Bubbles Suck.

So part of the deal with 0.0 is traveling from Empire to 0.0 and learning the ways of null travel. On the way down there are many things you can do to limit your flaming death. However I am finding there is also some luck to it.

Today I was heading down to get my jump clones squared away in one of my (t)rusty rifters (not fit in T1). I choose a route down and expected trouble. It would seem that I would not be disappointed.

Empire to Lowsec was fine and in fact all of lowsec was fine. The first hop into Null was also pleasant even with the reds in system. It was the next hop where things started to get fun. I jumped through and landed mid a gate camp. There was a bubble but it was 45KM away so I picked a random planet and warped at a random warp too. I picked an other on landing and warped to it. Sure enough a 'cepter pilot landed 30km off me as I warped out. I set a book mark mid warp and then warped to the next planet on landing. Once again my 'cepter friend landed a little off mark to see me warp. I set another mid warp way point and when I hit the next planet I warped to the first "safe" I had created once again seeing Johnny Red 'cepter land behind me at the planet. Warped from safe 1 to safe 2 and set up safe 3. Warped to safe 3 and hit dscan. Wait a bit to see if my friends felt like scanning me down. One gate camp survived. \o/

OK next gate here we come. Warp in from safe to see it empty. Warp to another safe then land and jump. Smack bang in the middle of a Heavy 'dictor bubble. I was so close to center I could smell the stale coffee and crotch sweat of the broadsword pilot. "I am so screwed!" was my first though as I held cloak (30 seconds before I die). "Well that looks to be the closest edge" was my next. "Hmm...Yes I am definitely screwed! Well here goes!". I click on the planet that is the best align at the edge of the bubble turn on the AB and double click at the closest edge spot. Turn on the DCU and the SAR II. I watch them lock timers start as my little rifter speeds towards the edge of the bubble. First volley from the camp drops my into half armor, AWESOME! Click on the planet and spam warp. Not clear of the bubble yet. Next volley and the rifter is done. Spamming warp hoping I am out of the bubble. "OH WELL! I tried!"

Waking up 32 hops away with a blinking mail welcoming me to my Ibis and free tritanium. Shell out for an upgraded clone. Post the loss kill mails. Type afk in corp chat and wander over to the fridge for some OJ. Hit the bathroom for a bio. Shuffle back to my PC. Post about the camps in intel and joke about getting podded in corp chat some. Fly over to where I have more rifters fitted and get back in the saddle.

So anyhow, today was my first loss in null and my first podding. I know BigBadWolf is kicking some fat house cat right now over not being the first. Oddly enough I am not mad, I was not jacked up too much as I popped. I kind of left dock in highsec knowing that I was flying into harms way and there was a huge reality that this hull and clone might not be coming back.

On the plus side I got some first hand experience in moving through null. I got to play plannet bingo with a 'cepter and set up some safes under duress. I survived on gate camp mostly though luck. I got to test a theory on escaping 'dictor bubbles that this time around did not work out for me. I died well while trying to survive. So all in all a few million isk was not too much to pay for the experiences.

Of course now I want to get my ass down there even more and be the dude sitting in a battle cruiser sipping coffee waiting for the poor sap to land in the bubble. Hmm...I need to get a few drakes on that Jump Freighter next time.

Cheers

EVE SOB

Wednesday Night Fights note

Looks like my partner in crime, Astral Dominix. Is having a busy and challenging week. As a result this weeks fights are postponed until next week.

For all those that emailed Astral, we will be reaching out in game with the times for next week.

Real life comes first, nothing more. Shoot you all next week.

Cheers

EVE SOB

Bringing a knife to a gun fight, off to 0.0 I go.

A little while back I settled into a new corp. with ZombiNutz my lost and languishing combat pilot. At the time the corp. I joined outwardly looked to be another mission running highsec crew. The kill board was 100% losses and not what you might expect as the place I chose to find my PEW PEW.

I also made a solid commitment to the rifter at this time. I’ve done nothing but train for rifter related skills and fly rifters since then with very few exceptions where the drake saw some fire. I’ve flown the rifter around in missions. I’ve taken it ratting in lowsec and had a few dances with the locals. I got my first ever kill via a duel with Astra Dominix in a rifter. I have rifter hulls in more places than any other asset in EVE.

