300

Yesterday Blogger told me that I had reached my 300th post. That wasn't quite true, as they had included a draft post in that count that had been written, but not yet published. This is my 300th post, and I've edited yesterday's post accordingly.

So, 300 posts of (more or less) pvp related hijinks, mishaps, and shenanigans. Hitting this milestone (or rather, tripping over it, seeing as it took me completely by surprise) has given me pause. Why am I still doing this, after all these years?

This blog started as pvp learning journal. But that hasn't really been true for quite some time. Obviously, I still pvp, and I still post kill reports, but the 'lessons' tend to be run of the mill mistakes or fitting tweaks. I'm well past the point where every fight brings new insight.

Thinking about it, I suppose I still blog for two main reasons.

First, I like Eve, and I like thinking about Eve. Blogging forces me to organize my thoughts. I have written many posts that I have deleted without publication, simply because - once forced to put my ideas into a coherent form - I realized that I was wrong, or that my point wasn't as good as I had first believed it was.

This has the side benefit of providing concrete examples for future reference. Being able to link some of my PI posts on the Eve forums, for example, has saved me having to type out the same thing in half a dozen different threads.

Second, blogging makes me a part of the Eve community in a way that I would not otherwise be. Professionally, I have a certain niche expertise, and a large part of my job involves explaining to non-experts how my subject area affects them. So you could validly argue that I talk for a living.

This means that when I log on to Eve, I'm quite happy to stay quiet. I monitor corp chat, and I log into voice comms, but mostly I let other people do the bantering while I enjoy the experience of not having to say anything for a change. But that's not actually a great way to be part of the Eve community, and being a primarily solo pilot exacerbates the problem, so I suppose that blogging is what I do to compensate.

But whatever my current reasons, I wouldn't be blogging with the inspiration of the other great Eve blogs out there, past and present. You can find some of the current ones in my sidebar, and I have been forced to prune a wide range of once fantastic, but now defunct blogs, such as Eve FNG and Fiddler's Edge.

Three blogs from days gone by deserve special mention, though. Both Eve Altruist and Jester's Trek were so hugely influential that I cannot bring myself to remove them from my sidebar. Nobody did technical pvp writing like Azual Skoll, and Ripard Teg brought the politics and meta of New Eden to the little guy like no one else. Both were truly great, iconic blogs in their day.

But the blog that influenced me the most on a personal level was Ka Jolo's long abandoned blog. Although he stopped updating months before I even logged on for the first time, it was his blog that made me want to play Eve, and made me want to be a Tusker. What he started still echoes through New Eden today.

Should auld acquaintance be forgot, and never brought to mind?
Should auld acquaintance be forgot, and auld lang syne?

Admin

This blog went private recently, because I needed to do some admin. Just as I've forgotten how to play Eve, I've also forgotten how to blog.

One of the most important rules about blogging is to talk about what you've done, not what you intend to do. The reason is fairly straightforward: people change their minds.

On the whole, this is a good thing. We try something, and if we don't get the result we wanted, we try something else. But reading about changes in direction can be confusing, especially when you only get the highlights, and not the experiences that led to a particular decision. Or when the blogger goes back and forth on a particular idea or topic.

So, a little cleanup was in order.

Alright then, what has happened?

Over the last few weeks? Mostly bad stuff, honestly. I've lost far more ships than I've destroyed. I managed to CONCORD myself by attacking someone in high sec (I learned about green/yellow/red safety options that day). I decided to experiment with decent implants, something I've never done before, and lost them within 24 hours. 

Twice.

The first time was when my pod was dropped 1000m from the docking perimeter of a station being camped by Minmatar militia (you'd think that Amarr Prime would do something about that, but no), and the second time was when I was trying to warp out after a close fight with a Tormentor, and hit the 'enter planetary mode' button that looks just like the 'warp and jump' button, and sits in exactly the same place.

I consider my surfeit of luck in destroying the Astero fully paid up.

The common theme, though, is that I failed to respect the game. Sure, I knew that I was a little rusty, and a little older, and I knew that there had been some changes to New Eden. But, y'know, I had this. This was my game.

Hubris. And I've paid the price. I'm now space poor, clawing my way back up. And that's fine. That's probably as it should be. I can get back on top, as long as I respect the game.

It's just going to take a while.

