EVE Journal

Back In The Game

2007-02-01T15:14:00.000Z

After a year and a half away from the game I've decided to return, and what a changed EVE to come back to. So much to learn and experience for the first time and so much to relearn (I've forgotten almost everything I knew). It's entirely likely, though not guaranteed, that I'll write occasional posts here on my second round of EVE experiences and thoughts. Any past posts are from a very different game and if anyone still arrives here on searches for Thorax and Brutix ship setups (as they once did with surprising regularity) then I suggest they investigate the official forum threads listing setups for post-Revelations EVE instead.

I'm a true newbie again, which is excellent. I have weeks of shiny newness to look forward to.

New Technology

2005-05-12T00:11:00.000+01:00

Been a while since I wrote randomly about EVE. That Brutix setup below is still working very well, with a few minor changes. The two Cap Recharger Is are now named and the three passive hardeners have been replaced - named Kinetic and Thermal active hardeners and an Energised Adaptive Nano. plate. I finally got around to "braving" level 3 Silence The Informant with it and discovered the darn thing was actually quite easy in the Blasterix. The first stage of drones was laughably empty (apparently reduced from an earlier, lethal version) and the second stage, whilst requiring me to warp out, wasn't any worse than the first wave of Mordus. So several of the level 3 missions can still be challenging but they're all now doable.

Playing around with the Ares interceptor.

In the past three weeks I've added two delightful new classes of ship to my repertoire. As the plodding nature of my Brutix began to grate I trained up Interceptors and Assault Frigates. I had a picked up an Ares interceptor from my agent a while back and a corp-mate was insanely generous enough to give me his Taranis. I really don't have a clue how to set these up (still!) but I bumbled together some attempts and took them into various bits of NPC combat (at the time without the ability to use Tech II hybrids). The Taranis looked very nice but didn't kill things very quickly (I was doing passes where you speed in from 30km and zoom 30km past your targets, firing when in range - a very slow way to kill things if you're me). The Ares, on the other-hand, worked out rather well for me. Orbiting at 18km, doing 1400m/s, launching pairs of Thermal missiles (the ship has a bonus to damage and I was fighting Serpentis) whilst gently plugging away with Tungsten charges from two 125mm Railguns. Rogue drones were particularly easy, though I had to switch to doing passes with them to avoid whirling through numerous groups at once. They're both fun ships to fly but I need better skills to make full use of them, and I'm not sure they're as much use in NPC combat as they are in player combat (but we'll see when I'm better at flying them).

The sexy ninja that is the Taranis interceptor.

Just last week I also reached the point where I could fly the ever popular Assault Frigates. I picked myself up a shiny red Enyo and proceeded to tear into level 3 missions with it, to my great delight (though that was what I was expecting). I had to learn how to use Defender missiles, which have turned out to be very useful indeed. Just last night I was able to fit Tech II Railguns to it, which has bumped the damage output up a bit more. I'm rather cautious still about what missions I attempt in it (I'm not sure I'll be trying Mordus quite yet) but it's doing very well so far - and it's a fun ship to fly. For the moment I'm trying to target my skill training towards improving the Enyo further, as I hope to garner maximum use out of it.

Taking down a drone infested Dominix in Silence The Informant.

Apart from my journey deeper into the world of Tech II ships and Tech II modules, I've finally wormed my way into a couple of level 4 missions. On Saturday I took part in the Rogue Drone filled Silence The Informant, initially alongside two battleships (Megathrons - though one had connection trouble) and a cruiser (a Celestis rigged for support rather than combat). I was flying my Ares and did my part cutting down the drones on our way to the first infested Dominix battleship requiring destruction. As I sat still as stone firing at the Domi, careful not to aggro another group of drones and turrets, I didn't notice just that happening. Before my ship could even begin the warp out procedure I was torn apart and left in my pod. My shiny red Ares turned to dust. Not a great loss financially (they're thankfully quite cheap and I can afford plenty these days) but it was a bit of a shock. As the mission had to be abandoned for a few hours I returned later (as we gathered for a second attempt) in my trusty Blasterax. This time we were a rather more menacing team - four Megathron battleships, myself in the Thorax cruiser and the support Celestis once more. Overkill indeed but we tore through it all nicely.