So with that said the corp. choice was made based on long term goals. Those goals are sending us rapidly into 0.0 as soon as we can land and setup shop. So naturally the rifter will be the first thing I fly into 0.0. It’s cheap yet powerful, super fun to fly, and considered a valid ship for a new PvP player to cut his teeth in. I cannot help but think I am bringing a swiss army knife to a very large gunfight.

I expect more kills and a lot more deaths to begin flowing sometime in the next week or so. I cannot say I’ll be posting too much detail about them as it’s frowned upon to share too much publically. I will tell you that I’ll post about all of them in good time with what I learned from them all.

Fun times are ahead.

Cheers

EVE SOB

Wednesday Night Fights!

Mr. Astral Dominix and I have been mulling over an open forum for pilots new and old to enjoy some 1 v 1 PvP duels in or around Rens. Astral announced it as The first rule of fightclub is.. in his blog this morning. Unfortunately to spread the word we kind of need to talk about it just a little.

The idea is simple in that we hope to meet once a week and fight o the death in the name of fun and education. In our Duel earlier this week both Astral and I (link) posted our fits and experiences from the fight. The feedback given was great and encouraged us to call out to those offering advice to come down to Rens and teach us a lesson. To demonstrate their words of guidance by sending us to our pods so that we might learn by doing.

The rules are as follows:

-T1 Frigate Hulls only

-Any T1 mod (named is fine) with NO T2 or Officer Mods

-Fighting is Consentual

-No Podding (in Highsec)

-No crying and/or bitching over lost ships. Social smack talk allowed.

-Faction ammo is allowed.

-No need to fit a scram - Warping out = fail. Hey it gives you an extra midslot, K!

To sign up send Astral Dominix an ingame evemail. Those who send a mail will be sent the location system for the weeks fights and a start time. If numbers are such to warrant it. I'll start some kind of bracket system to keep the action going. Who knows I might even pony up fitted T1 hulls for the winners and offer a full replacement for ISK lost to the wooden spoon should this get popular.

I hope to see you in your pod some Wednesday night soon.

Cheers

EVE SOB

*edit* Fixed Spelling and grammar. Darn Bostralian.

Clash of the T1 Frigates - PvP practice with Astral Dominix

For a good while now the air has been thick with the social lobbing of smack talk between Astral and I. We had a long time back decided that some 1 v1 duels in frigates would be good for us both as we learn the ropes of EVE PvP. Astral posted his account of the festivities and I promised to do the same.

Last night saw the first of what we hope to be many such duels. Rules were simple. T1 frigate with T1 fit, flip some ammo from each other, warp out and on warp in engage. I was in my trusty rifter and Astral a punisher. The fits are as follows:

Pod Racer MK1: aka cookie cutter tackle rifter in T1

3 x 150mm LAC I
1 x Small "nave" nos
1 x 1MN AB I
1 X WEB I
1 X named scram
1 x 200mm RTP
1 x SAR I
1 x DCU I

EMP S and Nuclear S

I build all but the two named mods and the plate including the ammo. So for me the fit is practically free

Astral's Punisher: Quote "A nice fit" Astral Dominix

3x 200mm AC I
1x "langor" web
1X Cold-gas AB
1X "collateral' nano
1X Emergency DC I
1X EANM
1X 200mm steel plate

Arch Angel Carbonized Lead and Arch Angel Nuclear S

Astral said it cost him 3M ISK to fit it all out.

We chose Bei as the system and the first planet as the fitting place to meet, exchange bullets , and fight. I warped in at 20km for a few reasons. The first was hoping that Astral had not warped to 0 (he had :( ) and the second was to work on my approach. I took a little damage but in my half spiral landed and settled into a nice orbit with very little shields down. Astral was over stating my speed a little in his account as the T1 fit rifter hits a top speed of ~860m/s with my current skills. Even with the named web at a tight orbit I was speed tanking a lot of the incoming fire. Astral actually grumbled about me having a shield tank.

The EMP s made pretty short work of the punishers shields as expected and then I set about the task of chewing through his armor tank. I have to say I am not impressed with nuclear S here and I made a slight error that lead to me taking more damage but I did it in the name of learning. As I was ahead and here to learn I widened my orbit out to see where the nuclear S hit Astral's armor the hardest. I settled in to where it was doing a MASSIVE 23 points of damage per volley. The error was in playing these games I had lost all my shield and Astrals bigger guns and better ammo was hitting home more often. It was time to start dancing with the rifters cap NOS on and SAR in single cycles to keep the guns going and the thing flying. After a week I burned through his armor and hit the home straight. I tightened my orbit again and switched back to EMP S. Incoming DPS went down and so did Astral.

