Tavern talk

As I roam through New Eden, there are any number of little things that I find interesting, but which don't really merit a post of their own. These sorts of topics are the kind of thing that I imagine pirates might chat about over a pint at their local space tavern between comparing fits and bragging about killmails.

No pressure

We had our first of what will hopefully be a weekly T1 cruiser roam. The trouble with organized roams is that the FC is under pressure to find content. Unfortunately, we spent about two hours roaming null sec without seeing anything but a battleship gang with carrier support. We didn't want content that badly...

Then we hit low sec and crashed a gate camp, but they all fled. On the way back to Chaos we cross-jumped a 160+ cruiser fleet, and a couple of their straggling inties managed to point a Moa that was fit for dps rather than speed/agility. We tried to burn down the tackle (a Malediction), and forced him to warp off, but there were enough other ships on grid that by the time the Malediction had been driven away he had been replaced by half a dozen other tacklers.

Racial differences

One of the interesting things about going on a T1 cruiser roam is that you start to see the handling differences between the different racial cruisers. The Caldari cruisers, for example, were always the last to hit warp, and the last to land on grid. It's easy to miss those differences when you fly solo, but seeing the ships all flying together in a gang really made them stand out.

A call to arms

A Tusker fleet tangled with Riplomacy last night. I'd love to write a full battle report, but there was no general call-to-arms ping sent out until they chased us back to Chaos. At that point I logged into my Omen, and warped to the fight on our null sec static.

It was a blind warp, and as is so often the case, the fight had moved on, so I landed in the middle of the Riplomacy fleet. I attracted a lot of fire from ships that had nothing else to shoot (as they were being kited by the main Tusker fleet), but their tacklers were too occupied chasing the main fleet to deal with my surprise arrival. So, by overheating my prop mod, I was able to burn out of long point range and bounce back to our citadel at 10% shields so that I could get some reps. Along the way, I helped take down a VNI, because the Oracle has amazing dps projection.

I had no time for reps, though, as Riplomacy moved the fight to our C5. Warping to the fight, I managed to help bring down a Sacrilege before Riplomacy decided to disengage completely.

Incidentally, a look at the Chaos battle report gives you a very clear picture of what Tusker fleet doctrine looks like. 'Doctrine', though, is perhaps too strong a word. 'Philosophy' might be a better term. Be fast, be shield tanked, and bring dps, reps, or ewar.

Tavern Talk

As I roam through New Eden, there are any number of little things that I find interesting, but which don't really merit a post of their own. These sorts of topics are the kind of thing that I imagine pirates might chat about over a pint at their local space tavern between comparing fits and bragging about killmails.

Timing is everything

It's funny how being decisive is often its own reward. Since diving in and changing my PI setup, I've had nearly a full week of constant connections. Some of these connections have been VERY active, and I've been glad of the ability to run my PI without venturing out of the POS each day.

New Eden is BIG

One of the joys of living out of a wormhole is that I am constantly taken to new places. As far as I can remember, I had never before been to Khanid, or Aridia. Both are beautiful in the way that Amarr space tends to be; all golds and browns, with elegant jump-gates and stations.

Khanid is system after system of empty space, and is probably perfect for anyone looking to set up in remote low sec. Aridia, on the other hand, seems to have one perma-docked player in each system, like some kind of neighborhood watch.

It makes you appreciate just how vast New Eden is, and how many little communities there are that you never hear about in the way that you hear about faction warfare or the null sec blocs. There are still so many places that I've never been.

Future plans

Large Energy Turrets V finishes up this week. Next up is Amarr Industrial V, which will allow me to fly a blockade runner. It's about a two week train, and after that I will have the ability to safely move an Astrahus into Vanaheim, should I wish to do so.

Right now, I do wish to do so. But three weeks is a long time in Eve. We'll see. And I'm still torn about what to train after that.

Ratting

Ratting is not working. I feel that it is important to keep my sec status up, at least in the short term, but I'm not flying a ship capable of efficient ratting. It's more something to do while waiting out criminal status before jumping into high sec.

So I've bitten the bullet and purchased some Negotiator Tags. I'll just have to pay for improved high sec access, and consider it another operating cost.

Tavern Talk

Devblog 1

I saw Hilmar's devblog, and I have to say that I was pretty impressed. Unlike many older players, New Eden still hold plenty of wonder for me, and I am surrounded by new frontiers.

