I've built my new computer and downloaded the missing patches needed to run Eve again. It's great to get back into this massive universe!
I don't have any specific plans at the moment other than joining Faction Wars. I've been reading about this feature for a couple of days and apparently it's Eve's way of introducing new players into the PvP scene.
With that in mind I've quit my bitterly dead corporation and have about 7 hours to wait before I can be accepted into the Minmatar militia. My intentions are to get into fleet battles instead of trying to force my hand against much stronger competition.
I've planned out my skills and I'm working towards rounding out my offensive capabilities. Joining FW will give me combat experience with a fleet buffer where I'm not the focus of my attacker's attention. Once I finish up my skill training and I'm satisfied with what I've learned about fleet battles I'll be seeking out a PvP focused corp so if any of you reading this knows a group that'll be happy to have me by all means post it up in the comments section.
That's all for now, I'll have more to come probably within a day.
Wednesday 2 January 2013
Tuesday 18 December 2012
Returning
I'm planning on returning to Eve Online following the purchase of my new PC. I've got everything ordered and it should be here with one or two weeks.
I've been wanting to come back for a while but unfortunately my laptop wouldn't provide me with the best gaming experience. This won't be a problem for me anymore as everything I bought it quite current.
Anyway. I should be back to Eve within the month and I'd like to start up this blog again as I haven't lost interest. If anyone would like to add me in-game and update me on what's changed since about June of this year I'd really appreciate it.
Thanks for reading!
I've been wanting to come back for a while but unfortunately my laptop wouldn't provide me with the best gaming experience. This won't be a problem for me anymore as everything I bought it quite current.
Anyway. I should be back to Eve within the month and I'd like to start up this blog again as I haven't lost interest. If anyone would like to add me in-game and update me on what's changed since about June of this year I'd really appreciate it.
Thanks for reading!
Wednesday 13 June 2012
Second Kill!
I was roaming a bit through lowsec, trying to get a grip on a certain pipeline I've been watching. I wanted to see what type of traffic goes through there during my playtime. I casually went from system to system, using my newly acquired map technique to guage what type of threat I might encounter along the way. It was pretty dead as it was getting kind of late (around 12:00 at night my time). With no prospective targets to engage I made my way back towards Hek.
Once again, nothing on my way back. I traversed through maybe 6-7 lowsec systems, all pretty much devoid of life. My hopes draining I started feeling a little frustrated that I couldn't find anything. As I entered my last system before Hek, Otou, I hit my 360 degree Dscan button (which I am happy to report is instinct now when I'm entering a system) and low and behold I spot an unfamiliar Thrasher.
My first ever kill being a Thrasher I decided to try my luck with this pilot. I was surprised how efficient I was tracking this guy down. It took me 20-30 seconds to narrow down which asteroid belt the Thrasher was hiding in. Like my first target this pilot was ratting where he shouldn't have. I quickly hit my afterburner and started the 40km trek towards my target. I had a feeling he might try to get away but surprisingly he didn't move. I burned in on him and set up my warp scrambler, followed by my Damage Control module. Establishing a tight orbit I let go my Scout cannons and watched his shield widdle down. This pilot was quicker to engage me than the last Thrasher pilot I encountered.
As he hit half armour I was still at about half shield. I knew I was winning the battle. As my shield slowly dropped I deduced that I had to set up my Armour Repairer. Things like this didn't come so easy to me before, I feel like I'm starting to react to situations a lot faster than when I first started pirating.
A couple of seconds later his ship popped and I was left sitting in the belt victorious! I quickly warped away as the rat he was attacking turned his attention to me. I told the pilot in local that he could pick his stuff up if he so wished. I was just happy to get the kill. This time I remembered my timers and patiently waited in one of my many Otou safespots till it was time to head back to Hek.
Link to Killmail
Another new player. I'm going to have to start engaging more experienced pilots but at the moment I'm fully comfortable hunting down people around my own skill level.
I'm feeling a lot more confident in my piloting skills. I'm beginning to understand that I have to pick my battles with a small frigate like the Rifter. I used to engage anything and everything which would usually leave me both at a huge disadvantage as well as fully disappointed when I eventually went 'pop'. Now, after studying up about the Rifter's strengths and weaknesses I feel a lot more prepared to assess what I need to do and when.
