It's Wednesday - And that means...

Nothing in particular really but to the left is Wednesday from the adams family. I just like the it's xxx day of the week title these days. Life ticks on inside and outside of EVE. As I near my 37th birthday in the real world and 20M SP for both Zombie and SOB inside EVE. I am starting to feel old in many ways. Now don't get me wrong in thinking OLD is used here in a detrimental way. Age to me is am sign of wisdom and having a chance to developed some common sense. So getting OLD to me is not a bad thing, rather a good thing. Inside EVE older players are usually something to treat with a little respect.

The corp grows slowly with me just booting some 2 month inactive members and replacing them with some 4 year old 40M+ SP indy pilots. We are building some fun stuff too with ORCA BPOs now in the crop. and 4/7 sub BPOs in the alliance. Makes for some more profit from mining which is now done in a small fleet of hulks and an orca. So it takes less time to get the ore we need. Zombienutz is witling away at some leadership skills to make not only the Orca's mining bonus maxed, but also laying down the foundation of a solid fleet booster. Likewise SOB is now able to build capital bits and capital ships. he is also dangerously close to being able to dock a small highsec R&D POS to finally get free of the shackles of public labs. The Sisters are doing their thing and I am digging the new PI system.

The alliance goes well also with BTEK joining us reacently bringing me back into a circle of an alliance again with TheSarj, Samthefurious, and Astral Dominix once more. There are also plenty of solid indy type pilots in the other member corps. who I am starting to form good friendships with making those mining fleets ops more fun. It's easy to find a fleet to blitz level 4's and folks are always on doing something inside the alliance. It's hard to be lonely inside EVE these days. One of our member corps. is filled with really good people who have just had a horrid run of things. This week a new hire stole 4.5B ISK worth of POS and stuff from them in one night. I feel for them and the loss but it reminds me why I keep a tight lid on the HCSH cookie jar. Far too many folks inside EVE want to steal you stuff.

Onward we go making ISK and having fun.

Cheers

EVE SOB

Well shoot – I missed my own blog birthday

In reading that it was EVOGANDAs birthday just now. It dawned on me that I’ve been blogging for over a year here at EVE SOB. I cannot boast some of the post numbers of those out there in the EVE blogging community but I am happy with my 124 posts to date.

How it all began:

Some time ago not long after I started to play EVE and I’d say right about when I created my second account. I also discovered the EVE blogging community. I was instantly drawn into this diverse group of people who devote a portion of their life to committing records of their EVE lives to text (and art). It was clear to me that I would enjoy EVE more and feel more part of the community if I blogged as well. As a result EVE SOB was born January 15th 2010.

What I had in mind when starting the blog:

It was simple at first being a classic blog that served as a journal of my time in EVE. I wanted to write down all my discoveries as they happened in EVE. I wanted to document the good and bad times as well as tie in some of my plans for the future inside EVE online.

Where we are today:

For the most part the blog is still just that: A journal of my life as ZombiNutz and Sonofbraben as they experience stuff in EVE. It also has some cross chatter inside the community via “me me” and the odd stab at the blog banter. I’ve also written a few informal beginners guide type posts. It has a semi monthly recap section as well that folks have seemed to enjoy.

Where it will go from here:

Well it will continue to be a journal and follow my exploits. Today those are not that thrilling with my return to carebearing for the while. I did just fly a jump clone out of provi in a pod without incident. I cannot tell you how lame it was to see the gate into lowsec from R3 so poorly camped. Not one bubble. Yeah I guess deep down there is a PvP player and a 0.0 dweller in me still. Who knows what this next year will bring? I hope you all keep reading and discover it as I do.

Cheers

EVE SOB

New Looks all around!

The title kind of says it all so...

ZombieNutz Old and New:

SonofBraben Old and New:

And last but not least the Sisters Julliette, Jayde, and Janice:

In a few days I'll post what I think of the new PI system. Still trying to figure out if I love or hate it yet.

Cheers

EVE SOB

Any other Tuesday.

