Since continuing the post from yesterday is redundant and boring for you all, I'll just say that I resolved my problem with decisions. I also reworked my skill training plan for the next year or so. It turns out I can lump most of it into different groups, which I color coded like a nerd, and remap entirely to Perception/Will or Perc/Int to cut down the training time. It's going to be a bit of time before I can train what I want, but it will be worth it to clean up my skills. Ishtar here I come.
And since I did tell him I would, my brother is shooting straight for the top it seems. He is going for a Loki, since it will be just a bit longer than training a BS and much more suitable for his new lifestyle. So I ask you, dear readers, if you have a good Loki fit that you are willing to share. The only one I have and know of is the unprobable booster fit, since everyone seems to think it's a useless T3. Evemail me or leave a comment and thanks in advance :)
Frig V is finally done, so I'm that much closer to being in a cloaky. It's great the amount of possibilites that have opened as well, in the form of interceptors, assault ships, etc. Fun times. Anyways, I won't bore you any longer with this post so fly safe.
My training for Caldari Frig V is finally coming to an end tomorrow, after 11 days of torture. Of course, it's far from over since I still have 13 days left in Cov Ops training, a bit more with scanning thrown in to the mix. *sigh* Just trying to remind myself it's worth it. Although my next skill will be finishing on my birthday in 8 days.
I got an interesting text and then call from my brother this morning. The first thing I read is "Screw BS, I'm goin' for a Loki". Well, it seems he beat me to Cov Ops and now to Tech3, while BS is the only upper hand I have so far. Haha, not that it's a race or anything....or is it? The corporation I am working toward has also been talking alot about HACs. I think this is a hint that I should be going somewhere else with my training. But now I have yet more choices to debate. I like the Ishtar and aHACs are sexy. I will be needing the drone skills anyways for the Domi. But then there is the Cerberus, which I have never seen used. It's on the way to a Falcon...but I know little to nothing about it. My missile skills are better than the hybrids I would have to train up to T2 for the Ishtar. Oh me, oh my. I've wanted a HAC for a long time so this isn't too far out of the way. But after I finish some skills, I really think I should remap to Perc/Will...yet another big decision. The future shall be quite interesting.
In other news, I have revisited a site I heard about a while ago and decided to try it out. It's called Somer.blink. Essentially, it is a lottery site that uses your isk to "blink", or buy a ticket for, whatever bid is up. This happened when a bunch of my corpmates were talking in a channel, which we made a dedicated channel for this later, and talking about winning. One even got a Sleipnir for 69 isk and it was fitted with a dead space module worth more than the ship. So I decided to try my hand at it. I went small, with bids on a Buzzard first. Lost. Then I tried at a Dramiel. Lost. I didn't click fast enough on the next Dram and if I had I would have won it, since it was the last ticket and it tells you who won with which ticket. It can get addicting, needless to say, as it is gambling and you are depositing your own ISK. I went through about 40 mil just for kicks, but since I lost every time I have no incentive to stay. I actually got bored after a while, although they do promo blinks that can be quite tasty. It's legit, you do get the prizes. But of course, they are making ISK hand over fist this way. It is a smart way to get easy money, really. Oh well, I am saving my money.
Currently, I am putting a Pvp oriented Scorpion together. Caldari battleships are the only BSs I'll be flying for a while so I'll stick with my favorite. I swear, I am way too ADD when it comes to ships and training. Hopefully, it will iron out in the long run :P
A recent Dev Blog is talking about how one of the teams over at CCP is working on reducing and eventually eliminating downtime. For myself, I am unsure if this is something the player base has been wanting and been vocal about, but I have a few worries when it comes to no downtime. I really don't mind an hour every day that is taken to maintain our New Eden universe. It comes at a time when most people are busy with work or school and provides a bit of mechanical TLC. I was quite surprised to read that the actual length of shut down and maintenance is around a half hour. They want to reduce it to 12 minutes and then kill it altogether.
Now, for those hardcore Eve addicts this probably sounds like the perfect thing. 24/7 access to New Eden is something, I'm sure, many will love. But my hesitation comes in knowing technology and its flaws. I am far from completely informed on tech specs and what hardware can handle. I do know it can be good to give a system a break. Running 1.5 Terabytes is a huge and complicated procedure, one that can have errors now and then. Now I know they are working on coding in better ways to handle the system and reduce downtime, but will this mean periodic updates like Blizzard does with WoW? I remember patch days as horrible things where nothing works right and you can't access your server until almost nightfall. New Eden is no exception for needing updates and tweaks. So how will killing downtime affect the whole big picture? Is it worth it?
This is really just my ponderings. I am not opposed to the change, and I'm not someone pushing for it either. I'm simply curious as to the motivation for the change. Lately, it seems I hear alot about CCP trying to fix their "past sins" with code structure and are currently reorganizing the company. Such a busy time and they still have a player base that rides them hard for accountability. While I do sympathize with that level of stress, I think it can lead to a better relationship with us, the client. Random tangent, sorry. Dev Blogs are certainly becoming more numerous and good to read, so keep an eye out for more.
A recent hot topic has been of New Eden is the potential nerf of Drakes. In my opinion, games become too much about “we must balance everything perfectly!” and less about the variety. So Drake fleets have become FOTM ship lately, owing to their ability to hit out to 60km and mount an impressive tank. After a page or two talking about this issue on the Eve-O forums, my head began to hurt and I had to go have a lie down. After I was able to return to the computer I did some thinking and debated with fellow corp members.