Showing a Megathron battleship the business end of my blasters & drones.

Last night I took part in my second level 4 mission - Serpentis Extravaganza. Unwilling to risk my Enyo (yet) I rolled out the Blasterax again and joined two Enyos and an Apocalypse battleship. Between us we made short work of the many battleships, cruisers and frigates we faced. It was good fun and rather profitable.

The Silence The Informant fleet on the move.

A peek inside the bonus stage of a level 3 Angel Extravaganza.

Up close and personal with the infested Dominix.

My medium barge, finally purchased for lazy mining.

My Blasterix And I

2005-04-12T11:58:00.000+01:00

A good week and a half into level three missions and I'm rolling along nicely now. I still avoid rogue drones, but I don't see that lasting much longer. With the exception of Silence The Informant (what I hear of the second stage leads me to believe my Brutix will be totally overwhelmed) I think it's time to delve into that danger pool. The level three Angel Surprise, destructor of my original Brutix, reared its head at last and I confidently tore it apart. It wasn't a walkover (I had to warp out once to be safe) but I've finally put that demon to rest! That and Mordu's Headhunters are the only two missions I need to warp out from, so that's not bad going. My Brutix setup for all level three missions, for those drifting here by Google, is as follows:

High Slots:
3x named Medium Ion Blasters (with Antimatter ammo)
4x named Small Neutron Blasters (with Antimatter ammo most of the time)

Medium Slots:
Named 10mn Afterburner
Named (X5) Webber
2x Cap Recharger Is

Low Slots:
1600mm Nanofiber plate
Tech II Medium Armour Repairer
Named Energised Thermal Plating
Named Energised Kinetic Plating
Named Energised Explosive Plating

Drone Bay:
5x Hammerheads (Mediums)
4x Infiltrators (Mediums)

The weaponry is working very well, with the three medium blasters doing plenty of damage for punching cruisers, and the small blasters also chewing through quite nicely, whilst having the benefit of hitting frigates more often. I don't think I'd want a fourth medium blaster, but I would love to be able to replace one or more of the Ions with medium Neutrons.

The named afterburner is essential as you need all the speed you can get to make this work as a blaster boat. Navigation trained to level five and Acceleration Control trained to level four is also pretty essential. I'd like to replace one or both of those Cap Rechargers with Cap Recharger IIs, but the pricing is prohibitive.

The Tech II repairer is essential if you want to make the best use of the Brutix bonus (you should have the Battlecruiser skill trained to level four, which yields 384 armour repaired each cycle). You're never going to be fast moving, so the more armour you can repair in a short period of time, the better. Equally handy is having as much armour as possible, which is wear the 1600mm plate comes in. You could gain even more armour by going for a different type of plating, but I don't fancy sacrificing more than 5% of my speed for it, hence the Nanofiber.

Dropping like a (not particularly fast) hammer onto my targets is tremendous fun, and is working out very well so far.

Extravagant

2005-04-01T14:18:00.000+01:00

Settling in the end for just upgrading to a Tech II Medium Armour Repairer I took the plunge last night and continued to do level 3 agent missions. I had an easy start to the night when I was dispatched to take down three frigates and one cruiser, followed by a courier run that was no problem for my speedy Atron. Skipping a request to "Silence The Informant" (the longest, hardest level 3 rogue drone mission? I think not) I was offered the deadspace glory of Serpentis Extravaganza. As I dropped out of warp amidst a sea of cruisers I rather regretted accepting it.