A parting gift

This will probably be my last post in a long while. I'm moving on again, thanks to real life commitments, and although I will miss New Eden and the Tuskers, real life must always take priority.

There are so many interesting things on the horizon, from ship rebalancing to pirate noob ships. I wish my fellow capsuleers well in my absence, and hope I can rejoin them one day future.

In the meantime, however, I have a parting gift. I had saved up about a billion ISK - not much by the standards of many, but easily the most ISK I've ever had at one time. I had expected to use this to fund my road trip, but I now feel it can be put to better use by the Tuskers in their efforts to encourage new players to get into pvp. Accordingly, I've transfered 1 billion ISK to the Tusker Frigate Free For All fund, to help sponsor the next Tusker FFA.

I'd encourage everyone who follows this blog to go to Tusker FFA III (whenever that may be) and blow up a few ships on me. And if you can't make it? Perhaps throw a little money into the Tusker FFA fund to help buy ships for the new players. Consider it an evil EvE University, if you will.

And to pilots all over New Eden... fly dangerous!

End of an Era...

The king is dead. Long live the king.

Well, I feel stupid...

So, I've spent most weekday evenings, and part of my weekend, in the living hell that is ratting up sec status. Trust me, it is way less fun than trying to hit -10. And I'm still not done. I'm not even close to done.

"But that's okay", I thought. "I'm going on a road trip, and it's going to be awesome!"

lol

It turns out, I am going on a road trip... in real life. Apparently, my corporate masters (hyperbole) are pleased with my performance, and are moving me again. Which means another period of disruption, and lack of non-work internet.

Sigh.

Now, I'm not going to pretend that this is a bad thing, or that I would gladly give up my career progression in order to secure more EvE time. Neither of those things are true. This is a Good Thing (tm).

But why, for the love of all that's holy, could they not have told me this before I spent a week ratting?

Planning a road trip

There's not been much news here since being away on holiday, although there is another training session video to analyze soon. However, that's not to say I've not been doing anything, because I've actually been quite busy.

Recently, I've felt in a bit of a rut with EvE. I mostly fly the same ships through the same systems, and my heart just hasn't been in it. So I've decided to shake things up with a road trip. A long road trip.

I want to travel high sec again, and reach those low sec pockets I used to roam as a young pilot. I want to delve into null sec, and explore wormholes. All of this would be far easier if my sec status were not in Satan's basement, so I'm currently out in null sec, in a bomber, ratting up my sec status and getting to know null in a way I never have before. It's actually been quite fun, and I look forward to coming back in something bigger once I have sufficient bookmarks to survive the experience.

I'm also liquidating my back-stock of ships. By turning this into ISK, I can travel a little lighter, picking up what I need as I go, without the need for a base. The occasional corp op will still be on the menu (thank you, jump clones), and so will the occasional training session. Otherwise, it's the road for me, and whatever pvp I find along the way.

Right now, a bomber is perfect for exploring null sec and making bookmarks (gate safes being the most important) while I rat up my sec status. I could switch to a pvp bomber later, I suppose, but with Recons V, I'm wondering if the Pilgrim wouldn't be a better choice. I want to be able to kill stuff, but also evade gate camps, which probably means a standard BC is out.

So, I guess I'd better start working on a fit...

Retribution: First impressions

Crime & Bounty Hunting: 

What I've seen of Retribution so far, I really like. The new targeting reticules are really slick, and the new criminal/suspect markers are very intuitive. A huge thumbs up to CCP there.

However, I wish CCP would have programmed some memory into the security selection button. I know this is designed to keep carebears and new players safe, but I just know that I'm at some point I'm going to forget to take myself off safe mode after logging in (or more likely, a disconnect) and the inability to shoot first will get me killed.


The new Arbitrator:

This is a really interesting one. What do I do with another 25 CPU and an extra low slot? I initially thought about adding another EANM II for extra tank, but the truth is that my fleet Arbitrator rarely takes fire as it is (and when I do take fire, I'm never pointed, so I can warp out), so the extra tank seems like a waste.

I then considered a damage mod for more drone dps, but Sule came up with a much better idea: a Signal Amplifier.

Now, the weakness of the fleet Arbitrator (besides it's low speed) has always been it's low lock range. In fact, some of my fits have dropped the an Ewar rig for a targeting range rig to allow me to actually make use of the range on my TDs in fast moving fleet fights. A Signal Amplifier would give me an even bigger boost, allowing me to drop said rig if I chose. And as a bonus, my targeting speed goes up, allowing me get those TDs into the fight that little bit faster. If that were not enough, the extra targeting slots are useful if I want to throw ewar drones on an additional target or two.