It's snowing outside and the kids are home from school. Another 5-10 inches of snow expected with 1/4 inch of ice on top. Excellent! It is on these days I am most glad to work from my home and not have to drive into the "office" an hour away. Like most Tuesdays to day begins with coffee and time with my wife and kids before I head down to my basement office. It's a chilly 54F as per usual and I flip on my trusty electric oil heater and soon the room is filled with warm air and will peek out around 75F. The cat is all ready camping the heater with his nose as far between the radiator sections as he can get without burning himself. The gently purring has become a familiar sound.

Next I press power buttons around the room bringing to life 4 LCD monitors, 3 computers, 2 keys boards, 2 mice, and a webcam. The work day begins with checking of the overnight emails to see what broke and how it was fixed. Then I pull up my task list and calendar to see what meetings are approaching and what I need to focus on today in the never ending swirl of corporate Information technology. It's right about now that EVE online is fired up and I start to go through similar activities. Check my mail, scan calendars, a quick o/ in a few chat channels, and then next comes the task list.

I typically start the day with a starting my 20 PI planets back up. Many clicks are involved in the process and I typically try not to talk to folks in game while it's done. At work in the real world I am checking daily reports have run, manually running and troubleshooting the data mining scripts for those who don't.

On this Tuesday however my day starts a little differently. See today is patch day and the release of Incursion 1.1.0 inside EVE. So rather than sitting down to click on extractors I am anxiously watching download and install bars. I am excited to see the new character creation systems and aware that it might impact my days work. So I get as many tasks done as I can while I watch the bars. I also know that PI changes in a big way with this patch and am excited to see how the new system can reduce the many thousand clicks a day I have endured. There are new pretty explosions and some new nav bar and contract system. Eve gate gets an over haul too.

I finish fixing a troublesome script as the last installer checks and replaces .dlls and other chunks of the game on my second client. I fire up the first client that is all downloaded and ready. I all ready know that I am not yet going to see the new goodies. As I accept the EULA I see the all too familiar "STATUS: NOT ACCEPTING CONNECTIONS" and thus begins the waiting for the CCP worker bee's to get the system checked out and ready for us to play. Some days this wait is short, other days it's the training length of Caldari frigate IV. So I go back to work and start into the structure and content of a technical document designed to teach internal IT staff how to navigate and administer Virtual Servers for off shore developers. All ready I am yearning for a break from this remedial but important task.

Today at the time of posting my two mains have portraits that look like this ZombiNutz on the left SonofBraben to the right:

Once the CCP bee's have buzzed there lot, we shall see what new faces and names we all have amongst the stars of New Eden. I am looking forward to rediscovering old friends with new faces.

Cheers

EVE SOB

Today is Friday. This means that...

It has been almost 2 weeks since I have been compelled to post. This makes me sad because I like to waffle on here as record of my life in EVE. I like to provide some thing for those brave few to visit here to read. However things are a steady stream of busy un-interesting things inside EVE of late and hence there are only so many ways you can write about this.

I am carebearing on the carebear ranch. Looking to hire more carebears to help with the carebear tasks. Hence my last post.

OK so what exactly am I doing on the ranch. I am building an Orca is what I am doing at the moment. Yes I all ready have an Orca that I bought all ready built. It's a lovely ship for organized carebear type events. However this Orca is for me to understand what it means to build an Orca and what profits can be made in the Orca building business. In short adding the Orca to the products that HCSH builds.

What this means is I bought a BPC for cheap and am buying all the sub component BPOs and forming a materials list and build time for Orcas. Then I am rating all this next to what they sell for on the open market. If the time invested makes for a worthy profit then woot we are building Orca.

This is actually the first time I am doing this at HCSH. Historically I've built ships to use them not sell them. This time with the Orca I am building them exclusively to sell at this point. I feel all grown up as a indy corp. all of a sudden.

I am also trying to pad my wallet at the same time. It's hard to hit a ISK goal when you need to spend small badgers full of it. Historically I've lived boke always investing all my capital back into the corps assets. This is still true but I've reduced the amount of investment and increased the ISK in the bank floor quite a bit. Means I am working hard at making ISK and not spending ISK until the floor has been first reached and then sufficient funds are raised to pay for the investments. It's about as fun as it sounds too. :(

Alliance life goes well. Lots of shared mining ops and good chatter about the channels. I host a weekly Alliance ICE op to fuel the shared POS farm. We have Alliance goals that we all contribute too. I like all the sister corporations and their members.