I originally had a post written out with yet another rant adding to the mix of people. Zomg are you nerfing the Drake for?!?one! Which I do have a few points I will bring up. But I got to thinking and this post is more about my thoughts on ships in general and their uses in the universe. First my rant/points on Drakes. For as long as I can remember, and as long as I have piloted a Drake, any time DPS was mentioned in relation to the Drake there were laughs. Drake? Do damage? lolwut?! Now all of a sudden, the outspoken forum trolls call for balance because “zomg a drake can do massive damage!” Perhaps, with the notorious lag of nullsec, this is frustrating and the alpha from a fleet of them can be destructive. But quite frankly, that can be said of any large fleet in null. Easier to nerf than fix lag, eh CCP? Outside, where fleets are generally mixed and tactics vary, that applies less and less. Look at aHACs. A fleet of them can take out, I myself have watched it happen, 15 carriers and 35 battleships. It’s called smart flying and smart tactics. Drakes are a good counter for an aHAC gang. Nerf it and you lose that tool, making the HAC that much stronger. You might see the return of battleships a bit, but again...aHACs. If a ship is becoming prevalent, it means it works for an intended purpose. You certainly can’t take on a cap fleet with Drakes. Supercaps are a whole issue themselves, and could use a nerf. . One of the better comments I found on the forum post:
"The drake+scimitar gangs aren't invincible same as the ab armour hacs aren't invincible. Drakes are fine, they are arguably the best BC but they are very limited in there usefulness to a lot of the common fleet types out there. Stop whining.”
I digress.
I have found in Eve that while there are certainly the big differences between T1, T2 and now T3 ships and each class of ship has tiers, there really isn't a mindset of any ship being "best". There simply cannot be a best. There are too many different situations and tactics to be considered. T1 ships even have a place at times for veteran pilots. While your skills and piloting get better, your ship scales with you essentially. In other MMOs, they tend to fall into the trap of "new expansion brings better gear!1!" and you have to then grind for it since your current gear is obsolete and scorned. *cough*WoW*cough*
You can specialize in a ship if you want and be the best pilot for it in the game. The tier system does seem to give an arbitration, but not enough to make much of a difference. A Hyperion class battleship is tier 3, but you never see those out in space. I think that is a good thing, truthfully. It becomes more about the utility of the ship and how you can fit it out, rather than "bigger is better!" type of mentality.
I may try to ease off of Eve for a bit. I've been going at it hardcore lately at the expense of my scholarly studies, heh. I'll still be on and off....just not as much. Blogger is giving me trouble with the formatting of posts as well. So I'm sorry if colors and font size get wacky. I'm trying to attack the HTML and get it to iron out. Doesn't like copy/paste apparently >.>
So finally all our war trouble has ended. For now. We certainly smashed them hard enough and it seems to "endless war against Ivy" is rather pitifully puttering out. The alliance even had a hostile take over thanks to this lady. That's a hilarious read and a great end to a boring war. Not surprising that the alliance is now basically gone considering the Uni's War Record. Yea, doomed to fail. Due to my fail browser, I lost the local chat I wanted to share with you, after the war was retracted. Funny funny stuff. This means we can finally go back to hauling, mining, missioning, and doing just about whatever we want. I know I have some PI to pickup and stuff to organize.
Last night, I also headed up a C3 fleet. I ended up forming the fleet, since we usually all just look sheepishly at each other until someone does it. It went really well, which made me happy. Of course, FCing a WH group isn't the same as Pvp, but I enjoy the experience and it does have its challenges. We ran almost 20 sites and made a ridiculous amount of money, all while teaching a new guy who did our salvaging. We had a bumpy start, with getting the new guy sorted and moving people around. At one point, I had to move locations and sprinted home while we were at a safe waiting for a swap out of pilots. I even ran out of ammo, which is a first for me. We had the new guy do a run ;P In the end we were destroying Solar Cells no problem and the last 3 in a row gave us a battleship in the first wave. Man were we happy with that run, even after something around 5 hours. Pretty smooth, big haul, great guys to talk to and great times; couldn't have asked for more. Funny part was, I had to do payouts twice because we had more money come in that we thought. First time I got to see my wallet over a billion for a short time. I got a few screencaps while we waited in the wormhole, btw.
My favorite shot. Rollin' in the Drake tanks
Oooo pretty lights
I also want to give a good plug to Varius Arcturus' Overview Guide. It recently went through some updates and it is the BEST way for anyone to learn to set up their overview. It is Uni required reading for a good reason. If not for that guide, I would still be wondering what half my stuff did. So thanks Varius, it's a great asset for the community.
Lately, I have had so many things to post about I've had to control myself from posting them all at once. I want them all to have their due duration and don't want to overload you, my dear reader. I've started adding pretty pictures in hopes that it breaks the monotony of all this gibberish writing for you. Hopefully this good streak for post subjects keeps up. I think I have a few in my head for the next week or so.
Just as a disclaimer, this primer is not meant to be extremely comprehensive and exhausting. This is meant to pass what little knowledge and experience I have to any who are interested in starting to station trade. It is a basis from which a working application can be built and progress. This is my first time taking a shot at any type of guide for anything really. If you find a way to do it better, let me know since I am still a noob about so many things in Eve. For those newer to the game or have not thought about station trading, I hope this will be helpful. Station trading, or trading in general, can be very useful as an ISK generator during war or simply as a low SP required profession. It can be extremely lucrative and many veteran traders challenge themselves to turn 10k ISK into 1 billion ISK in a month or two. I have yet to achieve anything like that.
We will go over skills to start off. Whether you want to have an alt dedicated to trading or just a side job for your main, there are a few skillbooks you will want to pick up:
-Trade (the very basic you will need)
-Accounting
-Broker Relations
-Retail
Daytrading might also be useful, but that is only if you plan on working multiple market areas.That will not be in the scope of this primer.
A solid trading character will have Trade up to at least IV, Accounting IV or V, Broker Relations IV or V, and Retail to III or IV. Retail allows more orders to be active at one time, so depending on the scale of your trading that skill may or may not be relevant to you.
As a station trader, you will work only in buy/sell orders. What this means is that you will not just buy what is immediately available and you will not sell to the highest buy order. This I will explain soon. For the skill side of things, Accounting and Broker Relations can be very important to reduce the cost of placing sell orders. This will allow you to keep as much capital as possible to put towards actually acquiring goods to trade. Accounting reduces transaction taxes, while Broker Relations helps reduce broker fees.
When you set a sell order, you are giving your money to a middle-man called "escrow". You pay broker fees to set the order, like a classified ad, for your goods to be sold which are a percentage of the total order. When those goods actually are bought, you then pay a transaction fee. Reducing both will go a long way to keeping money in your pocket.