The biggest thing I took away from the fight is that it is a LOT of fun. I also am getting more comfortable living in the red and working through it. Accepting DPS and that the hull you are flying is disposable is what I see as my first mile stone for PvP. This duel and flying nothing but rifters has let me come to terms with flames and getting in there. The in your face fighting style of the rifter was at first a HUGE switch up from the ranged missile and drone warfare of mission running. So with every fight rat or human the toe to toe style of the rifter and the incoming fire that brings is becoming the norm.

So this marks my first and extremely over due kill with Zombinutz and ironically the first for TGV as well. I was a little shaky at the start of the fight but once we settled into the motions of it all it was too busy to notice any further jitters. After the fight I was calm and hungry for more. Unfortunately RL called in the form of the work I had been ignoring and the need to take my Subaru fit to the repair bay.

Astral and I will head off for a lowsec roam next to see what we can scare up out there. Depending on what Astral fields I might break out some DPS fits I've been keen to try. I also have a shield tanked rifter that is yet to get dirty. So many options on this little beast that I even fly it in fleet running missions where I am known as "the rusty drone".

Many thanks to Astral for the fight and the time spent hopping all over the place getting to it. Next plans are to bring some T2 fitted variants to the next duel. All ready looking forward to it.

Cheers

EVE SOB

It’s not about fluffy bloody Kittens people!

Mr. CK is on the blog banter wagon again and this month he asks:

What could CCP Games do to attract and maintain a higher percentage of women to the game. Will Incarna do the trick? Can anything else be done in the mean time? Can we the players do our part to share the game we love with our counterparts, with our sisters or daughters, with the Ladies in our lives? What could be added to the game to make it more attractive to them? Should anything be changed? Is the game at fault, or its player base to blame?

As a new player to EVE but an old hand at gaming this banter strikes me as a little off the mark. I am married to an artist and gamer. We play games together many nights a week ranging from the horror survival series Silent Hill to Katamari Damacy. We both played WoW for 4 years and recently said goodbye to that racket. My wife is currently merrily hacking the heads of things in Dragonage: Origins and often calls me over to show me a new move and the detail of the spray of blood it creates. Together we are working through Final fantasy 13 with mixed feelings about it.

I’ve tried to get her to play EVE but she will not even log in. She shows interest in a ship now and then and says my Rifter looks like a rusty transformer or the Drake looks like bad Lego. Her artistic eye likes the EVE posters I have on my wall but not so the game. She says it’s too dark and dank even for something as void as space. Yet she tells me this has nothing to do with why she will not play it. While she likes Science fiction and fantasy a lot, she just cannot say she has an interest in flying spaceships about. When she escapes for the afternoon to another world it’s just not her thing. Even if I think she would like it if she would only try it. She has the qualities I believe that make up an EVE player.

That is pretty much why a lot of people choose to play a game or not. Does it bring them enough enjoyment to spend their time playing? Obviously for the ~200k-300k folks who play EVE Online it does. They enjoy the depth of the game and the community as it melts together in our one big universe. They like the technical aspect of fitting out a ship, the discovery of wormholes, massive fleet fights, or perhaps mining as a form of meditation. Eve quite simply put is a very deep and well written game with a community that truly shapes it. I for one do enjoy it greatly. So much so my wife asks me how my obsession is going.

So why is EVE not like say World of Warcraft(YUCK)? I mean both are fantasy based MMO’s available for the PC or Mac. They are both priced about the same in terms of monthly subscriptions. World of Warcraft cost more to buy and expansions are expensive as well. Yet World of Warcraft has members in the scores of Millions to our few hundred thousand capsuleers. What makes it so appealing to people. What makes them want to spend their time playing it? Why do more women play it that EvE? It’s not because the game is written or tailored directly towards them. WoW for the most part is a very simple game that can be customized and made even easier with add-ons. Hence it attracts more players and with those players more women. NOTE: I am not saying it attracts more women because it’s simple, more so it just attracts more players and is easier to play for all.

