Crime & Punishment

Dude, you're awesome. I get all misty eyed from nostalgia, just like you said I would!

+1 to the OP ,because i too have an affair with Beverly :D and fun reading this

Once again I'm traveling among the stars looking for ships to explode. And between my almost-empathic relationship with Beverly, the massive collection of scan safes I've accrued, and the nearly two million Skill Points I have, I'm feeling--dare I say it--just a little bit badass.

Now sure, two million SP is a very small drop in a thimble-sized bucket when compared to the SP wielded by the veterans of EVE, but I'm a "measure your present against your past" sort of fellow, and two million SP is a heck of a lot better than the two or three hundred thousand I was already having fun with a few weeks ago.

In fact, Thermodynamics 4 alone has proven to be an exceptionally important element of my arsenal. I already have no idea how I was able to get by without that extra button to completely forget about clicking during combat.

Not that forgetting to overload my weapons stops me from doing it without noticing, but that's a topic for another day.

Today, I'm celebrating my first successful ransom.

Day 40 (ish)

Before my protracted absence, I'd been contemplating a change of scenery. Whereas I began my pirating career in Minmatar space, I've since migrated over to Gallente territory in the hopes of finding more suitable targets.

Alas, that plan has been less than successful, primarily because the "Gallente Militia Combat Guidebook" seems to consist of nothing more than a single sentence: "Don't bring a T1 Frigate when you can bring 5 T2 Frigates, 4 T3 Cruisers, 3 Ships-a-Scanning, 2 Jammers Jamming, and the entire pear tree, partridge and all."

For health reasons, I decided to make my way back to my original stomping grounds. It's a task which would take a focused individual twenty minutes. Me? It's been five hours and I'm not even halfway there yet, because every single time Beverly shows something I have even a prayer of killing, I feel compelled to cause it harm.

It's a sickness, really.

And it's that sickness which led me to drop everything I was doing and run down a Federation Navy Comet that Beverly claimed was ratting in the belts. With only a month-old character in Local with me, I warp in…only to find myself 80k from my victim.

Fantastic.

"But wait! Wrecks! Right near his ship! So, right-click, bookmark, 'Nothing to see here, I'm just a strange looking asteroid,' warp away…"

I warp out, pull a 180, and head back in--warping to zero on the bookmarked wreck to find myself…80k away.

"Oh. I bookmarked a wreck that was right beside me. Umm…'Hi again, nothing to see here, just rocks,' bookmark another wreck and--"

He warps off.

I bounce around the system for a minute or two, he leaves Local, and I head through the next gate figuring that would be the last I'd see of him.

Imagine my surprise when, as I'm dropping scan safes a system or two over, the pilot shows up again and Beverly starts screaming: "The Comet's returned!"

A minute later, I've got him scrammed, webbed, and am tearing through his ship like it's made of childhood dreams and kittens. He goes pop, and I manage to catch the pod. I still haven't worked out the whole "random channel" thing, so I just open a convo, give him a friendly greeting, and politely ask for only one million ISK since he's less than 30 days old.

It's a short, but pleasant enough interchange, and once I establish that 0.10 ISK is not the same thing as 1,000,000.00 ISK--via the International Language of Pod Shield Depletion--I thank him for his business and let him go. Between that, the million or so ISK I collected from a bounty he had, and the faction shield extender he dropped, it was easily the most profitable kill I've had so far.

So it was only fitting that I lost my Rifter--and the extender still in my cargo hold--to a Merlin I jumped only a few hours later.

I wish I could tell you the fight was spectacular, but even the Stabber I jumped a while back didn't kill me nearly as fast as that Merlin did. Within three seconds, my armor was nothing more than a fond memory and I was getting ready to warp my pod out.

On the bright side, though, I should finish the rest of my trip in record time now that I'm rocking a Reaper again!

Thank you.


I'm embarrassed to say I have no idea what that is. I have The Shame.

Hi I like your stories, can I buy you a house?


Shoot me a mail in-game if you want to roam/talk about piratey things/blew each other [up].

Good god An actual very good post in C&P

Dear sir! Well done and bravo to you. You did it all right.. The right attitude, good story and you're a good storyteller on top of that.
There is more than likely a shiny bright future for you in EVE

I'm glad you like my stories. As for buying me a house, while I appreciate the offer, dropping a "o/" in Local if you stumble across me in low sec is more than enough.

You are doing a great job here, keep it up.

I did "The Solo Files" early in when I joined RvB. Takes me back.

Consider switching to a Slasher. An armor Slasher with TD and neut is cap stable and while it does a bit less damage is faster and can be flown at the edge of scram range. That and the TD make it a great solo ship IMO for new pilots.

Keep at it!

I was right there man. I lamented the sudo-death of the Rifter (if you are unaware it kinda lost its spot as top solo frig with the ship changes last year). I tried to make it work like it had, but the changes were effectively a huge Rifter nerf.

Regardless I applaude your tenacity whatever you fly. Persistence is the key.

When you do move on the next ship will be stellar to be sure. Still lots of kills to be had in T1 ships.

I still spend the vast amount of my time in T1 frigs, especially for solo.

Kudos to you sir.

Come visit us in RvB land sometime (tons of fast PvP action just about any time of the day)

An Interlude

I'm on vacation this week, taking some time off to visit with family and friends, which means I'm once again banished from the stars. I'm hoping to get in at least an hour or two of explosion-inducing gameplay before the weekend, but the only thing I've managed to accomplish in-game since Saturday is to keep my training queue topped off.

Well, I did manage to get my Reaper and pod blown up a mere one jump from my destination on that little trip I wrote about last time.

If someone were to ask me "Why low sec?" I'd point to such incidents and say "Pretty much that." Danger around every corner, never know what you're going to find--feel free to use whatever cliched phrase you like.

A long trip through low sec is exciting. A long trip through high sec is a special kind of torture--especially if you can't bring yourself to ignore all the warnings about AFK auto-piloting.

To paraphrase Harlan Ellison: "I have no fun, and I must sit here."

The next time I have to send my alt on a long journey through high sec, I'm going to turn it into a kind of lottery. I won't reveal her name, or what she'll be flying, but I'll announce the region, a two or three hour time window, and offer a prize to the person who delivers the killing blow should she get suicide ganked.

Hmm…

You know--and I'm just thinking out loud here--if I do get a second account, I could make throwaway hauler alts and turn that into a regular thing. "Your attention, please. Between 00:00 and 02:00, I will have a hauler operating within three jumps of Rens. Guess which one is me, deliver the killing blow, and get a 100 million ISK."

That should liven things up for everyone!

Anyway, I did make it to my destination--eventually--so when I once again have time to go looking for trouble I'm where I want to be. In the meantime, I've been reading up on game mechanics and planning my skills accordingly.

That's not as easy as it sounds.

I'd write something here about EVE's learning curve, but there's absolutely no chance I could add anything original to that discussion. It's the stuff of legend, well-known even to people who've never played it. Whether you love it, hate it, or fall somewhere in between, there comes a point where "lock, orbit, F1, F2, F3" will no longer cut it--if it ever did.

Suffice it to say, I'm enjoying the depth and complexity this game has to offer. It does provide its own unique set of challenges, though, which isn't helped by the fact that I can only afford to spend an hour or two a day on EVE.

That's a good thing.

I tend to get bored easily when it comes to video games, and find most of them--MMORPGs in particular--to be mind-numbing experiences, once I know what I'm doing. And I don't think there's any danger of that happening in the near future.