An hour and a half later I was several million Isk richer, down three medium drones and a whack of Antimatter ammo and rather pleased with myself indeed. The first level required careful approach of the enemy group by group, which proved challenging enough for me at the time. I soon got the hang of it though, getting more and more confident as my blasters and drones tore through the varied selection of cruisers (high, medium and low bounty versions) and frigates. I was warned about the second level, so arriving in the middle of half a dozen turrets and a cruiser rat wasn't as shocking as it could have been. As all the turrets were in range, I had to fight a risky battle of capacitor energy versus DOT (damage over time). Thankfully my blasters and drones did the job fast enough to allow me triumph. Without my 4800+ units of armour though, I'd have been a bit screwed! The final stage was nice and quiet by comparison, despite the large number of enemy ships to dispatch.

A particle accelerator and shield sphere in level 3 deadspace.

The entire task took over an hour and a half, putting the forty five minute bonus time (for a lot of cigarettes) laughably out of reach. However, it was good fun and much more rewarding than level 2 missions. The next step will be to succeed in more of the properly tough missions whilst I begin training up for my lovely little Ares interceptor.

At Last

2005-03-31T11:43:00.000+01:00

A few days ago, after weeks of training, I was finally ready to step back into my Brutix. I ported my Thorax setup to it, adding a second Cap Recharger I in the extra mid slot and then set about trying to fill the high slots with turrets. The powergrid proved to be the big stumbling block, as always with this ship, and (as you may expect) I was unable to get very many Medium Blasters onboard. In the end I settled for three Ions and four small Neutrons. I'm too short of grid for a forth Ion, so this looks like it'll be sticking for some time yet. A few trips into 0.2 asteroid belts to engage my good old cruiser friends confirmed a reasonable setup for now.

It was with great glee that I accepted my second ever level three mission - Stop The Thief. Perhaps the easiest of missions to begin with, but quite a good way to begin. My Brutix groaned into the four cruiser escort like some kind of slowly lumbering giant. As I crawled towards them, taking heavy missile after heavy missile, I realised that I might need to consider some more work on my speed. Nonetheless my immensely improved armour held nicely, and my repairer was able to run quite a lot when necessary.

My blaster setup tore through them reasonably quickly, but the lack of damage from my Iridium filled small Neutrons makes me reconsider slapping Antimatter in them and taking the closer range necessary. My medium drones were a delight. Being used to the eight heavies I could fly out of my Thorax I was not expecting wonders from my nine mediums. However, taking the advice of a Corp mate and putting in a mixture worked very well indeed - stripping the cruisers down surprisingly quickly. I think my level three mission tactics will most likely require a more headstrong approach to drone usage, using them to tear through as much as possible as my Brutix lumbers onward, irrespective of their inevitable destruction.

Before I continue my level three education I think it's about time I picked up a Tech II medium armour repairer, and replaced my medium Ion blasters with some named versions and my small Neutrons with either modal Tech Is or normal Tech IIs. I'm still afraid it will all still be too little for deadspace, but I'm about as ready as can be.

Fun With Frigates

2005-02-28T16:10:00.000Z

As I continue my epic re-skilling for my second Brutix I've spent a few fun hours messing around with frigates I never tried on my first journey up through the ship classes. Before my fateful first level 3 mission I took to doing the easier end of my level 2 missions in a blaster-equipped Incursus. It was the first time I'd used both blasters and the oddly-shaped Incursus but it was much more lively than the sedate Brutix. Orbiting the enemy at a good speed, a mere 1km away, pounding away with my blasters and running the armour repairer when necessary. I got so used to the little bugger that I eventually lost it to the new level 2 "Drone Infestation" mission and one of the cruiser-tough drones in there.

I've since bought a second Incursus but my eyes have turned to a new toy now - the Tristan. Orbiting at 15km, afterburner on and missiles flying... I'd never used missiles before now, always preferring the feel of a good railgun under my fingers. So I'm quite terribly underskilled in them, but still I watch amused as each one does around 80 damage with every hit. It takes the edge off the rather disappointingly long time it currently takes to kill decent enemy with it. Fighting off a Caldari incursion took a good deal longer than it should have.