A small tip for people just starting out. Don't be intimidated by lowsec. Grab a cheap ship, maybe a shuttle or something to that degree and just fly out to lowsec and see what's happening. Eventually you'll get very comfortable just being around that type of environment.
I know when I started out I was a bit scared to make a move past Otou, but now that I know the traffic and what to expect I don't sweat moving through a large string of lowsec systems. Be sure to use the map technique I posted below (kudos to the original uploader), it's really helped me out a lot.
Here is the fit I used for this second kill:
3x 150mm Light 'Scout' Autocannon I
1x Stasis Webifier I
1x 1mn Afterburner I
1x Warp Scrambler I
1x Damage Control II
1x Armour Repairer II
1x 200mm Rolled Tungsten Plate I
1x Small Projectile Collision Accelerator I
1x Small Semiconductor Memory Cell I (this was by accident)
Another new player. I'm going to have to start engaging more experienced pilots but at the moment I'm fully comfortable hunting down people around my own skill level.
I'm feeling a lot more confident in my piloting skills. I'm beginning to understand that I have to pick my battles with a small frigate like the Rifter. I used to engage anything and everything which would usually leave me both at a huge disadvantage as well as fully disappointed when I eventually went 'pop'. Now, after studying up about the Rifter's strengths and weaknesses I feel a lot more prepared to assess what I need to do and when.
A small tip for people just starting out. Don't be intimidated by lowsec. Grab a cheap ship, maybe a shuttle or something to that degree and just fly out to lowsec and see what's happening. Eventually you'll get very comfortable just being around that type of environment.
I know when I started out I was a bit scared to make a move past Otou, but now that I know the traffic and what to expect I don't sweat moving through a large string of lowsec systems. Be sure to use the map technique I posted below (kudos to the original uploader), it's really helped me out a lot.
Here is the fit I used for this second kill:
3x 150mm Light 'Scout' Autocannon I
1x Stasis Webifier I
1x 1mn Afterburner I
1x Warp Scrambler I
1x Damage Control II
1x Armour Repairer II
1x 200mm Rolled Tungsten Plate I
1x Small Projectile Collision Accelerator I
1x Small Semiconductor Memory Cell I (this was by accident)
Trading alt
Yesterday I decided I needed a good way to make some ISK to fund my pirating ways. I opted on creating a trading alternative character on a totally seperate account. This will allow me to train skills on both of these characters at the same time.
As soon as I created Amal Varus (Amarr) I set him on his way in his pod to Jita with a 320m starting fund. I've been reading on how to station trade as well as haul for a living. I must say hauling sounds really cool, the prospect of being a space merchant traversing the stars in a giant industrial ship is very enticing.
I started training my skills towards flying a Bestower. I've read that they are a very good option for Amarr industrialists because of their cargo capacity and low skill requirements.
With my skill training on the right track I put in some buy orders and have started my trading adventure. Right off the bat I can say that increasing/decreasing my order by .01 ISK is getting a bit tiresome, I'll probably start layering my orders to cover both the high and low averages of my item so I don't have to constantly sit in-station resubmitting my orders.
Oxxe Radak (my pirate character) is training to increase his capacitor efficiency. I feel like I need a bit more of a foundation before I start spending big bucks on modules. For now I'll let my skills develop and roam in cheaper fit setups.
I'm feeling a lot more confident in my abilities to handle Eve's game mechanics. When I first came back I was struggling to even find the market button quickly. I'm starting to remember certain little things and it's all going to add up in the future.
At the moment I'm studying a bit of everything for both of my characters. I'm going to be researching a bit more about what the Rifter is capable of as well as more advanced trading techniques for my trading alt.
UPDATE: I'll be moving from Jita to the less competative Amarr for my station trading. I decided I don't want to be spending my entire Eve playing time on updating my orders. I'll test how the market is over there and make my decision if I stay or seek new opportunities later.
As soon as I created Amal Varus (Amarr) I set him on his way in his pod to Jita with a 320m starting fund. I've been reading on how to station trade as well as haul for a living. I must say hauling sounds really cool, the prospect of being a space merchant traversing the stars in a giant industrial ship is very enticing.
I started training my skills towards flying a Bestower. I've read that they are a very good option for Amarr industrialists because of their cargo capacity and low skill requirements.