As a final change, I took out one set of ewar drones (now that ewar has been nerfed a little) for some salvaging drones - no more orbiting a warpable wreck while trying to salvage!

I took this new fit on a corp roam yesterday. A poor connection forced me to bail before we hit any serious action (I was taking about 60 seconds to load grid, and we were playing gate games with a couple of gangs around OMS), but in the skirmishes we did have, I was very happy with the new fit. I look forward to flying it more often.


The new destroyers:

I've not had a chance to fly the new destroyers, but I certainly bought a Dragoon and a Corax. I'm not sure how exactly I'll fit them up (I'll play around with them once I get my EFT updated), but I'm looking for them to do things that my frigates can't. This probably means something with high dps. Watch this space.


Other news:

This will probably be my last post for December, as I'm going to be on a long holiday this month, and I'll be spending all that time with family. However, when I get back, I should have Recon V trained, and I'm selling off some excess hulls to pay for a Curse/Pilgrim.

I'm also looking at changing the kinds of hull I fly. In the past, the only real way for me to combine armor and missiles was expensive Khanid ships (oh, how I long for a T1 Khanid ship - Oh, CCP, if you love me at all, please bring me a bright, shiny, Khanid T1 hull*). However, with drone skills I'm also able to fly a number of T1 Amarr ships, and my (slowly) improving shield tanking skills are also letting me fly T1 Caldari. This being the case, I'm now flying fewer expensive ships solo (reserving T2 for gangs and the like), which has prompted me to  clear out my back-stock of assault ships, bombers and interceptors, keeping back only one or two of each type.

As noted above, this will allow me to pick up one or two "toys" for more elite gang work on Tusker roams, which will hopefully make for some interesting posts.

*If you recognize the poem that inspired this line, you win the interwebz (one day only).

Why we fly, and why we don't.

Back when I was putting myself through university, I spent a lot of time playing World of Warcraft, especially around exam times. WoW wasn't exactly rocket science, so I could just log on and zone out, focusing just on grinding whatever battleground I happened to feel like (hint: it was always Alterac Valley, until they ruined it). I got my Unstoppable Force that way.

EvE, however, is just not like that. While there are any number of positive adjectives to describe EvE (such as "fun", "awesome", and "beautiful"), "relaxing" is not one of them. At least, not the way I fly.

Perhaps things would be different if I were a carebear. I imagine that high sec mining or mission running is generally pretty grindy and relaxing (unless a suicide fleet finds you, of course), but hunting other players requires a lot of focus. Focus is not relaxing.

So, although I've been able to log into EvE for the last few days, I haven't. Real life stresses have made me want to veg out in the evenings, so I've actually been playing LotRO (it's free to play, so I can just play it for a few days and then leave it if I want). I'd have logged in for a corp roam, but I'm guessing other people have been busy too, because our usual Thursday and Friday roams were not running. However, there does seem to be a roam this evening, which I'm really looking forward to.

Why are corp roams different? I'm not sure, but I suspect it has something to do with being among friends. More cynically, I could also suggest that the responsibilities of being alert to danger and finding the fight are divided among more people, making the whole thing less stressful.

Of course, EvE doesn't actually help either. Not only do I need to stay focused when I play (which is actually one of the game's real strengths), but I need to jump out of my training clone. So, subtly, I'm encouraged not to play when I'm feeling lukewarm anyway - not only may I not enjoy myself, but I put myself behind in training as well!

All of this is just a way of saying I've not forgotten the blog, but that I have no new fights to post at this time. Hopefully, that changes soon, because, like many people, I'm away for the second half of December. I need some new killmails!

Committing to a skill plan(ish)

While I've always had a fairly clear idea of what I wanted to train, I've never been one to use skill plans or remaps to boost my efficiency. After setting my attributes to a fairly even distribution (bar charisma, of course), I've enjoyed the ability to plug in skills without worrying what their primary and secondary attributes might be.

In hindsight, I wouldn't change a thing. New players have a really difficult time knowing which skills they need, as well as when they are going to need them. A general attributes distribution allows for last minute rearrangements of skills without punishing the player.