I enjoy being able to try out these new (for me) ships - even more so when I know that their loss is not worth noticing when it comes to my wallet. They liven up the easier end of the generally very easy level 2 mission stack. Rather than plowing into the 'Rats with my all-conquering Thorax I can race around them in a frigate, scrambling to keep it alive as I pummel them with my tiny weapons. With this in mind I picked myself up a shiny red Ares Interceptor in exchange for a few agent loyalty points and a small selection of components and minerals. As soon as I can spare eighteen days to skill up for it I'll be tearing apart the universe at breakneck speed.

Thinking Ahead To Thorax vrs Brutix

2005-02-10T19:43:00.000Z

Yesterday was a short night of Thorax combat in the 0.2 belts. Close and nasty stuff - great fun! The ramped up armour hitpoints meant combat with the high bounty cruiser 'Rats (the 100,000 Isk Guardian Trooper several times throughout the night) went just as well as it used to in my Brutix. I also changed my ammunition for Antimatter rounds, thereby dealing better for the most part. The normal Serpentis Cruisers, often coming in pairs, fell quicker than they had the night before. The next steps will be to look into fitting a couple of cruiser-level blasters and investigate integrating Tech II modules into the setup.

The Channon IV shows a Serpentis Chief Sentinel what a Blasterax can do.

Looking at the Thorax and Brutix statistics I'm immediately struck by the fact that my beloved Brutix is not actually that much better than the 'Rax. In fact, with only half the drone bay it's actually almost worse. The armour tanking potential is the same, with an equal five low slots. It would be ideal if the seven turret points could handle at least five medium blasters, but (and this is without checking a setup) it really doesn't look like you can. The differences in powergrid and CPU between the Brutix and 'Rax are laughably small (which has already led to plenty of complaining forum goers), so a significantly more damaging Blasterax setup on the Brutix (but with five mediums and a second Cap Recharger in the extra mid slot) doesn't seem possible. This is a shame, because that would have made the Brutix a very suitable change in ship class - a super-Thorax, but without the full heavy Drone capabilities to prevent it being too over-devastating.

The drone bay presents a problem more specific to me. I've been using close to ten medium drones in all my long term ships, and more recently eight lovely Ogre heavy drones in the 'Rax. With the power of heavies demonstrated to me, I'm now torn between flying nine (soon ten) Hammerhead mediums or four Ogres. That I have to make such a drastic choice is a notable weakness of the Brutix.

Ultimately I will have to experiment more with a Brutix setup to do my best to turn it into a large Blasterax. Tweaking setups is more fun that I expected, just so long as it doesn't go too horribly wrong.

Thoughts On The Thorax

2005-02-09T19:15:00.000Z

Last night I got sidetracked from my mining plans by the lure of playing with a Thorax. Long respected as one of the best cruisers ingame, I'd avoided investigating one as I focused solely on my Vexor on the path to the Brutix. My Brutix loss, however, has forced me to realise that I need an education in the art of armour tanking and I was well aware that the Thorax was the best at it from the Gallente cruiser array.

The Channon IV out for a stroll.

I began the evening with close to thirteen million, with the intention of mining a few cans worth of ore that would help me leap back up to twenty. Within the first thirty minutes of play I'd lost my Incursus (a tale for another entry) and bought a replacement, along with a Catalyst and a Thorax. The Thorax required fitting, which meant purchasing the MWD skill at long last, alongside the Heavy Drones skill (and of course, eight heavy Ogre drones). After another hour of picking up my goods and carefully setting it up (based on the advice of yesterday's thread) I was ready to give it a whirl.

(My setup, incidentally, was: High slots - five named Ion Blasters (small) with Iridium ammo. Mid Slots - 10mn Afterburner, named Webifier, Cap Recharger I. Low slots - named Medium Armour Repairer, 400mm Nanofiber Plates I, named passive Thermal Hardener, named passive Kinetic Hardener (fighting Serpentis, so...), named Adaptive Nano.)