So now we have a good skillset to work with, but what comes next? Where to start? Well, since you won't be moving as a station trader you want to find a hub that will work well with your time commitments. Jita is a cutthroat environment, with orders changing by the seconds. Things move fast and have a good quantity. For a slower pace, Hek will do you well. Things move in good quantities, but usually take longer to move. Rens, in my opinion, would be second to Jita. There is good movement and good quantity, but prices might be more expensive. Each hub is different, so take the time to check each out. I have never been to Amarr so I apologize, I do not know how well that hub works.
We have the skills, we have the place. Now all we need is some starting capital and goods to move around! The capital will be a matter that is up to you. Whether you want to start with 10k ISk or 10 mil ISK, this is your investment. As to what we want to go after, this is when the issue of trading becomes a bit more nebulous.
You will want to start small. Get the hang of moving different volumes of goods around. This is easily managed with ammunition and smaller modules that are common in Pvp environments like energy neutralizers or damage control units. With ammo, you will most likely be working in bulk orders, ie buying and then selling 10,000 Fusion S. But how will you know which goods to invest your time and money into? That is where product history comes into play.
Bring up the market from your neocom menu. At the top you will see different tabs. Click on the settings tab and look at your options. You can set price ranges, jump ranges, quantity, etc etc. These act as filters when you are working on seeing what orders will be profitable. You certainly don't want to find that you have goods in a different station. Make sure you are focusing on orders in your station only. Now, on the left you see the browse, search and quickbar tabs. The quickbar can come in handy if you visit an item often and don't want to search for it every time. For now, the browser is your friend. When you open it up in the ammo section, Fusion S for consistency, in its subsection, click on the item and it will bring up lists of available sell and buy orders in the market data tab. The other tab, price history, is an invaluable tool. Click on it and you'll see alot of pretty lines and dots. This is what you want to study.
For accurate results, set the time filter at the bottom to 3 months. This will show how much of the ammo is being moved daily, how quickly it moves, etc.But how am I supposed to make sense of this crazy stuff, Mem?? Ah patience, I shall explain. Or rather I will show you.
This is what is known as the Bullworth Burger. This is a rough version of what you will want to look for. The end.
Only joking, I will explain. This particular information is courtesy of the Uniwikiarticle where I got the picture and the name. It gives a far better explanation, so I will only summarize its contents. What you want when you trade is items that:
"1. Trade in large volume
2. Have good profit margins
3. Are used and replaced often
4. Steady in their pricing"
What are you looking at anyways?
Well, the green bars at the bottom is the volume that is traded. The more bars, the better for quick turnover. The big brown part is your profit margins. This shows the lowest buy and highest sell orders, so the wider that region is, the better. The little yellow squares that seem erratic are your median prices. You will want those squares as much in the middle of the brown region as possible, since these will show the supply/demand is balanced. The green and red lines are the different time frames of movement. The green is long term, so you want a relatively straight line so you know that it is stable. The red line will work inversely, with a jagged and spiky look to it, indicating price fluctuations in the short term, allowing for buying low and selling high. The link I gave you to the Uniwiki will perhaps explain better and gives other visual examples, but that is essentially what you are looking at in the history. It is alot, I know. It can be a bit daunting to start out with but it gets easier, I promise.
You've done research, you know what to look for and what you want to move. Now how to move it? First, set your sell orders to filter the lowest first and in the buy orders, filter so the highest orders are at the top. In buy and sell orders, you will never just do it the simple way. Find the goods you want to buy and place a buy order. Wait! Before you do that, hit the advanced button in the lower right corner of that buyorder. New windows will come up with quantity, duration and range. In the quantity field, keep the minimum at 1 and the maximum at the volume you wish to move. ie 10,000 units of Fusion S with a min of 1. For duration, set it to 3 months since anything shorter isn't really worthwhile and you'll have your goods far before 3 months is up. For range, keep it in station since you do not want to move. Now, before you hit that button, go all the way up to bid price. You should still be able to see the market data of that good. Whatever the highest buy order is, set your bid price above it. Often times, the easiest way to keep the margin large is to change the bid by .01 ISK. When you have waited and gained all the goods from your buy order, right click and press sell item. Pull up the advanced options again and look at the lowest sell order. Similarly to the buy order, you want to sell your goods slightly cheaper, perhaps by .01 ISK. This type of buying and selling will give you the best margins and make you the most money. Depending on your location, it could take 5 minutes or a couple of days. Remember, patience.
This information is what you will use to research items with AT LEAST a 10% profit. Any less and you are wasting your time and money. Ammo, implants, Pvp modules, and other things will be good to check out and begin your trading career. The more money you gain, the larger you will be able to work. The research portion can be difficult, depending on your time constraints. But when you find something that works for you, stick with it and keep trucking. Station trading can be a very good way to earn money with less effort than risking ships in missions or wormholes. Who knows, you may find you like it and have a knack for it.
I hope this gives you a few tips on how to start and a general understanding of what to look for when you do trade. I'm sure there are better guides out there that I don't know about, so if you find one feel free to send me the link so I know where to send my dear readers.
Welcome to the twenty-second installment of the EVE Blog Banter, the monthly EVE Online blogging extravaganza created by CrazyKinux. The EVE Blog Banter involves an enthusiastic group of gaming bloggers, a common topic within the realm of EVE Online, and a week or so to post articles pertaining to the said topic. The resulting articles can either be short or quite extensive, either funny or dead serious, but are always a great fun to read! Any questions about the EVE Blog Banter should be directed to crazykinux@gmail.com. Check for other EVE Blog Banter articles at the bottom of this post!
This month topic is brought to us by L'Dene Bean of Nitpickin's who asks: Why, and how did you pick your corporation? Is your loyalty solid or just until a better placed organization "recruits" you. The shorter version: Who holds your Unshakable Fealty and why?
This is something I believe is important in New Eden. A corporation, as a conglomeration of pilots with similar goals, can be a safe haven in the harsh universe that is Eve. I was in one other corp before I joined the University, a small and extremely new one. I may not have experience jumping around in different corps, but that is for good reason. Trust.