However, the last two weeks have gotten me thinking. When my home internet connection went down, I called a friend and had them throw Advanced Weapons Upgrades V onto my skill queue, because I had no idea how long it would be before I could log back in. I'd been saving AWU V for the Christmas break, but I didn't want to lose any training time either. Then, after I got my connection fixed (sort of), I was swamped by work, so I just let it go on training.

In order to scratch the EvE itch while I couldn't play, I started reviewing the skills that I wanted to be training over the next few months. These included:

1. Caldari Cruisers and Battleships
2. Amarr Battleships
3. Destroyers V
4. Recons V
5. HAC V
6. Command Ships (if the changes to boosting look good)
7. All the missile skills (I'm maxed out for frigates, but not larger ships)

If you noticed that all of these skills run off Perception and Willpower, pat yourself on the back.

As I had about six months of Perception/Willpower training (at least) ahead of me, I decided to bite the bullet and remap Perception/Willpower. I've got a bonus remap from last Christmas that I can use to return to a general stat distribution whenever I like, and I figure I'll probably get another bonus remap this Christmas. Might as well use them.

So, in the new year I hope to be playing with a few new ships, assuming that I can afford them (the T2 stuff would really stretch my budget right now, but if I fly cheap and win consistently, I should be able to afford them in January/February).

Otherwise, apologies for the lack of updates; we ought to be back to something a little more regular this weekend. 

Sea trials - a test of your systems.

Well, I've just bought 20 Arbitrator hulls (because they are cheap) and fittings for five of those hulls (because they are expensive!). I'm feeling pretty space poor right now, but if I'm honest I could always start selling frigate hulls if  I were desperate for the cash.

I've been trying to decide on a format for presenting (and learning from) my kills. I could always follow the Punisher Plan format, but that seems a little dull - I've been there and done that. Equally, I'm experienced enough that my mistakes will (hopefully) be harder to catch. Not noticing I've neuted out my opponent's point, for example, is something that, by definition, I've not noticed. Hard to catch that from memory.

The obvious solution, then, is to simply record my fights. Having downloaded FRAPS, I now present a test video. Edit: Now a much improved video from youtube.

Now, the video itself is nothing exciting. I'm just flying around a little bit, setting up my overview, and testing out my new hot keys (I have more modules to manage than I did in a frigate, so some shuffling has been necessary). I'll possibly do a post on hotkeys later, if people are actually interested.

My HUD

As far as my HUD is concerned, there are a few key features. First, none of my windows actually touch the side of my screen, which means I can always see where the targeting icons are (often crammed against the side of my screen). Second, my module HUD is up top, not at the bottom. This is because I want to be able to focus on as small a part of my screen as possible when fighting. By putting my modules at the top, I can focus on the top right corner of my screen, as it has my targeting (which is vertical), as well as my overview.

The scanner is just below the overview, so that I can quickly keep an eye on the local area if I'm worried about being mobbed. I'm tempted to switch that for local chat, as that's often a better indicator of what is happening that the scanner. I've also been known to miss comments from my enemies (like "Ransom!") just because I'm not looking at that part of my screen.

I'm not terribly happy with the location of the drone screen, but then that's a new addition. I'd like the box to be taller, so that I can control flights of drones without scrolling. Ideally, then, it would be at the edge of my screen. I'll play around with that, but it does give you a pretty good idea of what I've been using since my first month or so of playing.

Other issues

Just as I used that flight to work out some in-game issues (like hot keys), I used this video to work out some bugs too.

As you can see, the video becomes very choppy once I launch my drones and get into combat with the rats. EvE also slowed down, which is an issue I've not had before. True, I had a few other programs in the background, but I really need to improve the performance issue or this is just not going to work in combat. Given that I've had to massively compress the quality of the video in order to post it, I can probably reduce my FRAPS settings without impacting the final product.

If the picture seems a little "squished" horizontally, that's because of the resizing after compression. Watching the video in a slightly different aspect (16:9 seems to work well) reverses this. I'll see if I can't gradually improve what I'm doing as I gain more experience.

If any more experienced FRAPS users have any hints I'd love to hear them.

I'm a noob again.

As you may recall, my wife and I decided that she and the children would move to the country to give our children the lifestyle we wanted for them while I continued to work in the city for the time being. Having just returned from a two week visit, I am happy to say that they are thriving, and the past fortnight has helped reassure me that the choices we have made have indeed been the right ones. But they do make for some odd contrasts.