EVE on the other hand is not simple by any sense of the word. There is very little handholding for new players which dramatically weeds out the casual gamers. There is no story to follow either when compared to other MMOs. The player defines a story as they make their way inside the EVE world. This requires creativity and drive not found inside most MMO escapists. There are NO customizations to make the UI easier or the task of mining any less tedious. In EVE you need to set goals and drive forwards all on your very own. It takes a strong dedicated mind and hence we EVE players are known to be hardcore. This however is strength not to be diluted. Those of us who do survive to become one of the few hundred thousand players bring to the game our strength and passion as well as our tears and frustrations. (see all the ninjas and pirates get excited when i said "tears")

It’s not that we need to change EVE to attract more women. We need to present EVE to strong minded Women with the drive to form their own story. Women who can see into the depth of space and learn to love its challenges and shape their own story. There are plenty of these strong minded Women out there in the gaming world. If only they could be convinced to log in and then make it through the learning curve. There are some that have and they truly are worthy players of EVE and have forged a great story for themself and us to enjoy.

One more note. If I Google:

-MMO there is no EVE in the top hits, but that stinking World of Warcraft is there.
-Spaceship game no EVE but we see secondlife(!?)
-Best MMO there is no EVE either (it does appear 4th if you drill into the first link. YAY!)
-MMO space EVE is #1 link for good reason.

Cheers

EVE SOB

*EDIT* Added other folks posts
Other particpants:
1. The Ladies of New Eden
2. Is EVE a man’s world?
3. Sorry, No Pink Spaceships Here Please
4. EVE Blog Banter: Chicks ‘N Ships
5. Eve Blog Banter: The Girls Who Fly Spaceships
6. It’s not about fluffy bloody Kittens people!
7. Space Boobies Are Bad, m’kay?
8. Special Blog Banter: I Like Girls
9. Special Edition or making Eve More Casual
10. I wish my wife played EVE
11. Is there something special about women?
12. CK’s Blog Banter
13. The Female of the Species
14. EVE Online Can Appeal to Women By Adding Casual Content
15. Blog Banter: The Ladies
16. Women Who Want EVE
17. Tech 2 stilettos
18. New Eden doesn’t need to change for Eve – Adam needs to get over himself
19. EVE Online and… women (sorta)
20. Think Outside the Spaceship
21. EVE’s monthly banter – Women, women, women
22. Girls Just Wanna Have… Guns!
23. Draco Horizons (Blog) <– Needs to add intro (with links) and list of participants
24. Don’t change Eve for me!
25. Where Are Teh Laydeez of EVE?
26. Where Are All The Wenches?
27. EVEquality: The Rise of the Female Gamer
28. Women? In MY SPACESHIP? Is she from Mars as well?
29. Blog Banter: Captain Kirk Hates Eve
30. The Female of the Species
31. The Ladies of New Eden
32. EVE and the X by X Genetic Succession Unit
33. Sociability V
34. Girl on Girls in Space
35. What women want (in Eve)
36. Time Is On Our Side
37. Roc Appeal <– Needs to add intro (with links) and list of participants
38. Women in EVE
39. Getting In Touch With Our Feminine Side
40. It’s a woman’s world (they just don’t know it yet!) <– Needs to add link to the Banter in the intro
41. Women in EVE – Can it be done? <– Needs to add intro (with links) and list of participants
42. You’d Rather Be Playing The Sims, Right?
43. Blog Banter #17 – Women in Eve

Fixing Stuff…

Every once in a while we all need to take a look in the mirror and survey what we see. This is currently where I am with my EVE accounts and the various pilots within. Those few of you who follow my stumbling and grumping would know that my main focus is an Industrial pilot called SonOfBraben and a “combat” pilot called ZombiNutz. Well we have a third pilot sharing an account with ZombiNutz called Sister Janice who is a dedicated hauler and salvager with some manufacturing potential.

As I am brand new to EVE by any standards it does not surprise me that my two original pilots are all over the board for Skills. An example of this is that I have an industrial pilot who can fly an Assault Frigate and a combat pilot who can fly an Orca. The cross training is so bad that SonOfBraben could kick the snot out of ZombiNutz in a 1 v 1 frigate duel.