With my skill training on the right track I put in some buy orders and have started my trading adventure. Right off the bat I can say that increasing/decreasing my order by .01 ISK is getting a bit tiresome, I'll probably start layering my orders to cover both the high and low averages of my item so I don't have to constantly sit in-station resubmitting my orders.
Oxxe Radak (my pirate character) is training to increase his capacitor efficiency. I feel like I need a bit more of a foundation before I start spending big bucks on modules. For now I'll let my skills develop and roam in cheaper fit setups.
I'm feeling a lot more confident in my abilities to handle Eve's game mechanics. When I first came back I was struggling to even find the market button quickly. I'm starting to remember certain little things and it's all going to add up in the future.
At the moment I'm studying a bit of everything for both of my characters. I'm going to be researching a bit more about what the Rifter is capable of as well as more advanced trading techniques for my trading alt.
UPDATE: I'll be moving from Jita to the less competative Amarr for my station trading. I decided I don't want to be spending my entire Eve playing time on updating my orders. I'll test how the market is over there and make my decision if I stay or seek new opportunities later.
Tuesday 12 June 2012
Finding kills using the map
Being a pirate isn't all fun and games, there's a lot of thinking and planning that goes into it. Here is an extremely helpful video that details how to use Eve's map and it's filters to find yourself some fights quickly:
I've started using this method and have already branched out and documented a couple of good systems for my lowsec roams.
Side note: My vision for this blog is to go into great detail about Eve's pirate system. There are never any stupid questions and I'd really like to emphasize the small things that some people take as common knowledge. I've spent a lot of time searching the web for answers to small questions and with this blog I'd like to accumulate it all in one place to save people time and frustration.
If someone has any questions, no matter how small it would be good if you'd ask. The good thing about these blogs is they last a very long time. If I potentially stop playing Eve or I stop updating this blog it'll still be there on the web for other people to comb through for some answers to whatever question they may have.
Monday 11 June 2012
First Kill!
To make a long story short I've decided to come back to Eve Online after about a 5-6 month break. The cravings were just too much and I really wanted to continue learning to become a pirate.
I started where I left off, docked in Hek surrounded by my Rifters, scanning ship and salvaging ship. Eve can be very overwhelming to players just coming back from a break. The learning curve is pretty intense and after completely leaving the game for a couple of months I didn't know how easy it would be to reintegrate myself.
I realized after tinkering with the game mechanics for a while everything started coming back to me. With the basic controls in line I wanted to get into piracy as quick as I could. I fitted one of my Rifters with lowly tech 1 modules and headed out to Otou for some hunting.
I got into Otou and remembered I had already set up some safe spots. I clicked on the first one and warped to 0. From there I relearned how to use the Directional Scanner. It was a lot easier to use than I remember, it's mostly common sense.
After a bit of trial and error I found a Thrasher sitting in an asteroid field. I warped to the field a couple of kilometers out to find the Thrasher was engaged with some rats. Now what I should have done already was study my local chat and figure out what type of people I was going to be dealing with. I was a bit too lazy to do this and I really wanted to just get into a fight, win or lose.
I activated my afterburner and headed in his direction. I spammed my warp disruptor not knowing it's working range (I need to study up on optimal ranges again!) and finally got him pinned down. I quickly fell into a tight orbit with all of my modules running. I hit my autocannons and waited for the damage report. Surprisingly I was doing quite a bit of damage to the Thrasher. Within maybe 3 seconds he turned his attention from the rats to me and we were engaged.
The battle lasted a little more than a minute. I realized later that I should probably micro-manage my modules as my cap ran out towards the end of the battle. I also had a Nosferatu equipped that I didn't use at all. The Thrasher ended up popping with minimal damage done to myself!
Link to killmail
I looted what I could and without thinking headed right back towards Hek. What I didn't know was that I was now considered a criminal. As soon as I hit the gate the gate guns took me out and I was left sitting in my pod. I waited out my timer and again stupidly went out to see if the loot was still sitting there. I grabbed a Rifter and as soon as I hit the gate I was gunned down again. I'll remember to always wait out my timers now.
Looking at the pilot he was a fairly new. His estimated SP is about 1.6m (a little more than myself.). I believe this fight was the perfect storm. He didn't seem very experienced in combat and the fight wasn't as intense as others that I've had. This was a great experience to get back into Eve, it gave me a lot of confidence to just go out there and start shooting at things. With a tech 1 fit I really didn't think I'd get far but it goes to show that fits aren't everything. Skill and experience are really huge factors in this game.