Two days ago, for example, I was culling our first batch of ducks and preparing them for the freezer. I'd just finished repairing the roof on the turkey shed, and I'd scratch built a couple of doghouses for the dogs they are breeding.

Today, on the other hand, I played internet space ships.

It wasn't just the contrast between the very real world by family now lives in and the artificial world that I work in that made me feel like a noob all over again, though. EvE has changed. Much of what I thought I knew about frigates has been shaken up. My rockets have all been renamed. Even gate guns have apparently moved on without me.

This, I feel, is good. It's good because it drives home the fact that I don't have a clue what I'm doing with my new class of ship, and it will make me eager to learn rather than just treat the Arbitrator as an oversized frigate. That could get expensive, fast.

Although I had a number of Arbitrator hulls delivered to me, my efforts to turn a profit (and my natural loathing of clutter) meant that my hangar did not have any suitable modules for a hull I had never flown before. Instead, I settled for a short Interceptor roam (I did not find anything) which allowed me to refamiliarise myself with my home systems a little.

After my roam, I moved my alt back to Jita. Tomorrow I shall buy some Arbitrator modules, and start shipping them back to Hevrice.

The next steps.

I'd like to thank everyone who left a comment on my last post - they were very heplful, and gave me some much needed perspective on my choices.

In the end, I decided to go with the Arbitrator. I've got a couple of reasons for that.

First, the Arbitrator happens to be one of the most awesome looking ships in the game outside of the frigate class. It looks the way I've always thought a starship (as opposed to a spaceship) would look, right down to the hangar bay in the nose. It's only become more beautiful since the V3 treatment. I'm going to love flying it.

Second, the Arbitrator simply opens more doors in both the long and short term. As fun as hunting frigates in a Caracal sounds, at the end of the day I'm just hunting frigates. In a cruiser. While I won't turn up my nose at below class kills, limiting myself to below class kills exclusively is just not my style

So, my shopping alt has purchased a stack of 20 Arbitrators, and Red Frog Freight will be delivering them to Ranellies. In all likelyhood, I won't be getting into them (or EVE generally) until the end of the summer, but that's just fine - Amarr Cruisers V alone is going to take about 20 days. And then my drone skills could use some love.

In the meantime, I'll probably make the odd post or two about fits for comments and criticisms. EVE FNG's Arbitrator guide has been very helpful, but as ever I'm probably going to mangle his good advice and come up with something suboptimal and "unique".

An update.

Wow, it's been three months since my last post, and it's been a crazy three months. Very, very busy, but very, very productive.

Still, things are easing off a bit. Not enough that I can actually play any EVE, but enough that I can think about playing EVE. And CCP is doing all it can to lure me back. Have you seen the sexy new missile effects? Of course you have! And did you know that UK subscriptions can now be paid in GBP? Which, with the current state of the Euro, that means I'd be getting my subscription at 25% off over the old price.

Soooooo, I've, ahem, resubscribed.

No, I won't be playing EVE, but I will be skill training. I'm maxing out my last Nav skill first (they were mostly maxed out for the Vengeance, but my MWD skills languished), and then I'm going to be doing some more ship training.

And that's where I've got some decisions to make.

You see, I feel like I've "done" the small ship thing. I've had dozens and dozens of kills in T1 frigates, Assault Ships, and Interceptors. I've messed about with Bombers. I've flown Covert Ops to scan down ships. The only thing I haven't really done with frigates is Electronic Warfare, and everyone largely agrees that these ships are a waste of time. So, when I start playing again, I'd like to use a slightly larger hull.

Now, in my ideal world, I'd be flying Khanid ships like the Sacrilege or the Heretic. Sadly, my wallet does not allow me to lose such ships, so I'm going to be flying something T1. I'm no big fan of turrets, though (and I'd have to invest loads of time in just getting my gunnery skills up to par), so I'm left with a few obvious choices: Drake, Caracal, Arbitrator.

I'm going to put the Drake aside for now. I can actually fly one already, and I have one in my hangar for those times that the corp needs to form a BC fleet. But I want to focus on a roaming ship, and the pilots I know that focus on BCs generally roam a very small area, because BCs don't travel well on their own (they get camped fairly easily). I'm not yet ready to give up the 30+ jump roams that I've been used to as a frigate pilot.