My first pleasant surprise of the evening was when I tore through a level 2 "Drone Infestation" single stage Deadspace mission. I'd swapped out one of my blasters for a medium smartbomb and I was hoping to just scrape through and get it out of the way (I'm used to plowing a Brutix into the middle of Rogue Drone groups, turning on four medium smart bombs and a shield booster and sitting back, so it was a worrying step down at the time). Webbing them and opening fire with the blasters worked as I expected but it was good to see that my defence was keeping them at bay without hurtling through my capacitor. I was more shocked to see that my eight Ogre Heavy Drones were able to hit and chew through the non-webbed rogue drones.

After I while I took my new curiosity out for some adventures with the 0.3 and 0.2 frigate and cruiser rats. I was again impressed to see that my defence held whilst my blasters and drones took them apart. I didn't face any of the double bounty Cruisers but I had no problems with groups of their normal cousins. The fighting style was one I rather liked. Until recently in EVE (when I started messing around with an Incursus) I'd done only Railgun combat, which on the Brutix in particular is a long range kind of affair. Charging into the middle of the enemy, trapping them with a webifier and letting loose the rapid fire of the blasters is a lot more lively. Unleashing eight heavy drones once they'd all opened fire upon me was also good fun. Ogres tear through the opposition a lot faster than the Hammerhead mediums I'd lovingly used until now.

By the end of the evening I was already looking to tweak my setup. Instead of the 400mm Nanofiber Plating that added a few hundred extra armour points, I bought a 1600mm Nanofiber plate that added nearly two thousand. That's a Thorax with more Armour points than my Brutix, which should be entertaining to take out for a spin this evening. The Adaptive Nano Plating is a bit pointless, so either an active armour hardener (which I've never used) or a passive explosive hardener will probably take its place. Then there's challenge of further tweaking my weapon setup - replacing the ammunition with Antimatter and seeing if I can squeeze a couple of medium blasters on there to take advantage of the cruiser skill bonus. By the time I return to my Brutix I shall be a much wiser pilot.

An Education In Loss

2005-02-07T23:16:00.000Z

Time to resurrect my EvE Journaling I think. Last night, after a few weeks of mission running for the Gallente Federation Navy, I was finally able to work the decent level III agents I wanted. I leapt without looking, as it were and plunged into my first mission ("Angel's Surprise") without thinking. As a small fleet of Angel interceptors and cruisers tore my beautiful craft to pieces I had time only to praise the miracle of insurance before fleeing back to the station in my pod. I must say it hit me hard, to lose my hand built ship of nearly two months age. I've lost only one ship before, my first Imicus to the delight of a Mordus incursion, so I'm ill-adjusted to such events. It's also the first time I've ever had to decline completion of a mission.

The Channon II, may she rest in peace.

I purchased a new Brutix (Channon III) for a decent price and trundled back to Oursulaert for a sift through my loot and rarities stash there. Once I'd loaded up there I began the voyage back to my old home of Murethand, via my mining "cottage" in Caslemon. I slumped into my dusty old Caslemon hanger, stripped it of a few extra items and leapt across to the lonely Federation Customs station in Murethand. I was down to a measly twelve million Isk so it was time to mine myself a fortune during this week ahead, whilst I contemplate my future.

I don't want to fly a battleship. Everyone has one, far too few carebears such as myself stick long enough with cruisers and battlecruisers. There's no challenge in sitting there in a flying station, slowly tearing through the enemy. My goal of late has been to master the cruisers and battlecruisers of the Gallente, with occasional forays into the fun and lively sport of frigate combat and with an eye to eventual investigation of Interceptors, Assault Frigates and Heavy Assault Cruisers. But last night brought me terribly close to saving up for one.

However, the cold light of day has made me resolute. I will stick to my guns (literally and figuratively speaking) and work harder to improve my Brutix setup and skills. I'm also more tempted than usual to experiment with the famous Thorax and see what joy Heavy Drones can bring. I've asked the masses and they have provided several suggestions. Finally there's the fun and danger of belting around in a frigate, with plenty more entertainment to be had still in my new Incursus (Ragged Robin III) and my nice little Tristan still sits untarnished.

