saw nothing and was able to cloak back up without trouble.
So away I jumped, saying next time I will try it in a bomber should the situation present itself again.
So on to last night and my embarrassing plight, gas farming I thought could be fun. In jumped the sleeps, out jumped my Venture, and I come back with the Hurricane for some fun. But to my surprise I was neuted, scammed and totally out gunned. The sleepers made quick work of my little BC, a chance I never did have. That was when I realized I was in a C4.
So always remember to check the systems level before you start to run the sites!
24.5.14
Fit the Forth - the Storm on the Waves
Energized Adaptive Nano Membrane II
Energized Adaptive Nano Membrane II
Gyrostabilizer II
Damage Control II
Medium Armor Repairer II
Experimental 10MN Afterburner I
Tracking Computer II, Optimal Range Script
Tracking Computer II, Optimal Range Script
Medium Ld-Acid Capacitor Battery I
425mm AutoCannon II, EMP M
425mm AutoCannon II, EMP M
425mm AutoCannon II, EMP M
425mm AutoCannon II, EMP M
425mm AutoCannon II, EMP M
425mm AutoCannon II, EMP M
Core Probe Launcher I
Medium Capacitor Control Circuit I
Medium Projectile Burst Aerator I
Medium Projectile Ambit Extension I
The jaws that bite, the claws that catch!
Beware the Jubjub bird, and shun
The frumious Bandersnatch!"
I had scanned many days, I have scan many weeks. Seven days to a week I allow. But still I was never able to lovingly gaze on the isk these trek should be making me.
It was last week in a whole I though vacant I took my Hurricane to pop sleepers for my first time. A C2 relic site was my goal, and I though I might find some loot worth while. I've oft heard talk of "blue-loot" so I drop my MTU and started shooting. 6 then 7 million in CONCORD research was my reward then, the double BS spawn had took me the longest. I jump away to fit salvages but should have expected a back-stabbing.
A Loki and his mate decided to take my spoils and my ship. Though sleeper BS I'd easily dealt with, I barely damaged their shields. And in my pod again I was forced to run. Jumping home with more lost than I'd been able earn even on the loot if I'd had it.
And this brings us to the present day, I sneak through every Wrabbit-Hole I may find. I am scannign down POS's and POCO's and ships, deducing threats as I go. Never quite sure how to address, asking fora job in their pocket of w-space.
Fit the third - O frabjous day! Callooh! Callay!... no perhaps not
Medium Shield Extender II
Limited 1MN Microwarpdrive I
Survey Scanner II
Gas Cloud Harvester I
Gas Cloud Harvester I
Improved Cloaking Device II
Small Anti-EM Screen Reinforcer I
Small Anti-EM Screen Reinforcer I
Small Anti-Thermal Screen Reinforcer I
Upon my third venture into the place between waking and dream, I scanned and sought out clouds. I has check it quite thoroughly, just me with bell to toll, no one around all was safe and sound. I proceeded to net the green candy floss that floated in whiffs about me. As I filled my Venture's hold I caught sight of sleeper's arriving in my little site. So I simply jumped away.
So back to my station I ran, with unknown bounty in my hold. I though would bring me some solace, a few pretty thing it should buy. I had finally succeeded, even though I'd retreated...
Three week have I waited, and still none have shown interest in buying the stuff. So I now tell you, what you take has small value if you cannot get it to sell.