To fix this each account has been separated and clear skill goals set in place. As this goes on I am taking some good notes for some future guides I plan to write around how a new player can survive in a given profession in EVE and how to avoid some common mistakes that new players face when diving in.

For my indy pilot it’s clear that I need to stop training blasters and such for now and focus hard back on industry and trade. For my combat pilot this means picking a race frigate and fitting it based on the strengths of that craft with T1 mods. Then training core, gunnery, and navigation skills to get the most out of that fit. Thus far the improvements I have made for my humble little rifter fit carry over into my Drake and its T2 passive shields and heavy rockets. Simple things like signature analysis boost lock times and get the pain on target sooner. Navigation skills allow me to move faster and hence be harder to hit. Frigate skills boost ship bonus in many ways and get me closer to the next evolution of the hull.

I can hear all you old grizzled war veterans sigh and say “Duh!” but for a new player trying to figure it out there is no manual to read. If you fall victim to a truly lost first player run corp. As I did where the advice and examples equate to what I now know to be shitfits and flying coffins. Then it’s not hard to see how I got to where I am.

So expect to see some guides in the future with the first being PvP for beginners. Research involves taking ZombiNutz and filling out his killboard one way or another with the short goal to kill stuff at least as often as I get killed.

Cheers

EVE SOB

P.S. Yes Logan, I do know that I actually need to undock and pick a fight to get PvP experience. I did see some red things just the other day, but they would not leave the safety of docking range of the station. *grumble* I’ve been trying when time allows!

What’s in your hanger?

While this might not be too exciting for some as part of the blogging world one should always answer the call from our fellow bloggers. As EVEOGANDA asked “What’s in your hanger?” here is mine for the entire world to see.

SonOfBraben: The barn on the care bear ranch.

Got Redbull MkIV: The token hulk w/ perma tank and T2 miners. You are not a cool kid around the rocks in highsec without one of these. The name is based on the need to supplement mining with caffeine/ energy drinks, and/or alcohol.

CAN BITCH: Iteron I with burners, nanos, stabs and anything else I can do to make this align and enter warp faster. As the name suggests it’s my Giant Secure Can deployment craft. It would make a decent can flipper too I guess...

Moon Dome: Brutix for missions w/ cookie cutter duel reps and blasters. The name was to honor the giant forehead of the brutix.

Lunch Meat II: Incursus fitted for PvP with a cookie cutter T2 blaster passive tank. The name was based on doling out something generic yet tasty to my combatants.

Nosy Parker: Imicus fitted for scanning work. Named for its nature of poking its nose where it does not belong.

Angry Parker: Imicus fitted for combat probe work. Spin on nosy parker in that it will find stuff to shoot for others.

Junkyard Joe: Catalyst fitted and rigged for salvage. Name was based on a generic scrounger’s name.

ZombiNutz: In harm’s way parking lot.

Skippy’s Angry: Rifter /w cookie cutter fit in T1. There are actually 20 of these in various locations pre-fitted and ready to go. This one was named after an Australian kids show “Skippy” and what might have happened to those kids of Skippy lost his shit.

Duck: Drake w/ T2 passive shield for missioning. A drake is a duck, and a duck is a drake.

Lunch Meat I: Incursus w/ T1 blasters and buffer tank. Named for the same reason as Lunch Meat II above. Before the rifter this was my chosen craft to die to others in.

I come in peace!: Gallente shuttle. Named as the only defense it has when warping about the place.

GOOSE: Badger MkII because you have to have one. Goose because I have a duck.

So if you’re still awake, that’s what’s in my hanger right now. Future plans in the ranch as undefined but will most likely be a PvE Dominix. In the parking lot it should be a wolf/jaguar.

Cheers

EVE SOB

movin'

This week has been a whole lot of moving for Zombinutz. Selling all the junk in ones hanger and putting the rest into Secure containers aka the EVE equivalent of a sack. Then hauling and Hauling and HAULING it all 20 hops to my new home. With both accounts going I managed to get all my important assets to my new home with out any loss.

This does present a future challenge as now both my accounts are separated by a 20 hop gap. Making supply and trade between the two a bit of a pain. As a result I might have to train SonOfBraben with some more hauling skills to make less trips.