My fit was as follows:
1x Nosferatu
3x T1 150mm autocannons
1x 1mn Afterburner
1x Stasis Webifier
1x Warp Disruptor
1x 200mm Rolled Tungsten plate
1x Damage Control
1x Armour Repair
I started where I left off, docked in Hek surrounded by my Rifters, scanning ship and salvaging ship. Eve can be very overwhelming to players just coming back from a break. The learning curve is pretty intense and after completely leaving the game for a couple of months I didn't know how easy it would be to reintegrate myself.
I realized after tinkering with the game mechanics for a while everything started coming back to me. With the basic controls in line I wanted to get into piracy as quick as I could. I fitted one of my Rifters with lowly tech 1 modules and headed out to Otou for some hunting.
I got into Otou and remembered I had already set up some safe spots. I clicked on the first one and warped to 0. From there I relearned how to use the Directional Scanner. It was a lot easier to use than I remember, it's mostly common sense.
After a bit of trial and error I found a Thrasher sitting in an asteroid field. I warped to the field a couple of kilometers out to find the Thrasher was engaged with some rats. Now what I should have done already was study my local chat and figure out what type of people I was going to be dealing with. I was a bit too lazy to do this and I really wanted to just get into a fight, win or lose.
I activated my afterburner and headed in his direction. I spammed my warp disruptor not knowing it's working range (I need to study up on optimal ranges again!) and finally got him pinned down. I quickly fell into a tight orbit with all of my modules running. I hit my autocannons and waited for the damage report. Surprisingly I was doing quite a bit of damage to the Thrasher. Within maybe 3 seconds he turned his attention from the rats to me and we were engaged.
The battle lasted a little more than a minute. I realized later that I should probably micro-manage my modules as my cap ran out towards the end of the battle. I also had a Nosferatu equipped that I didn't use at all. The Thrasher ended up popping with minimal damage done to myself!
Link to killmail
I looted what I could and without thinking headed right back towards Hek. What I didn't know was that I was now considered a criminal. As soon as I hit the gate the gate guns took me out and I was left sitting in my pod. I waited out my timer and again stupidly went out to see if the loot was still sitting there. I grabbed a Rifter and as soon as I hit the gate I was gunned down again. I'll remember to always wait out my timers now.
Looking at the pilot he was a fairly new. His estimated SP is about 1.6m (a little more than myself.). I believe this fight was the perfect storm. He didn't seem very experienced in combat and the fight wasn't as intense as others that I've had. This was a great experience to get back into Eve, it gave me a lot of confidence to just go out there and start shooting at things. With a tech 1 fit I really didn't think I'd get far but it goes to show that fits aren't everything. Skill and experience are really huge factors in this game.
My fit was as follows:
1x Nosferatu
3x T1 150mm autocannons
1x 1mn Afterburner
1x Stasis Webifier
1x Warp Disruptor
1x 200mm Rolled Tungsten plate
1x Damage Control
1x Armour Repair
Friday 6 January 2012
Fourth Rifter Down
Fit
3x 150mm Autocannon 1
1x Small Nosferatu
1x Stasis Webifier 1
1x Warp Scrambler 1
1x Afterburner 1
1x Damage Control 1
1x 200m Tungsten Plate 1
1x Small Armour Repairer 1
Today I ventured back into my pirate haven of Otou. Opening up my D-Scanner I noticed the same Reaper I saw yesterday, as well as a number of other ships that I spotted earlier. I'm not sure if it's a glitch as there were more ships in system than people shown in local.
I warped to my regular safespot and checked out the locals. Only one real outlaw pirate in system, everyone else was minding their own business.
As I spent some time in Otou I created a few more safe spots, I tried making a safe in range of all major areas like stations and asteroid fields. This will be very helpful when I need to spend some time scanning down a particularly crafty target.
I was in system for around 20 minutes without any realistic targets to go after, then I noticed an Ishkur on my scanner. Low and behold it was the same pilot that had popped me oh-so easily yesterday.
Jumping at the chance to prove myself again I scanned him down to an asteroid field and warped to around 30km out. There he was in the asteroid field, probably trying to scan me down as well. I quickly turned on my damage control and armour repair modules, then I locked my target and went to town.
Once again he ate through my defenses like they were paper. I definitely lasted much longer than I did during our first encounter but it was still a very short engagement.