It is something that is hard to earn in Eve, and earn it you must. A corporation depends on trust in its pilots to want the better of the group, than to be plotting its demise and robbery. My place in the Uni and the four months I have dedicated to it have certainly given a solid community and it has earned my loyalty. Of course, as my recent post has shown as well as events I don’t talk about, there is drama even in the Uni. With so many pilots in one place, that is inevitable. But that hardly means I don’t love this corporation. The dedication, generosity, and just plain ole’ good camaraderie I have found is something I value. There are pilots I am proud to fly with any day.
I have flown in many fleets in my time at the University and I always find it interesting the kind of dimwitted smack talk that greets us in a variety of solar systems. I have been called a sheep, I have heard our FC’s called amateur and incompetent, how apparently the directors are using noobs as an ISK farm for their private titan fleet and POS towers. This is amusing, as stupid as all of it is, since it is entirely conceived out of some ill begotten grudge or misunderstanding. The Uni has generously fostered new players for 6 years. That’s nearly as long as the game has been around and I believe CCP owes the corp a bit for the number of subs that continue to roll in thanks to the continued education. That in and of itself can garner loyalty. When someone outgrows them, they are welcome to leave. And they are welcome back at any future time. It’s a haven in the harsh place that is New Eden.
This is not to say, however, that I will remain with the Uni forever. I have mentioned before that I have plans to move on, but I am still a loyal alum. Eve U is a great establishment and I find it sad that so many only see it as a noob farm or some pithy derivative. It allows those new to the game to have a source of knowledge and patient understanding, instead of lost trying to get a handle on the game while someone sits outside the noob station and ganks them, leading to ragequits.
The corporation has its place in my history, but it is not somewhere I can stay forever. The SOP limits me in my endeavors and I’d like to make new friends. I may return and I will always be happy to help the Uni when they need.
Going back to the first question of why I picked the Uni is pretty obvious. I was lost in the ocean of New Eden, not sure what to do or how to do it. I was actually directed to the it by my brother. He had started playing a month earlier than I and he is the reason I got into Eve. He told me about what the Uni is and the things they do for new players. It was an opportunity that was not to be wasted in my eyes. Besides, it’s nice to be on Ubercado’s side, not in his meat locker. There are great directors, great students, and great times in the Uni. It holds my loyalty, just as will the next home I choose. I do not choose a corporation without first knowing who they are and how they operate. One must be careful and choose wisely, else they jump from corp to corp and become dismayed. Trust and loyalty is hard earned in Eve, just as in life. If you earn it from me, there are few reasons you will ever lose it.
So for those of you that are new and would like a good corp to begin in, take a look at the University. Take a look at any corp you like, and make it a good look. There are a plethora out there and there are a lot of great ones to enjoy and that will fit your needs. For those of you more seasoned player, what got you where you are? Are you happy?
I’m not sure I have much more to say without being redundant. Who holds your fealty?
-Mem
PS: I finally fixed the time on my posts so it stops registering two posts in the same day when I put them up. About time, I know. :P
So the wartargets gave me another reason to give a quick post. I have a big post coming up for tomorrow so stay tuned in for it. But for tonight, and another 2-post day, I have a couple killmails for you. I know, shocker, it has been quite a while since I have been in a fleet for Pvp and one that actually gets a kill. Even better is that I'm on one, so that's another ticket for me. But sadly, it doesn't look bright for my chances at a Falcon. So many posts prior to mine with multiple kills in one post. Grats, since they certainly have been putting out the effort. All the more power to 'em.
Anyways, sorry that I ramble. We decided to get a massive fleet together, and by we I mean a director, and go after the wartargets in their home system again. We took enough DD to insta pop anyone since they predictably play docking games. On arrival, the dimwitted smacktalk began. Apparently our genitals are nonexistent and our FC's are amateurs. Right. We dedicated an hour to the camp, with WTs undocking/docking and then one stupid WT tried to snipe quite a few times unsuccessfully. At one point in an undocking mayhem, one of our newer pilots locked a neutral and shot. Concord showed up quickly to dispatch him. No losses to WTs though.
So with the same to WTs playing around, a new one shows up. In a Domi. And attacks us. Needless to say, when I finally locked him he was already into armor and went down quick. We even got his pod. Now take a second and look at the KM. He's in an RR fit with ECCM, ok. 5 EANMs....wha-? Someone doesn't understand diminishing returns. T1 heavy drones...sad. And why wouldn't you use Drone Link Augmentors instead of guns? Whatever he was thinking, we burned him down and got him in trouble with his corp. Good times. Local got quiet hehe
Later in the evening, the war against these guys dropped. Thank goodness, now we can do things again since the other wardec is braindead.
Our massive undock blob
So there you are, something for bedtime reads and your amusement.
I've been thinking for most of the day what to write about and mainly came up with nothing or things that really can't justify an entire post. War is making Eve very slow. Stupid punks don't fight. Although they did bring in about 15 people to Drat and from what I hear they were in BSs and logis. Not something we can tangle with on short notice.
I do want to thank Kane Rizzel. I don't think I remembered to mention, but he graciously gave a gift after I commented on why he should stay in the game. It turned out to be a Daredevil, my first faction ship ever. Now, I hear alot of negatives about it and it's my new shiny...very expensive at that. So I'm not sure I'll ever actually use it. But, who knows maybe I feel like blowing up 160 mil in a frig....
Since war is so slow, I am relegated to finding things to do. The recent WH ops have showed me I need another battleship or two in my arsenal. The closest ones I have access to are the Rave and Rokh. I am kind of putting an armor Raven, odd I know, together for RR groups. I've seen it done and I know it works, but not sure if that will follow through. My preferred RRBS for wormholes will be the Typhoon, as I've mentioned before. Right now, my dilemma is coming in the form of where I want to train to next. The Dominix is the closer choice and is a great logistical boat, while still providing damage in the form of drones. I would have to train for sentries if I went that way, since any self respecting Domi pilot uses them. My other path would be to the Phoon. That'll take longer since I'd have to get Minni Frig IV, Cruiser IV, then BS IV so I can actually fly it well. I can fit it right away at least.