The Xetic Federation crown a new president in Yulai.

Hello Dave.

One of six Amarr Navy Apocalypse battleships to fall to a CAS fleet.

Eventful Evening

2004-12-11T13:57:00.000Z

Well that was a rather eventful Friday evening. Before the Exodus deployment the Gallente Federation presidential elections were bubbling along in the background of EvE. Gallentean pilots like myself were able to vote whether or not to allow the standing president the opportunity to run for a third term. He won the vote and now a presidential election is on the cards. Last night the NPC starter Corp I'm part of was contacted by one of CCP's ingame helpers, in the guise of a Gallentean official. A convoy of fake votes was on its way somewhere and we had to intercept. I decided I'd have a shot at stopping them and headed to their destination at the time. Long time EvE player Farjung made first contact and was promptly demolished as it turned out the "four escort frigates" were in fact dangerous Assault Frigates! I was left to merely shadow the convoy as they journeyed onwards, whilst joining up with the growing gang of Gallente players ready to stop them.

Four or five of us made contact with the fleet by a jump gate but disaster ensued. One player targeted & attacked another member of our group and got taken out by Concord police officials. Another player opened fire on the targets but the rest of us did not. I attempted to target the hauler carrying the votes but it jumped before my drones could reach it. With two players lost we followed the convoy some more, picking up players on the way. When they stopped for supplies we attempted to ambush them, with a few of our gang succeeding and taking out the hauler and two of the escorts. The remaining two escorts ran into the bulk of our small force as they tried to leave the system via a different gate. I was in amongst this force but repeated warnings of Concord retribution dissuaded me from opening fire on the target (an irrelevance I realised afterwards, but I'd just watched Elliott Manchild get torn apart by the police and didn't fancy it myself). The final two escort ships were soon taken down, however, and the players who had engaged returned to the Gallentean official with ballot papers and the corpses of the renegade pilots for rewards.

Feeling rather stupid, I made a note to damn the consequences in future and just wade straight in to these things. I made the three jumps back to my current base of operations and decided to try some agent missions. Working for a level 2 surveillance agent I engaged in my first since the Exodus upgrade. They're still not firmed up (for deadspace missions the rewards are generally too little and for all missions there's a tendency to flood the pilot with immovable station containers and vaults) but I fancied some fun. I hunted down a Serpentis convoy, retrieved some important papers from the middle of one Serpentis hideout and rescued slaves from another. I also had my first Deadspace mission, the purpose of which escapes me but involved hunting down various pirates whilst sustaining heavy laser fire from two turrets! Fun but rather poorly rewarded. Hunting down the Serpentis convoy proved to be the most enjoyable, as when my drones took the hauler down and my turrets had finished off the escorts, wave after wave of eight Serpentis craft at once jumped in. I think I may put mining on hold this evening and run more of these missions.

The Dust Is Slowly Settling

2004-12-07T16:19:00.000Z

Ahh, the real world. It's a shame real chaos has prevented me from journaling EvE post-Exodus, but no matter. Onwards and upwards. So it's been about two and a half weeks since the EvE universe was shot in the chest with the large (and free) Exodus expansion. As is the way with large software projects there are still bugs aplenty for the developers to repair over the coming weeks, but EvE is still there and still playable. Perhaps the most gameplay affecting problem has been the bugged and unbalanced agent missions (I'm holding off returning to visit my agents until after they're confirmed as fixed). The damage to agent running has led to a mining explosion across Empire (0.5 to 1.0 security safe space). Asteroid belts are barren, if still present at all. Wealthier players prevented from engaging in missions have instead purchased the freshly introduced Mining Barges. Mineral prices have fallen and belts have become busier.

With Exodus comes the glorius planetary rings.