The biggest challenge right now is delivering hulls to ZombiNutz. He literally is living in a Rifter right now and plans to be doing so for quite some time. I expect to go through these at a good clip over the next few months. So getting them from the factory at HCSH over to the TGV rally points is my biggest thorn. Nothing worse than having 50 fully fitted rifters ready to burn 20 hops away from where you need 'em. Ah EVE, when ever I get comfy you toss me another problem to solve. I guess that's why my wife refers to you as an Obsession.

On the subject of rifters I can now see what the fuss is about with these little rusty pod racers. Super fun to fly and definitely up to the task at hand. Taking one for a spin hunting for rats or adding DPS to a mission run. It just eats things alive even when flying a tackle PvP T1 fit. Unfortunately I am yet to find a fight despite me actively looking for one. There is a restriction on what I can disclose about my actions with TGV, but it's not mining. So with luck my killboard will have some more entries one way or another shortly.

I've been logging a lot more hours than normal now that I have joined TGV. While not a huge corp. by any standards there is always something going on. It can be said that some thing you enjoy is more fun when you share it with friends. The social side of TGV is awesome and the Ops are more interesting as a result. In turn with one account actively involved the mundane tasks some times associated with manufacturing can be done semi afk at the same time on the other. This is a huge win as production is up and my moral is not in the gutter.

I'd say I am definitely not stuck at the cross roads right now. The plans are chugging along on both sides and they definitely compliment each other.

Cheers

EVE SOB

P.S. Don't worry Logan you will not have to hunt me down in highsec to get your kills. You might have to wait a little bit for the current ops to be over before I can be released on leave to roam Lowsec.

A new home for ZombiNutz.

In the ultimate search for a new life for ZombiNutz I was looking for a few things. Those few that are regulars here might know I am wavering on the edge of PvP. All that is holding me back is a jump into lowsec and myself really. So combat and more so PvP was one considerations. I was also looking for a group of people that I enjoyed to hang out with and chat about the game and the world and stuff. Last of all I was looking for a new home with some drive. Clear focus that is being executed upon. Leaders need to lead, not chase down personal agendas.

A corp. would have to have all these things before I'd consider an application. There also had to be a sense that my skills and actions would contribute to the direction of the corp. as a whole. Meaning that what I would add and the focus I have for my own path must bring value. With out this I might as well flounder about on my own.

It is funny really how I came to find the corp. I ultimately joined. The corp and it's current focus might make some readers scratch there head as well next to my recent posts. However I am no longer lost at the cross roads with ZombiNutz but rather enthusiastic to log in at the moment.

So as Astral leaves Top Gear Ventures to dive headlong into 0.0 space. ZombiNutz joins this interesting little corp. with big plans. I have a fondness for my new corp. mates all ready from the courtship. I have faith in our CEO's vision and ability to execute even if he has a busy time in front of him. I believe I can bring some value to the corp. day one and my own path compliments the stages of growth.

OH and I made sure I had a green light to poke my nose into lowsec and get it bloody before joining. There are some rules of conduct and a certain expected behavior attached. However these don't weaver too far from my own ideals anyway. So we are good.

Stay tuned for the many growing adventures of ZombiNutz and TGV in the future.

Cheers

EVE SOB

Monday Specials - an order of e-sissy to go please.

With the Easter celebrations and the first real sunny spring days of this year hitting there was not much time for EVE over the weekend. I continue to court new corps. with ZombiNutz and well the options are staggering as always in EVE.

I’ve had a lot of great suggestions from folks about jumping into PVP. Mansai suggested the Agony Unleashed for PvP training which seems like nothing but awesome. Logan suggested diving in and applying to stimulus if I can handle the abuse, also a great idea. I’ve had a number of corps. from highsec miners looking for more combat folks to nullsec small time pirates approach ZombiNutz.

So where am I at here? The truth is I don’t know. I am being an e-sissy here sitting on a fence with my digital thumb up my ass. I have several great opportunities and all I can do is pick them apart. I am hopeless.

Back at the carebear ranch SonOfBraben just baked up a fresh batch of rifters. Sending 20 to Zombi as a “get your bloody act together chump!” gift and putting the rest on the market to cover the cost of the BPO and materials with a little profit on the side. He is also selling t1 ammo faster than he can make it and blitzing LvL 3 Caldari navy missions in a nifty new Brutix. Business is good and not too dull aka very little mining.