So I'll ask for your help, my dear reader. Should I bite the bullet and be patient, or go for the quick fix and worry about the Phoon later? I would also ask, since I have never Pvp'ed in a battleship, if any of them are good for a Pvp role. Perhaps I will keep the Raven as a shield tanker and make it Pvp instead. Oh choices, choices.
I mentioned a while ago that I might do a post on blog stats. Now, I don't care about numbers for any ego reasons. I just like to see where people are from and what they like to read. Lately, I think my writing has gotten bland so hopefully I can fix that. Fiction perhaps?
Anyways, I took some screencaps so you can share the fun. Most of them are "all time" stats but the first one is the last month since the all time just shows a slant and no fun bumps. And no, these stats do not track my own viewing, I made sure of that. If it's hard to see, just click and it will enlarge,
Peak was 140 *\o/* They dropped off dramatically this week though
Almost up to 2,000. Cool :D
This shows which topics people have read most. I am going to start using this more to write in the direction people seem to want most. Looks like you guys like tourneys :D I'd rather keep away from drama though
I was a bit surprised that most of you are from the US, with the UK in second. I think it's really cool to see all those other countries I never would have guess on there too. Ireland especially is a place I want to go before I die.
It seems Blogger tracks just about everything. I use Google Chrome myself and I guess I'm not alone. Of course, Mac users are the smaller pieces, but not as small as I would have thought. Take that Windows xD
I hope this is fun for you too. I love feedback, so if you want to see something written about let me know. After all, I humbly serve my readers.
*UPDATE* Alright, so you guys asked about some additional information and as I put in my comment, I did some digging. I searched through a few tracking services, but I think Feedburner will do the best job, since it specifically said it tracks GR hits and others. So, to my knowledge this is a redirect from my original feed to get accurate results. It is now live and hereafter will track how you guys read my posts. When I get some better results, I'll do another post or come back to this one. I hope that works :)
Broken debris littered the area. Flames suffocated as atmosphere vented silently from the hulls and bodies floated aimlessly in space. There were no survivors left to fight, nor to tell tales of the atrocities inflicted. The conquerors picked their spoils from the dead, like vultures tearing apart a carcass. This was a massacre. This was victory.
So our joint wormhole operation with Everset Dropbears went well. As the intro hinted to, we blew the Sleepers into dust. Instead of a C4, we ended up absolutely destroying a C5 with only about 9 sites. Now with the kind of fleet we had, that was nothing. But it was enough since most people in the fleet had never been to a wormhole. Thank goodness our partner corp were regulars. They are the reason we completed the wormhole without a single loss. And that's saying something when the fleet is full of nothing but battlecruisers.
It was quite interesting as one of the Scorpion pilots, one assigned to each wing. We had an extra come from somewhere, but as it turns out I was happy for the company. Initially, I was the only ECM in my wing. My wing consisting of only shield tankers and shield logi....not good for an armor Scorp. I had a few small heart attacks in the first site, before we got the kinks worked out. I locked up the battleships, leaving the frigates as fodder. Of course, we got a scare when someone wouldn't stop attacking the trigger while the battleships were still alive. I actually had to rep the stupid thing. But they became my close personal friends as soon as I started my jams. This wouldn't have worried me if I had been able to get solid jams on them. My mods cycled without luck for a while, making me worried as my shields disappeared in a blink, klaxons blaring over and over. It was like watching my shields play ping pong as the logis poured all their efforts into keeping me up. A few adrenaline filled minutes passed and we quickly made work of the ships. The fun thing about wormholes is that your chance for jams can be pretty random. I'll come back to that in a sec.
After we cleared the site, the wing commander called in back up. This came in the form of my fellow Scorp pilot, someone that had armor RR and cap transfer. \o/ So with the extra jams and RR, the next couple sites were ludicrous. We hardly needed reps anymore since the brunt of Sleeper DPS was mitigated by our jams. This is when I noticed the oddity of jamming. For a whole half of a wave, I couldn't get a single jam to properly cycle. The next wave, I would have near permajams on up to 3 battleships at a time and 4 cruisers at a time. Successful jams make me happy :P
As we, the shield wing, worked through 4 or 5 sites, the armor wing finished off the rest. We had intended to move next door to another upper level wormhole, but it was soon called off as people needed to drop and leave. So instead of bleeding people, we called it. As we sat around waiting for salvagers to finish up, my fellow blogger and spacefriend Shirralia decided to have some fun. She locked me up and spooled up her 425s and picked at my shields. It tickled. So with a smile I locked her down and set my jam a'cyclin. This produced some replies in capital letters, always amusing to an ECM pilot. Well apparently that started a party. Next I had a Harbinger, Drake, and another Cane lock me down and start in on me. Some days you just can't get a break :P I had them jammed in short order and my shield regenerated what little damage I took.
So it was a great operation all around. We won't make big bucks, but a respectable amount for so many pilots. It gave me a good perspective for what I need to train up and how I need to work in upper level wormholes. Of course, this also made me want to live in one all the more. Soon, Mem, soon.
*EDIT* Forgot I took screen caps for you all. So here they are :D
Fleet formation
My first time seeing a bubble. Ours of course, but still a first
Gotta say I love how wormholes look
This is when they were all being mean :P
Orgy on the exit as we were leaving
In other news, I turned in my entry to CK for the co host competition and got some great feedback. Sounds like I have some great competition too. Good luck to you all! I feel like I wanted to say something else, but it's late so I'll leave it at that.
I know, I know, what am I doing posting so much, but I just had to. I was looking at the stats of this blog. It's always really fun to see where in the world people read my rantings. I may make a post just for all the fun numbers and graphs. Anyways, after the WH fun and reviewing them I saw a referring site I hadn't seen before.