And if I'm honest, I like flying a non-standard ship in pvp. Drakes, along with the Hurricane, are about as standard as you get.

That pushes me towards a cruiser hull, and neither the Caracal nor the Arbitrator are turret ships. The Arbitrator is beautiful ship, and the Amarr Cruiser skills would translate VERY well into a Sacrilege or Pilgrim at some point. Being armor tanked, however, it's not got the best ability to navigate gate camps, nor a particularly strong tank. Ewar would be something completely new to me, though, which might make things interesting.

The Caracal, on the other hand, moves in a completely different direction. Accepting that it's purely a frigate hunting ship, it can actually engage on gates and stations because of it's hefty tank and missiles (drones don't do so well under station guns!). That tank also helps me burn back to gates, and those shield skills help boost my Drake.

I'm going to have a think over the next few days, but my Nav skill finishes on Sunday, so I need to make a decision by then. Comments regarding the pros and cons of these cruisers as solo low sec roamers are welcomed.

By the way, it feels good to be back, if only in a small way.

The journey's end.

As some of you will know, I've cancelled my EVE subscription.

My reasons involve real life, rather than any dissatisfaction with New Eden. And for those who worry about that sort of thing, it's not even that anything bad, exactly, has happened in my real life. It's just that my family and I have made some decisions which, although good for us in the long term, mean that I won't be playing EVE in the medium term.

And of course, that means this blog won't be updating any more.

I'm not very good at "goodbyes" (is anyone?), so I'll simply say that it has been an absolute pleasure flying and blogging my way through New Eden, and EVE is easily the greatest MMO I've ever played. I hope, one day, to come back to it.

As people have occasionally found my blog helpful, I shall leave Flight of Dragons running for the time being, but my Starcraft blog will be taken down in due course - there are simply so many other ways to get Starcraft info that nobody is going to miss it.

Don't cry because it's over. Smile because it happened. ~Theodor Seuss Geisel

Low activity warning.

Just letting everyone know that there probably isn't going to be much posting this week. I was working over the weekend, and what little spare time I had went into racking and bottling a large batch of home brew.

I did spend an hour in New Eden (being able to log in only after the Tusker's Titan kill), but the only target I found was -9.9 Ares that resolutely refused to engage me.

2011: The High Points

This was a post inspired by Jester and FNG, and I hope you will all forgive me the self indulgent reminising.

Jester made a list of the most significant events in EVE for 2011. FNG noted that the events on Jester's list, while significant, did not affect him on a personal level. His own list would be full of events that made little difference to anyone but those involved; special kills, and the like.

I whole heartedly agree with FNG, and this got me thinking about my own list of memorable events. After some (brief) thought, this is what I came up with.

5) Punisher 6.3: This was my first low sec kill, and a classic Punisher v Rifter. While I had made some other kills previously, they were in high sec, and the pilots were other noobs. This, on the other hand, was a genuine, scary, low sec roam hitting a genuine, scary, low sec Rifter. The details of the fight have faded from memory, but the ship itself is the only early combat kill that really sticks in my mind.

4) Punisher 19.8: While I had read about the Tuskers, and even managed to join the corp, this was one of my first chances to see them in action. Flying with Kishin was an eye opening experience; as I think I say in my post, I was struck by the fact that, rather than congratulate himself for surviving a 1v2, he chastised himself for letting one get away. My entire perspective on EVE pvp shifted that day.

3) Vengeance & Dramiel v Caldari Navy Caracal & Tengu: Another crazy Kishin experience, and my first T3 kill. I remember this kill especially because of how it contrasted with Punisher 19.8. I entered the fight because Kishin called for backup rather than simply because I was there. I survived the fight rather than being casually swatted aside. I contributed rather than effectively being a spectator. It was a really good feeling. I think that's when I first started feeling like I was doing more than just freeloading off my corp-mates.

2) Vengeance et alia v Dramiel et alia: It's actually only the Pilgrim at the end of the fight that sticks in my mind, but it's not something I'm likely to forget any time soon. First and foremost, I remember because my corp mates did not abandon me when I was pointed, despite the seeming certainty that they would be destroyed. I was completely new to the Tuskers, and there were no bonds of loyalty between us beyond a corp ticker. But they stayed anyway.

Secondly, I remember the intense micro it took to keep the Pilgrim pointed, myself alive, and the drones under fire; I was taken by surprise, but I rose to the occassion.