As I returned to EvE after the Exodus upgrade I began religiously watching the market for the prices of the Gallente Battlecruiser, the "Brutix". After a week and a half of price watching I decided to build my own, forsaking my plans to build a Battleship for the time being. It took me a few days to mine all the minerals available in safe space before then spending my hard earned millions on buying the rarer stuff. Construction was left going overnight and by the next morning I had myself a wondrous Brutix to christen the Channon II.

More of the beautiful Brutix, deep in 0.3 security space.

After the mineral buying and some extra skill & equipment purchasing I was bereft of Isk, with a paltry 600,000 to my name. So here I was able to experience the first full benefit of the larger Brutix as I fitted it out with six Miner II lasers and did two evenings sparse mining. Those two evenings (with only an hour actually spent mining on each) netted me seven million or so, giving me plenty of money to insure my pride and joy. With my leftover minerals I've set one hundred shuttles building, to be followed by a huge stack of Antimatter Medium rounds for the six medium hybrid turrets I mount on the Channon II. Now I just need to start amassing funds once more...

Destroyers are new, and this is the neat Caldari model.

The Gallente Destroyer, a Catalyst. No B-Wings here, Star Wars fans...

The huge Medium Mining Barge, to be mine in a week or two.

Sansha Hordes

2004-11-22T23:59:00.000Z

Clearly no final night would be complete without my own mini-adventure. I was flying my final few agent missions before the upgrade and got sent deep into the system of Unkah after an escaping Minmater scout ship (an ex-slave race, who are never in the Amarr good books). The location was rather picturesque - we faced off a few km from a wrecked station and several wrecked ships. I was delighted to later discover the many frozen corpses floating amongst the wreckage, a suitably gruesome end.

A wrecked battleship, dwarfing my tiny cruiser.

The wrecked space station.

The wrecked space station.

As my combat came to end (my cruiser made short work of the scout) over fifteen Sansha ships warped within a mere 30 to 40 km of me. There was another player in the distance, Gfidex of the Stain Alliance, clearly engaged in some kind of level 3 agent mission. Thinking I could safely take that opportunity to investigate the wreckage, I stuck around. Not the wisest of moves. The ships in question were rather beefier than those I had run into myself, and one Sansha equipped with piercing red laser (that never seemed to actually stop firing once turned onto my ship) took a liking to me.

The 'rat was still at long range, so I experimented with my 125mm named Railgun and Tungsten ammo, trying to make a dent in his shields. I had little luck, whilst he pummeled my shields and my capacitor (that was feeding my shield booster) rapidly ran out. Before I knew, my shields were empty and my capacitor non-existent. With my armour being eaten away I desperately warped away to repair and recharge. By the time I returned Gfidex had killed the entire force and was happily emptying his cans. As I explored the wreck, he gave up picking up his loot and left the system, leaving most of it for me to pick up, purely to keep space tidy you understand...

Twas The Night Before Christmas...

2004-11-22T23:14:00.000Z

EvE goes offline at 10 am tomorrow as the Exodus upgrade begins. For me it's my final night of slow money earning doing agent missions, hitting the delights of 23 million Isk as my evening ends. I've begun running a level 2 Amarr agent for more challenging missions and greater rewards. I shall still be plundering the high quality level 1 agent I've been using in an attempt to get more implants, but this low quality level 2 will provide much needed variety. Already I've been sent jetting off across the constellation after a kidnapped "damsel". The 'rat in question was tougher than I've faced recently, hurling missiles from behind an almost competent level of shielding and armour. A final log in tomorrow morning then, change the not quite finished Drones skill from level 5 training and slap in Astrogeology to increase my money making in the inevitable mining next weekend. Exodus ahoy...

Brotherly Love

2004-11-21T15:12:00.000Z

I spent yesterday afternoon mining feverishly with my brother's character, Andan Chosmith, doing the hauling in his Industrial (and mining as much as possible too). We're both in desperate need of more cash for next week's Exodus expansion, so we made a good 1.2 million from our couple of hours graft. Serpentis pirates roam the belts of the 0.6 system in which I usually do any solo or small group mining. They're no threat at the worst of times, but when I'm the only defence (with seven medium drones able to launch at once, currently) I usually lose a drone or two along the way. A somewhat costly exercise.