Viper is one of my loyal readers and a great guy. I like the writing already and can't wait for more. It's new blog so head on over and say hey. That's definitely a new blog that will be going into my Google Reader list ;D
Ok, I promise I won't post again tonight. Probably. Maybe. ;P
-Mem
Well today I got an unexpected trip. I was checking my mail and updating my skill que, seeing that WTs were still sitting in local. Since nothing is really going on lately with them camping us, I generally don't stay on long. I was ready to get off when a couple DDs were needed for a C3. I figured it beats station spinning and finding something else to do. Originally, I offered my Drake and got accepted. That quickly changed when they decided they want a full RRBS setup and so I brought out my Scorp. The hole had a Cataclysmic effect that boosted RR and penalized local reps. With a bit of fitting change, I was ready to go. A good warm up in using my Scorp before the C4 op.
The link to dotlan, a very useful tool when you search for a good wormhole, showed some activity and we mulled it over. There were quite a few sigs and anoms in the system and the scanner reported no POS. That was a good sign, since the graphs showed that anyone that was there was long gone. So we got our composition and fits sorted out, while our scout headed in to check it out himself. We even had a radar to look forward to, the reason for all the RR.
Well it turns out all is not good news. The original scanner had missed a POS. And not just any POS, a Red Alliance with capital ship arrays and a few other worrisome signs. But, the silver lining was that by now it was almost 1 a.m. for Russia and they didn't seem to be stirring. We decided that we might as well try a smash and grab, since a few other holes we had found were not as worthwhile.
So, with the need for more DPS we added another Domi to the mix and headed off. I have to say, I love RRBS teams for WH action. Running cap transfers and ECM is alot more attention demanding and fun. I like being able to frustrate Sleepers and mitigate their damage. For this run, my White Nose jammers were doing the best, only needing two to jam a BS. With cruise missiles reaching out to 100km with my measly skills, I was feelin' great. Of course, being the ewar user makes me the Sleeper's best friend. I think I'll have to get used to always being primary, but I don't mind as long as there's good RR.
This run was really good for me to get a feel for being in a battleship as well as using what I did in a wormhole. I feel so fat and slow in a BS, but substantial for once. Multitasking is a must, between cap and RR, drones and cycling ECM it can keep you busy. I thoroughly enjoy it though. The strategy for getting solid jams on Sleepers is something I want to work on more. I have two different ways and I think I did pretty well. But I want to be better for when I begin living in a wormhole. I was also talking to a member of the wormhole corp I intend to apply to soon and was told aHACs are FOTM (flavor of the month) for clearing out C3s. With lower sig, big tank and good gank I can see why. It also means you are harder to gank, should someone drop in to say hi. I hope it's just a FOTM thing, because I am already having to decide between a Phoon and a Domi. Domi is closer and for a HAC, a Cerberus is closest. I would prefer a Muninn or Ishtar, but that's if I go for a HAC after Cov Ops. I guess we shall see.
I logged in today to find one of my channels blinking. Switching over to it, I found the beginning of a debate. The channel was created by one of our own long ago to facilitate a wormhole group. This is the channel I got into my first wormhole from and all other since. The channel has been debated over before but it seems this time, a thread has arisen with the staff talking about us. Specifically, about shutting us down. I do not have all the specifics yet, because I don't have access to the thread. But this obviously affects me directly.
Now before I get into it, let me state things clearly. I understand Uni stances on SPS (semi permanent squads) and the rationale behind things like that. They don't want elitist groups forming and cliques to break off within the corporation. Functions must be open to all. I get that and I get why. That's not my issue.
We are not elitist. We are not shut off from the rest of the Uni and to try to shut down a private channel makes me twitchy. The discussion got heated both ways, but we are a mature group and the arguing was actually pretty constructive. We do not discourage new players. Heck, my first wormholing experience was from that channel, a C3 when I had never gone into a wormhole and my fit was sad. But I was encouraged and others have mentioned similar experiences. The channel is not set up to divide ourselves. The channel is set up so that a WH fleet can be assembled easily, quickly, and even include members not in our corporation. If you call for a fleet in the channel designated for fleets, which we have said perhaps we should, we will have to deny everyone that wants to come in a frig or cruiser and take time explaining why, still to be called elitist. The very nature of wormholes demands a certain skillset. Yes, C1 and C2s are much more lenient and easier to handle for newer players. But for many runs, you need to be able to fit a T2 tank and fly a battlecruiser and be ready to go.
In no way do we hide ourselves. The very existence has been talked about multiple times in other channels, and people interested have been directed to it. We are the worst kept secret, if we are to be called one. The channel exists, in an unofficial capacity despite efforts to the contrary, to facilitate the education of pilots interested in wormhole space. That, I think, is well worth preserving. Not only that but the channel has donated percentages to the Uni as a whole, over 1 billion if I remember correctly. Yes, what evil elitist pigs we are. It has cost the Uni nothing and gained much for those that want it. It is not of the Uni, so I fail to see how it falls under Uni jurisdiction. Again, I know how directors function. I know it's a benevolent dictatorship. I know I can leave, and I intend to when my current training finishes. That was already planned before this event, mind you.
To bring down the hammer on a group of mature and helpful pilots whose intentions coincide with the University policies is sad to me. If it is an issue of being official, then make us official. Give us a director, do whatever you need to cut red tape. If it is an issue of availability, like I said before we are open to everyone. Perhaps we can start calling for fleets in the channel designated for them. But it is ultimately up to the FC who goes and who doesn't. We could certainly put a Wiki article up for the channel and what is expected for operations. I don't see why not. The other exploration channel failed to be the same environment for one reason or another, so why is it such an issue that we have successfully done so?
But my issue is that this problem arose, not from directorship, but someone who complains that we are a SPS. Directors are aware of us and even have mod access to the channel. Concerns were apparently raised on us apparently being a "clique" and thus bad for the Uni, that we are diverting talents away from a different exploration channel and are not making our experience available to that channel, we SEEM to be closed to noobs, and that we don't appear useful to the Uni....
Quite frankly, I hate drama. And this is needless, pointless drama. I'm not rage quitting, I'm not saying how unfair anything is. I simply think this is a bit ridiculous and going a bit far in the name of internet spaceships. Forbidding me from using a channel that is open to all draws a line, if it does get drawn. I don't get the beef, but whatever. I am proud to be a Unista and I have made some great friends in that channel. We will be presenting a reasonable solution that hopefully is considered before deciding to just bring down the hammer. Let's make this work.