However, that does not stop me from recognizing that a growing number of veteran players have been unhappy with the way things have been going recently. I'm cautiously optimistic that this devblog represents a real sea change; it can't have been easy for Hilmar to write.


Devblog 2

This devblog hits a little closer to home. A buff to assault ships? Awesome!

Now, there is not much in the way of details there, but I'd like to see a per ship speed buff (rather than a flat increase on all assault ships), and some kind of additional bonus. Perhaps something new, like electronic hardening.

Give assault ships a resistance to ewar; this (along with the speed boost) would make them a solid gang choice for heavy tackle, and make them the go-to choice for frigate pilots wanting to take on above class ships.


Other blogs

Being a blogger, I know that blogs come with some default options regarding reader comments. Usually commenters have to log in with one of a couple of different accounts; which accounts varies depending on the blog host.

Trouble is, I often can't log in (because I don't have an account) or don't want to (I'm on a public computer). There is an option to allow anonymous commenting, but it needs to be switched on. I wish more bloggers would do this; I suspect they would be rewarded with more comments!


Boosters

I've wanted to get into boosters for a while, but I've been put off by the cost. Synth, I can just about manage, but Standard costs nearly as much as my ship! (edit: I'm told that people are just trying to rip me off, and that a more reasonable price would be a mere 5 million; 25% of my ship's cost) And the skillbook for mitigating side effects is also going for hundreds of millions. Far too costly for a humble pilot, scraping a living from the proceeds of his crimes.

If I ever get into T2 or T3 cruisers, boosters obviously become more worthwhile, but for now I'll stick with the occasional synth exile.

Tavern talk

As  I roam through New Eden, there are any number of little things that don't fit into the "one fight, one post" format of this blog. These little items of "tavern talk" are the sorts of things that I imagine pirates might chat about over a pint at their local den of iniquity.

Popping cyno ships

I'm still popping cyno ships whenever I get the chance. I  don't write about it, of course, because I've got it down to a pretty solid routine by now.

However, I was "defeated" for the first time, recently. I warped in on the cyno ship in the usual way, and stripped away it's shields. I started into armor, tanking the gate guns as I did so, when the ship was suddenly back at full shields!

For a moment, I wondered if I had burnt out my rockets. After checking that I hadn't, I assumed that Eve must be experiencing a bug of some kind. However, after another moment I realised what had really happened: the carrier had started remote repping the cyno ship.

Even without the station guns, there was no way I could break the cyno ship's "tank", so I warped out and congratulated the carrier pilot on her ingenuity. We both had a good laugh about my initial befuddlement, and the pilot's quick thinking.

In another cyno run, I tried using Rage rockets over faction rockets, and they worked much better. I could easily have taken the pod as well, but I started to warp out through force of habit before noticing that I had barely dipped into armor before destroying the cyno ship.

Next time, though, I'm trying for the pod too.


The hunter gives way

I was on the trail of a one month old Hurricane pilot when I was forced to give way to a fellow hunter. He was flying a Sacrilege, and we almost landed on each other a couple of times as each tried to catch the Hurricane (who was oblivious to what was going on as he warped from belt to belt).

The Sacrilege nearly got me, but I was just a hair too fast for him. Realizing that I could not take on the Hurricane before the Sacrilege arrived, I gracefully gave way to the mightier hunter.

I had a chat with him, though, because the Sacrilege is a ship I have my eye on for the future, despite it's poor reputation. He told me that he had found the Sacrilege to be an awesome solo ship, and the people who criticized it simply did not understand it, or how to use it.

While he did not elaborate, I was heartened by what he had to say. While it is a long way off right now, I'll eventually be moving on to a larger ship, and the Sacrilege looks like it builds on all the skills I'm maxing out for the Vengeance.


Impossible ransoms

I have happily embraced the Tusker tradition of ransoming new players for a joke or a song, but they seem far less happy about it than I do. Despite having offered several ransoms of this kind, not a single one has been accepted.

It baffles me. It costs people nothing but a little bit of effort, yet they "can't think of any". Well here's a hint. You're at a computer. Open google, and search for a joke. You can even cut and past the damn thing. It's that easy.

It's almost like they want me to pod them.