Now to the subject of rifters:

So I’ve been out on battlenet noobing about for a good solo/gang tackle rifter fit. Now that I can make ‘em at a cost that I find reasonable the next this to do is start working on the mods and ammo to fit them. Zombi can fly ‘em now and should have the T2 auto cannons in 6 ish days.

So if anyone has a good rifter fit they love to fly please send the details over. I am currently bumming around the belts in a T1 125mm auto cannon buffer tank fit. Pretending the rats are real people and trying to close distance without taking fire and getting a “point” on them so to speak.

In other news Astral just jumped back to his old corp. right about when I was actually about to fleet up and go roam with him. Guess he did not like being shown the door when he asked to borrow my wife. Good luck out there mate!

Cheers.

EVE SOB

COMICAL RAGE!

Astral @ Astral’s eve trial by fire posted recently about a corp. mate who rage quit over losing a drake to a nasty LvL 4 Mission. I was around in the corp. public chat for the whole chain of events that ultimately lead to a rage quit!

We all foam at the mouth now and then about one thing or another. We are human and as a result we have anger as an emotion. Before we get too far into this for all you “I don’t get angry!” folks. If you don’t feel anger you need some serious help before you wake up in the middle of a shopping plaza wondering how you came to be covered in blood or end up like this dude in Big Trouble in Little China.

This anger is real even when we are playing a game for fun. The disappointment of seeing your avatar buy the farm and the sense of loss is real. You worked hard for that gear and now it’s gone. All the comforting and advice falls on steaming ears. You need to process your anger, then the sadness, and perhaps some embarrassment before you can rationally get back to the tasks at hand.

The down side to all this real and just rage is that someone else who is calm and watching it all will most likely be chuckling. Watching someone blow a gasket provides for some truly hilarious times. Why you might wonder. It reminds us of the last time we were consumed in fits of rage. Hammering at the desk without fists, yelling at the world, and looking for a nice plump house cat to punt. This makes us feel embarrassed and a natural reaction to embarrassment is to laugh it off.

To further this in EVE there are a large number of players who practice griefing. They find fun in harassing other players into fits of comical rage or extracting tears as they prefer to call it. So on any given day while playing EVE if you are not docked in a station you might fall victim to any number of methods to set that final spark in the tinderbox of rage within you. I recently asked Cyberin @ Hands off, My Loots! How he would counter his own game as a ninja. The resulting post is a great read even if I might not advise you to pay this man for protection, but check out GO AWAY NINJA! It’s a great example of how comical rage can be to others and how to defuse a griefer.

So back to the meat of it all we all NEED to pull a nutter now and then. I sure have and am bound to do so many more times before I shuffle off. All my life I’ve had a short fuse and the best thing I can say is learn from it. Half the time you are angry at yourself for not following advice or trying something risky that backfired. Simply put if something makes you angry find ways to stop it from happening.

So here are some great ideals I live by that help me reduce my comical rage in EVE:

#1 Don’t fly anything you cannot afford to lose!

HUGE RULE! Especially when you are new and ISK is not flowing. Trust me if you take out a 30M ISK Battle Cruiser to run level 4 missions and only have 10M in your wallet. You are setting the stage for some prime rage.

#2 Take advice as it’s given, even if you don’t like it!

Most people will give you advice based on them seeing you about to make a mistake they have in the past. If you ask for advice and get it then choose to not follow it. Great you’re a free thinking person who likes to blaze their own trail. Expect to fall on your face down that flaming path to glory and lots of anger as you figure it out.

#3 Know your skill and ship limits.

Just because you have opened up level 4 missions does not mean you can run them. The incoming DPS is a lot more in level 4’s than a level 3. The battle cruiser with the T1 mods that sailed through the same mission in level 3 mod will melt under your pod in the level 4 variant. Just like you don’t learn to PVP in a Navy issue Megathron that you can just fly and half fit. Guaranteed RAGE!

#4 Have fun and do things that make you happy!

The bottom line is this. If you try something and are getting horribly burned to the point of rage quitting. There is a good chance you are doing something you don’t enjoy and a change in activity is for you. You are in luck because there are so many things you can do in EVE that switching gears is only a matter of doing it. Don’t get me wrong though. Sometimes you have to take some lumps in the name of education. Just because it’s hard is no reason to quit.

Cheers and Fly Grumpy not Angry.

EVE SOB