To quote a comment in the channel: "If you want to bake a cake, you don't turn up the heat in your whole house. WHClub is big enough to have a wide knowledge spread, and small enough to be friendly."
The wartargets came to visit Aldrat. Of course, noooow they finally bring the smack talk. With comments that questioned director character to saying how we run from fights made for a semi-amusing few minutes. When you smack with the eloquence of a 6 year old, you really just can't hold my attention. One comment was made, however, that got me thinking since it's not the first time I have heard it.
They called the students sheep.
Now, I don't know about you, but I never realized that self control and restraint in the face of stupidity and taunting made you a sheep. Is that what they call discipline and order these days? Simply because students are held to a standard and choose to do so hardly makes them sheep. Sheep are mindless animals that, as such, REact to a situation. When we CHOOSE a tactical advantage over some "fair fight" silliness or we CHOOSE to remain quite in local, that in itself disproves our state as "sheep". So please, don't misinterpret our professional and mature behavior as some mindless followers. We just don't want to feed the trolls. If only more corporations functioned the same way.
Got some lulz when a neut asked what was going on in local. They got this reply:
[02:32:39] Another neut > going on? I think a bunch of penis measuring, very little action
Of course, since we don't talk it's all on Everto Rex Regis trying to measure what they lack in the nethers. What amuses me most is how they call for the "noobs" to come out to play, when they themselves are barely older than Memoocan....wow....
They ended up arguing with that neut over senseless things, I just logged with better things to do like homework. So our war grinds on, yet to have any blood spilled. No complaints of blobs though....yet. I'm starting to mentally urge my training for cov ops to go faster so that I can move on from the Uni. I love it, but I do have goals in mind that the Uni can't fulfill.
On a lighter note, the wormhole op I signed up for is shaping up nicely. It looks like I have been slated to roll out my Scorpion for the first time. I'm pretty excited to use that bad boy and get some good ECM-in-a-WH experience. My brother is also hopin' to come along in his shield Cane, which will be fun since we have a horde of logi pilots joining the party. Can't wait :D
I've made it to my 50th post \o/ This is a first for me, as its hard to get me to do anything consistently. 50 posts in 2 months is crazy when I think about it. But it's pretty awesome. Today I have that milestone, some links, and some WH fun.
Ardwulf has recently written a pretty good post about why you should be playing Eve. Now I believe he is aiming at people that have not experienced the universe, but play other MMOs and games in general. You may even be able to lure someone in that doesn't usually play games with some of his reasons. Great post Ard.
At the moment, I have a transcript for my recording written out. All I have to do now is download a recording software, like Audacity, and actually start talking. Writing is my strong suit, so having things in order beforehand will work best. I do, however, still have some mulling over to do about it. Commitment of time, learning audio editing, etc etc. I want to be as reliable as possible.
And now for a little after action. It's not too exciting since we found a nice, quiet Class 3. I went out on a fleet last night, now that our war with Everto Rex Regis is live, to hunt them down. After an hour of jumping around lowsec looking for flashies, we made our way to their HQ. I'm sure they had eyes on us when we got closer, because when we showed up there were about 9 of them docked up. We gave a good Yarrrrr in local. We enjoy putting on our show of force, too many don't seem to understand that if you fight the Uni, you are in for a beatdown. Surprisingly, they really didn't smack at all. A nice change from the usual, although in almost every system we went around there we got other people smacking. So with no action we headed home. Well it was midnight and I was thinking of logging. But someone mentioned the C3 and I perked up. With now 2 faildecs at the same time, I have needed something.
We finally got it all sorted and headed out, a dozen jumps from home. They had wanted RRBS that could throw out damage as well so that it would be relatively quick. There were only a few sites and anomalies. Since all I have in the way of RRBS is my Scorpion, I had to take my Drake. This got jests all night which was pretty fun and funny. Yes, it's ugly. No, it can't really RR. Yes, I should get a proper RRBS :P I really should...maybe I'll add a Typhoon to my wish list. Well we blew through sites pretty well, the only hindrance was our semi afk salvager. After a couple of the sites, our Abaddon decided it'd be funny to shoot the Drake. So now I'm being hammered by lazorzz til he gets bored and we move on. With this op, it's really getting to me that my only BS is a Scorpion, which has limited uses. I would love to use it in Pvp, but it's fit and rigged for WHs. I've thought of a Raven, I'd have to armor tank it for WHs, but I think my path lies with either the Domi or the Phoon. We shall see after my Covert Ops training.
A couple hours later and we are done, with quite a haul for so few sites. I can't wait to see how much our shares are so I can start saving for...something. Either way, it was fun and I was glad to get out and shoot something.
Thanks to you guys for reading. Here's to another 50 posts and beyond, cheers! \o/
-Mem
Firstly, I'd like to somewhat apologize. I feel like my rate of posting here at PH might be a bit overload. I hope I'm wrong, but it's only been two months and I am coming up on 50 posts. Wow I talk too much. So, as my reader, you are always allowed to tell me to shut up and slow down.
Moving on, I was going over the blogs I follow on my iPod and came across a new post by CrazyKinux. It seems The Drone Bay is going to be resurrected, or at least a new podcast will rise from its ashes. I enjoyed listening to CK, Alsedrech, Crovan, and eventually Maeve. The cool thing is that there is a call going out for a new host. Personally, this is exciting. I am going to do a lot of mulling over and internal debating, but I think I very well might submit my own clip and see if I become part of the podcasting world. While I am certainly still a noob in regards to the Eve Universe as a whole, I think it could be good to expand into and experience. I still have plenty of opinions and my own experiences, this blog is proof. As a college student, I do have responsibilities and RL tasks that need my attention, but I think I am still more flexible than, say, someone with a family and full time job to worry about.