We actually have an alliance T1 frigate tourney coming up here at the end of the month. Should be fun to shoot each other and have some chuckles. I'll be entering ZombiNutz to the tourney in either a rifter, Tristan, or Merlin. Still monkeying with fits and such. Will post about the tourney after it happens.

Well that's about it for now. I have some ideas in the works for post series. I hope to be here more often with updates that are interesting. Until then fly safe. o/

Cheers

EVE SOB

Healthcare for Space Hermits is recruiting.

The title pretty much sums up what this post is about. I have my doors open for new pilots, young or old, to come join the crew of select folks who carry the HCSH banner.

What is Healthcare for Space Hermits?

We are a small corporation by design with a firm value placed on having fun and taking care of our own. We are primarily industry based and as such we mine stuff, refine stuff, and build stuff to sell to people for profit put VERY simply. We run missions, explore sites, poke out noses into worm holes, and even take vacations into LowSec for much needed PvP breaks to blow off steam.

HCSH is growing because our goals are growing. We are building bigger stuff these days, more high-tech stuff, and are part of an Alliance who can and will be building the BIGGEST stuff of all. This means we need pilots looking to become part of something bigger. The good news is that something bigger is also very aware of the need to take care of all its members.

We have an inactivity policy in place to promote an active corporation. We only require that you log into EVE and play the game to remain active. If you know you’re going to be away for some time a quick in game email is all it takes to be placed in “inactive” status and not removed from the corporation after 1 month of inactivity.

We have a 5% tax rate to pay the bills. We expect our members to treat each other and the alliance members with respect and courtesy. We are not pirates or grifers and tend to discourage such acts. We don’t like wars, but fight them should they be unavoidable.

What kind of CEO am I?

I really hate this question. I don’t care for titles and politics that much. I like to log in and have fun while getting stuff done. Anyhow here goes:

I tend to direct people towards opportunities inside EVE and the corporation rather than demand or order folks around. I don’t like to be told how it is and assume most mature gamers are the same. I encourage and reward people who move themselves and the corporation forward choosing to foster a pilots own drive not provide “work” for them. I take care of my own like they are family. I’ll negotiate discounts\free replacements of lost ships with in our Alliance. I’ll split the cost of the next tier of ship with pilots who reach the next level in their fields. I’ve been known to drop PvP ships into hangers of industrial pilots with a note like “Let’s go trash some of what we build for fun!”

I have 4 pilots across 2 accounts with in the corporation ranging from PI/R&D mules to PvP focused pilots. Most days I’ll be logged in doing some manner of things in Empire or lowsec these days. I am always happy to lend a hand to folks in the corporation or alliance. I’ve been known to make 50 jump round trips to help folks with a Mission or help them mine\haul ore from a grav site. I spin up adhoc operations for ISK and host weekly alliance operations towards it’s goals. I play starting at 14:00 server time most days and can be on and off around the clock depending on what is going on.

Above all else I like to have fun and share my EVE time with friends. If EVE becomes too much like work then it’s time to mix it up and find new fun things to do. I do have goals inside the game and like to get them done. I believe to be able to help others you first need to have a sound grip on your own space within the game.

HCSH and the PIES alliance:

HCSH is a member of the PIES alliance of industrial minded corporations that covers Lonetrek and Sinq Laison regions today. It’s always expanding and is currently seeking new corporations to join our ranks with short term goals of member corporations is all 4 racial regions and a small foot hold in 0.0 space.

As CEO of HCSH I am a stake holder in this alliance and responsible for fostering it’s growth and prosperity. This means HCSH remains active with in the Alliance often hosting and driving operations that compliment the goals of the Alliance as a whole.

The alliance itself is formed to promote friendship and mutual growth. Its member corporations are mature EVE players who have a wealth of knowledge combined with excellent senses of humor. We all play for fun but know what needs to be done to keep the Alliance moving forward.

Interested?!?!

If yes, shoot an in game email to Sonofbraben or ZombiNutz to arrange for a meeting. Likewise drop into HCSH – Tavern in game chat channel and give us an o/.

Cheers

EVE SOB