Finally, it's the first time I met/flew with our commander in chief, Ka Jolo.

If you've never flown with him, I'll tell you that no matter what's going on, Jolo always seems calm. He can be in he middle of losing a ship, and his voice stays low and even. So here's me, freaking out over all this micro, unable to believe that I'm still alive (and wondering when my luck will run out) and Jolo calmly strolls up (Jolo does not warp anywhere, he strolls. Seriously. Even his Interceptors.) in a Hurricane to resucue us and extract an outlandish (in my noobish eyes) ransom from the Pilgrim.

All together, it was very much a "welcome to the Tuskers" moment.

1) Punisher 18.5: I've never put as much effort into a single kill as I did into this one, and I have never, before or since, soloed another Battleccruiser in a T1 Frigate. It was also the second above class kill I needed to apply to the Tuskers, and so this kill is indelibly linked my mind to joining my corp. The two events, taken together, have probably been the most rewarding experience I have had in EVE to date.


Disclaimer

I did not reread any of these fights before (or after) posting about them, so there may well be some inconsistencies. However, that's not the point. Instead, the focus of this post is about the lasting impression these experience left on me.

I've tried to be pretty honest about how I felt, right up to the wide-eyed noobishness that I can see clearly on the page. Truth is, those moments of noobish wonder, that feeling of crossing a threshold, are the most powerful experiences EVE offers. Part of the magic of this game is that it offers so many thresholds for us to cross.

A blog post about blogs. How exciting!

I've recently (or not so recently - I've been distracted by my internet problems at the beginning of the December, and then some other posts seemed time sensitive) been asked to provide a little bit of exposure for a new blog by the members of a new corp, REPO. I don't normally do that sort of thing (so please don't everyone suddenly start asking), but REPO is a rebuilt Blood Money Cartel (or at least, a new home for many of the old members), a corp I had a great deal of respect for before they closed their doors. As such, I don't mind letting people know that they are back in business.


How do I get on Taurean's blog list?

This would be a pretty short post if all I did was link to REPO's blog (See how I keep using their name? That's three times in four sentences. It's almost like I've done some marketing or something.), so I'm going to ramble a little about why I link the blogs that I do in my blog list.

It's actually stupidly simple. Like this blog as a whole, my blog list is designed to serve my needs, not anybody else's. I'm actually quite the introvert (no kidding, right?), and I have very little need or desire to talk about or promote myself - I'm actually quite taken aback by how well received this blog has been.

As such, my blog list is simply a list of blogs that I enjoy reading, and I want to know when they have been updated. One or two, like the Tusker Public Relations Desk, are utility links, but mostly it's just blogs I like to read.


How do I stay on Taurean's blog list?

Of course, there are some rules I follow, and I imagine that most bloggers have their own versions of these rules, and any blog I'm going to link has to do most of the following:

1) Post regularly. Unless your posts are truly exceptional (like Kishin's now defunct financial blog), I will ruthlessly delist practically any blog that does not update regularly. Some leeway is allowed for real life - that happens to everyone - but I dislike seeing blogs sit idle for regular prolonged periods; I have limited surfing time due to real life commitments, and I want to spend it looking at blogs with new content.

2) Post stuff I like. Everyone will "like" different things, so I'd never suggest tailoring your blog to a specific person or group of people, but you can post as frequently as you like and if I am just not interested in your posts I'm not going to want to visit regularly. If I don't want to visit regularly, I'm not going to put you on my blog list.

The REPO blog is an example of this. It's got some regular posts, but many of them are interviews with corp members. These seem quite popular, and I've seen a fair number of blogs do this, but it's just not something that interests me. I'm just as disinterested in other people as I assume other people are disinterested in me.

3) Post stuff that makes me better at EVE. Related to point 2), I write this blog to help improve my game. I like other blogs that help me improve my game. Suleiman can get away with posting every few weeks because he's a superb pvper and fc, and his posts are full of very, very useful information. Wensley may not be on my blog roll, but I still check in every month or so because he occasionally posts something made of solid gold. FNG manages to be both prolific and useful; some of his posts on rockets and Khanid ships still inform the way I fly, and he heavily influenced the early choices I made in the game, despite the fact that we fly in very different ways.