I got him down to about 1/4 shield and I ended up popping.
Post Battle Thoughts
I feel a lot more confident in my abilities to target, orbit and activate important modules now. Although I totally forgot to scramble him I know I won't forget in the future. I'm even starting to use shortcuts on my keyboard to make my job easier (if anyone knows how to quickly change orbit distances it would greatly be appreciated).
What was once mind boggling in the D-Scanner I can now use with little to no problem. I'm starting to progress the little skills that make a pirate, even my anxiousness during battle has subsided to an extent. I feel more confident than I did when I first began PvP.
Extra Notes
The Ishkur pilot messaged me 5 minutes after battle and we talked a bit. He said the fight was unfair as he had major SP advantages over me. He told me he had roughly 58m SP compared to my 1m SP. He was also an experienced outlaw.
He told me a bit about Otou, he said that it was hard to find a fight there and that the battles were usually unfair (groups against one pilot, etc).
He was a genuinely nice person to talk to, he said if I wanted to, he would declare war on my corp and we could arrange 1v1 Frigate duels in highsec as practice. I'm going to have to think about this but what the hell, it could be very good experience for me.
I also bought a PLEX the other day, I figured I work for my money so it's not totally undeserved. I sold it for about 460m, half I gave to my alt that will be a pure trading account. I hope this investment lasts a long time, I should be able to increase my net worth exponentially if I can make some good trades.
I'll be fitting my Rifter with a few tech 2 items. Currently I can only use named modules so my next fit will be including those.
3x 150mm Autocannon 1
1x Small Nosferatu
1x Stasis Webifier 1
1x Warp Scrambler 1
1x Afterburner 1
1x Damage Control 1
1x 200m Tungsten Plate 1
1x Small Armour Repairer 1
Today I ventured back into my pirate haven of Otou. Opening up my D-Scanner I noticed the same Reaper I saw yesterday, as well as a number of other ships that I spotted earlier. I'm not sure if it's a glitch as there were more ships in system than people shown in local.
I warped to my regular safespot and checked out the locals. Only one real outlaw pirate in system, everyone else was minding their own business.
As I spent some time in Otou I created a few more safe spots, I tried making a safe in range of all major areas like stations and asteroid fields. This will be very helpful when I need to spend some time scanning down a particularly crafty target.
I was in system for around 20 minutes without any realistic targets to go after, then I noticed an Ishkur on my scanner. Low and behold it was the same pilot that had popped me oh-so easily yesterday.
Jumping at the chance to prove myself again I scanned him down to an asteroid field and warped to around 30km out. There he was in the asteroid field, probably trying to scan me down as well. I quickly turned on my damage control and armour repair modules, then I locked my target and went to town.
Once again he ate through my defenses like they were paper. I definitely lasted much longer than I did during our first encounter but it was still a very short engagement.
I got him down to about 1/4 shield and I ended up popping.
Post Battle Thoughts
I feel a lot more confident in my abilities to target, orbit and activate important modules now. Although I totally forgot to scramble him I know I won't forget in the future. I'm even starting to use shortcuts on my keyboard to make my job easier (if anyone knows how to quickly change orbit distances it would greatly be appreciated).
What was once mind boggling in the D-Scanner I can now use with little to no problem. I'm starting to progress the little skills that make a pirate, even my anxiousness during battle has subsided to an extent. I feel more confident than I did when I first began PvP.
Extra Notes
The Ishkur pilot messaged me 5 minutes after battle and we talked a bit. He said the fight was unfair as he had major SP advantages over me. He told me he had roughly 58m SP compared to my 1m SP. He was also an experienced outlaw.
He told me a bit about Otou, he said that it was hard to find a fight there and that the battles were usually unfair (groups against one pilot, etc).
He was a genuinely nice person to talk to, he said if I wanted to, he would declare war on my corp and we could arrange 1v1 Frigate duels in highsec as practice. I'm going to have to think about this but what the hell, it could be very good experience for me.
I also bought a PLEX the other day, I figured I work for my money so it's not totally undeserved. I sold it for about 460m, half I gave to my alt that will be a pure trading account. I hope this investment lasts a long time, I should be able to increase my net worth exponentially if I can make some good trades.
I'll be fitting my Rifter with a few tech 2 items. Currently I can only use named modules so my next fit will be including those.
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