Brothers mining hard in Caslemon, drones circling.

I moved agents in Amarr space again on Friday. I was fed up with the low quality rewards of my previous Internal Security agent, so now I'm working towards a level two agent and more challenging foes again. It looks like there will be no large mining operation this afternoon to earn me more Isk, so it's time to run agent missions until the lure of Half Life 2 becomes too strong again. The raids into Amarr space should be taking place at some point today, so my eyes are flicking to the map every once in a while for any indications it's begun.

Sticking My Nose In...

2004-11-18T14:02:00.000Z

There's always something happening in the depths of EvE space and recently I've introduced myself to the Events forum. This board details not only official events run by the staff ingame (be they raids into player alliance space or strange happenings, for example) but also player organised events. One such event was the massive anti-slavery protest by over 120 Minmatar pilots in Amarr space this last Sunday. As I understand it, the protest was basically peaceful (even during an incursion by Archangel ships) until the arrival of several loyalist Amarr fleets (PIE amongst them). Then events become hazy but it appears the Amarr loyalists opened fire on those of the protesters who had yet to leave.

All of this has resulted in a raid being organised by Minmatar corps against Amarr slave convoys for this Sunday. And I am left desperately wanting to watch this, hopefully avoiding death in the process! It's great to have these things happening around you, totally independent of a huge percentage of the player base but at the same time involving significant numbers of them. I intend to spend part of my Sunday feverishly studying the "player kills in the last hour" display for each system on the map.

The Amarr Vacation

2004-11-17T22:56:00.000Z

I recently took a holiday from my usual stomping grounds of Gallente Federation space and moved my Vexor cruiser "Channon I" into the heart of the Amarr Empire. The scenery is all rather different (see the screenshots below) and the missions potentially more lucrative for me in my current state. I've spent the past few days working for an Admin agent of the Imperial Family, attempting to earn some more level 1 implants that I'm missing. After a few too many dull courier missions I decided to leave my Admin friend be for a while and move my focus to an Internal Security agent. I see many hours of killing the strange looking Sansha pirates on my horizon.

The Imperial Monument and Imperial Family station.

A different type of station in Amarr space.

Another Amarr station variant.

Whilst jumping back from a courier mission I passed a small fleet of ships affiliated with the pirate "m0o" corp. I attempted to follow them but failed miserably as they were still some way of their final destination. One of these days I'll manage to track down a fleet fight or other happening, and snap myself some pictures. Alex Jerusalem, roving EvE photographer!

I was also spoken to by Cold Acid, a Caldari member of the "Templar Industries" corp. They're on a recruitment drive and asked me if I was interested. It's been a few weeks since a corp last tried to get me to join, but I'm still not quite ready to leap into the proper world of player corps and alliances. Sooner rather than later, but not yet. TEMP are marked for future reference, however.

And Why Not?

2004-11-17T13:21:00.000Z

I've been playing EvE since September 11th 2004 and thought - why not Blog my adventures. My character, Gallente male Alex Jerusalem, is still young and fresh faced in the huge EvE universe. There is much to learn, many things to be destroyed and many millions to be made. My character still resides with the NPC (non-player character) controlled corporation Centre for Advanced studies, where many Gallente newbies begging. Despite the excitement available by venturing into proper player-run Corps, I'm enjoying the company of my fellow [CAS]ers for now. We're a friendly bunch of varying levels of experience and a lively ingame chat channel, so my desires to leave are on hold for the immediate future.

For now many people are in a state of hoarding in EvE, whether it be hoarding of money or hoarding of refined minerals. The Exodus expansion will soon be upon us, with wondrous new ships for all levels of player, and many other changes to our gaming world. I and others keep a close eye on the latest updates to skill requirements for our desired forthcoming ships, slowly preparing our characters for the upgrade. So back to work for now and let's see if a daily blogging of my activities succeeds.