4) Post stuff that's relevant. Another rewording of points 2) and 3), it explains why there are so few metagame blogs on my blog roll. While probably fascinating to a certain set of EVE players, it got old for me pretty quick. Null sec sounds exciting the first few times, but you quickly realise that it's just the same thing happening over and over again with different tickers slapped on the pilots (in fairness, they probably feel the same way about my own activities). And it makes zero difference to my life in game. Jester is the one exception, but then Jester is in a league of his own. If he runs for a CSM seat again, expect this blog to carry promotional posts supporting Jester's election. It will mean missing out on his dissections of CCP, but the guy has clearly earned it.


Do I care if I am on Taurean's blog list?

Probably not, frankly. While more successful than I expected, I'm hardly considered one of the great and the good by the mainstream EVE blogging community; you are unlikely to find me in the EVE blog pack any time soon. If exposure is your main aim, the blog pack should be your main goal. As such, REPO should probably focus on impressing Rixx from Evoganda, the current keeper of the blog pack.

Looking back on my rules, I suppose they boil down to "post lots of stuff I like". It's not rocket science, but perhaps it will be of use to some new EVE bloggers out there.

One year on...

Name: Taurean Eltanin
Race: Amarr
Age of Pilot's License: 1 year
Corporation: The Tuskers
Security Status: -10

Kills: 250
Damage Done: 12.48 billion
Losses: 77
ISK Lost: 0.98 billion
Efficiency: 92.73%
Kill/Death Ratio: 3/1
Battleclinc Rank: 22,103

Skill points: 19 million
Skill point breakdown:

It's been an amazing year. I've never had as much fun with any computer game as I have with EVE. In no small part this is because of the fantastic camaraderie of the Tuskers, but I have to give credit to CCP for creating such an absorbing sandbox.


Goals for the coming year:

1) Continue to support myself on piracy: Since starting my monthly accounts, I have always managed to turn a profit, even if only barely. I want to continue this success and build on it. Scraping by is one thing, but being able to afford an expensive toy or two is another. Profitable piracy will continue to be my focus.

2) Max out four more ships: I already fly a maxed out Vengeance, which ought to be a great deal of fun when the AF buff comes in. In truth, I could have maxed out another frigate, if I had really wanted to, but after so much focus, I spread my remaining skill points around a little to help me find a new direction. Now, I know I want to fly a maxed out Malediction, Crow, Caracal, and Drake. This will give me a selection of ships that I can bring to a gang, in both armor and shield fleets. If training time allows, I would also want to include another Amarr ship, such as the Arbitrator, Heretic or Sacrilege. These are "fun" ships, though, and not a priority.

3) Break into the Battleclinic Top 10k: This has been a long term goal of mine, but not something I have put much effort in to. Not dying is a very important part of increasing your BC rank, so it fits easily with my desire to be profitable. With a bit of effort, I should be able to manage this by the end of the year.

Happy new year, everyone.

Fly dangerous.

Life Imitates Art

This Christmas I received an awesome new Jedi dressing gown robe. Shut up. Real men love Jedi.

Anyway, while I immediately recognised the intrinsic awesomeness of this gift, I underestimated the hood. I mean, hoods are theatrical and all, but hardly a comfort thing.

How wrong I was.

Putting the hood up makes my head and ears feel just that little bit warmer, almost cosy, in fact, and by cutting off my peripheral vision slightly the hood focuses me entirely on my monitor/keyboard. So yeah, I now play EVE in a Jedi dressing gown robe with the hood up. Deal with it.

As I was testing out my new Crow, it suddenly occurred to me: I now bear an uncanny resemblance to my avatar.

I have a new blog.

I'll start by saying that nothing is changing with Flight of Dragons.

However, my recent inability to play EVE following the Crucible patch got me playing Starcraft II. During that time, I came to enjoy the convenience of being able to log in for a brief period of guaranteed pvp; I might waste 30 minutes on EVE without finding a fight, or I could just play a SC2 match. When time is limited, Starcraft offers a known return on investment.

Because I like to do things properly, and because this blog has been so helpful to my development as an EVE player, I have started a similar blog for my Starcraft exploits. Expect something similar to the Punisher Plan - a record of my attempts to find an appropriate army and develop my skills as a player. I don't know if any of my readers also play SC2, but I thought I'd let people know about the new blog in case they are interested.

My larger chunks of playtime (as and when they occur) will still be devoted to EVE, which I strongly prefer.