Want your shot at podcasting fame? Head over to CK's blog and read up. All you have to do is give a 2-5 min recording of yourself and they'll choose on Nov. 5. That would certainly be a sweet birthday present if I got lucky :P Good luck to everyone that enters and here's to a new podcast to follow! o7
Another war? We are already dealing with the faildec from Bl00d Bath and Beyond, and I just logged in to find another war notification from Everto Rex Regis. Ok...mercs and it looks like they get around, but still. Wonder what's behind this one *rolls eyes*
I still find it amusing that anyone thinks they can break the Ivy Alliance, as if we are strangers to war or that we don't have alts who can provide income. Seriously, it's just annoying. Especially when they hide after they find they got into the wrong fight. Oh well, it's a hazard of being in the Uni. I just wanna fight, instead of station spinning. Sometimes, I just can't wait to live in w-space.
Sorry. Long war periods make me twitchy. Guess we will find out soon if this new declaration is worth our time or not. In the meantime, I am looking forward to a joint WH op with our friends over at the Everset Dropbears this week. It will be my first time venturing into an upper class wormhole (Class 4-6) and really wish I could take my Scorpion. It needs to be blooded, but the call is only for BCs and smaller. My BS jumping in would equal 7 BCs, so we want to keep it small.
Out of boredom, I did a little scanning in systems surrounding Aldrat and had fun tracking down a few useless wormholes. I'm getting better and I love faster scans. My Buzzard needs to come faster :P
I really need to focus more on school. First day back from break and I get the wonderful news of two failed tests. Well one failed, the other almost. Can I help it if Eve is more stimulating and interesting than monotonous schoolwork? *sigh*
Ok, so I kind of did get side tracked after I said this post would be next, but oh well. It was for a good cause, 'splodey ships and all. But here it is finally. It is getting close to the holiday season (and my 21st b-day :D), a bit early, but nonetheless close enough to make this post.
Now that I have been really getting to know what I want in Eve, a list has sprung up to coincide with my goals and different directions I want to go. I call it a wish list, but really it's more of a list of things I want to eventually fly. Much of it is in my plan for the next year, some in the far future and all depending on what happens in the time in between. Although, I suppose it is a wish list since I'll be wishing they were in my hangar when I'm able to fly them :PP
Shut up and tell us already, we don't have all day! Ok, ok my dear reader, here we go. I'll split them into career types:
Pve/WH Oriented
Rattlesnake
Dominix
Raven
Noctis (when it comes out of course)
Tengu
So far that's my list and what a list it is. This will keep me busy for a looong time, especially with support skills and whatnot. Right now I am training hard for the Buzzard, which will also open up the other frigate sized ships I am working toward. After that, I am not sure if I will try to work for the Rattlesnake, and thus the Domi, or go for back to my mining roots. Either way, this kind of list making is fun for me, so that later I can go back and cross things off and feel accomplished.
That is right. The Courageous Caldari have triumphed over the Ghastly Gallente. It was a battle of the ages, a flashback to the Caldari-Gallente War. Two rivals, pitted in semi-mortal combat for the rights to..bragging.
This time around, each team of 10 was given a box that held 2 Battlecruisers, 1 ECM cruiser, 1 Combat Cruiser, 1 dessie, 1 EAS, and EW/Combat frigs. For us, that meant a Drake, Ferox, Blackbird, Coromant, Kitsune, Griffin, Merlin, Condor, Kestrel, and a Caracal. Our nemeses fielded a Brutix, Myrmidon, Thorax, Atron, Maulus, Keres, Celestis, Tristan, Incursus, and Catalyst.
Again, I went to the field in my drone killing Merlin, this time fit out with a web as well as dual painters and an Invuln Field II. Our strategy broke us into 2 groups: The BB, Ferox, and Coromant were to split off and work as DD/RR/ECM, leaving the more brittle of us 20 km behind them to work as support anchoring to the Drake.
We stayed close, inching closer to their group. What happened what something a big surprise to us. The Keres, of course, tried dampening a few of us, but it doesn’t work well in these set ups. The Thorax gunned straight for us, predictably being a blaster fit and dual 1600mm plated. His ECCM did little to help him as he singled himself out and let us hammer him into space dust. His fit had 106k Hp..when it came to kinetic. But we weren’t using only kinetic. He simply sat in front of our group, trying to work the BB down. The Ferox had begun a cap transfer with the BB, giving infinite reps while the BB also had RR running. The Atron made its way into our midst, but soon melted after I webbed it and sent rockets screaming out and spooling up my 200mm autocannons.
Their fleet seemed to spread out in a line. The Brutix had simply bum rushed our first group, becoming the primary and receiving the full force of Caldari might. There was little he could do as we blew his armor off in chunks. The Tristan and Catalyst coming in slowly behind him were not enough to save their comrade, since he was in structure when they came into range. The Catalyst was next on our hit list, melting quick. But the Tristan had got it in mind to try to take me out. With my Merlin rigged for resistance and bit of buffer, I simply turned on my Invuln Field, not even reaching half shield. I split my paints between the Cata as it went down and the pesky Tristan. Drones had also taken note of me, but our Condor was making short work of them when I got distracted. Their Celestis had come into our midst at some point, so we burned him down as fast as possible before his drones and missiles could do enough damage. Sadly, at some point our Griffin had started taking fire, and despite last minute reps, went down. The Keres had been largely ignored throughout the fight, one or two mods left to cycle and break his locks. So now we finally gave the crowd a nice golden explosion, leaving only the Myrmidon. He had been sitting 55 km off the whole fight, seemingly doing nothing. He didn’t even pop drones to my knowledge or at least only a few at a time. We made sure to be cautious and not rush the win, but as we launched missiles he loosed drones….and brought them back. Apparently, he had no notion of dying since the next thing we knew, he warped off. This is a forfeit as warping in the fight was prohibited.
Of course, the entire time before the fight we had been bet against and told we would lose by many people. I’m not sure why, I guess they just hoped we “squids” would somehow fail at it. It always feels that much better to be the underdog that wins. We even netted one corpmate a cool 500 mil. Awesome. Our great strategy is all thanks to Ruges and thanks to my team for such a great tourney. We were told we got to have our hulls are reward, but somehow a few minutes later we are told we get the racial inty of our choice. I’m feelin’ pretty good, even though I completely forgot to bet on us :P Sadly, our even KB is still borked so when it becomes available I will try to link all the relevant KMs.
Thanks again to Silentbrick for his great tourney, I had a blast.
