I’ve updated my killboard to the edk3 version, and performed a complete, clean install in the process. This means that all of my kills were wiped, so I’ve had to re-import them from my API, although some of them I’ll have to do manually.

What this means, is that some of the kills that I have linked to in this blog either don’t exist anymore, or will end up linking to a kill that doesn’t match up with it’s respective story. I’ve already fixed the newer ones (specifically, the last five weeks), but the older ones are still broken, for lack of a better word, and I’ll get around to finding/importing/linking the right killmails when I can.

I’ve been in Hellhounds. now for about 10 days or so. And I have to say, it’s brilliant. Whilst there is an issue with numbers right now, the active people in Hellhounds, and Hellfleet as a whole, are more than willing to still go out and do their thing.

Last night, for instance, I had the pleasure of flying with Ga’len, eviwyn, and Delisa Amarsbane. We spent the entire time in Lisbaetanne, but there was plenty of people coming and going in system to keep us busy. Granted, most of those people were going from a station to a gate or vice versa, but there were a couple that felt brave enough to venture to the belts. Unfortunetly, we pounced on those with reckless abandon, and made them explode.

We could have also added a Navy Slicer to that list, but unfortunetly he kept warping out before we landed and we couldn’t get a point on him. Curses!

So, what’s that done to my sec status? Murdered it. In the face. I’m all the way back down to -8. Yea, I know, I said I was going to rep it up in case we had a high-sec POS that needed to be made into space dust, but I figured it would just be easier if I trained up an alt that could do THAT job, as well as shuttle around my ships that are still in hi-sec without risking my Orca in low-sec space. Also, I have an idea for this ‘ship-moving alt’ once he has the necessary skills up, but I’ll talk about that closer to the time.

So yea, I’m having a blast so far, and look forward to more of the same in the future.

After seeing a number of other Eve bloggers do this, I thought it would be a good idea if I did it as well, if for no other reason than keeping a record of things for myself.

Ulystar:
After getting accepted in to Hellhounds. I’ve been ratting my ass off with this guy, trying to get back up to at least -1.99. He should be done training Large Projectile Turret to level 4 within the next 20 hours or so, which will help with my goal to get Tech II guns on every ship I can currently fly before I start training towards other ships. This is easily going to take up the next 3 months of training time.

Brassel:
My trading/mission running alt. This guy is currently my main ISK maker. I’m / he isn’t the greatest trader in the world, but he makes enough to ‘not suck’. I turned him toward mission running as well so I had something to do while I was waiting for things to sell (and so I could ammend prices on my sell orders without needing to change accounts / dual box, etc). Currently learning Gunnery to 5, and then I’m working towards a level 4 Abbadon fit for him.

To put any initial fears at eaze, no, I am not giving up my pirate ways. Not a chance!

I am, however, beginning the process of repairing my sec status from an outlaw-esque -7.4, and aim to get it back up in the -2.0 region, so I can once again traverse hi-sec without worrying about getting wtfpwnd by the Faction Police.

“Why?”, you may ask. And that is a good question. Well, as of today, I am now a member of Hellhounds.! Now, yes, they are a pirate corporation, and repairing my sec status is not a mandatory requirement, however, if I want to get involved with acts of hi-sec piracy (mainly POS “liberations”), then it’s something that I have to do. And it’s something that I WANT to do. In my opinion, being able to take advantage of any given situation (and walk away with the spoils), regardless of where it is, is closer to what a pirate should be, rather than sticking your fingers up to the authorities, going flashy red and never looking back.

Of course, this doesn’t mean I’m going to stop harassing people in low sec. Hell no. All this means is, rather than letting my sec status drop with reckless abandon, I will have to keep it in check.

Now, where are those BS rats…

Here we go, the results you have all been dying to read!

*drum roll*

Ship 1: Fight 1
Vs. Bellicose – Lost

Maybe I shouldn’t have started off against a cruiser with enough drone space to carry 5 light drones, but hey ho. This fight took forever to actually start. We both spent a good 5 minutes passing each other between two belts, both not wanting to be the one who also had to deal with aggro from the NPC rats, until I spotted another Rifter on scan and chased after him instead. Just as I landed, this Rifter warped off to another belt. Shit. After contemplating if I should do this dance over again, the Bellicose landed in belt and I thought ‘fuck it’.

Ship 2: Fight 1
Vs. Station – Lost

Don’t. Just… don’t ask. Ever.

Ship 3: Fight 1
Vs. Enyo – Won

My first victory in this challenge! Woo! Hopefully the first of many. I honestly didn’t think I was going to win this one. And to be honest, if not for a strange bit of fortune, I wouldn’t have. It turns out, not only did I have an NPC helping me, but after talking to the pilot afterwards, his drone refused to listen to him. Apparently, it thought the BS it was already attacking before I landed was a far bigger threat, and refused to listen to his constant commands to attack me. I’ll still take it though!

Ship 3: Fight 2
Vs. Federation Navy Comet – Lost

Now, I kind of resigned myself to losing this one even before I engaged, considering this ship can field 3 drones. Thinking that killing the drones would seriously reduce his damage output, I went for those as soon as he brought them out. It was at this point that I saw he was carrying ECM drones instead of Warrior IIs. Still, the risk of being jammed was at the front of my mind, so I continued attacking them. What an awesome plan that was *cough*. He was just into armor by the time I popped, so would I have won if I had ignored the drones? Hard to say, but it might have at least been closer.

Ship 4: Fight 2
Vs. Thrasher – Lost

Within about 3 seconds, I understood exactly why destroyers are typically the ‘anti-frigate’ ship. I lasted for another 6 seconds after that before succumbing to the inevitable. I was disappointed with the damage I did to him though – I didn’t even get him down to 75% shields. Upsetting.

Ship 5: Fight 1
Vs. Punisher – Lost

Prior to this fight, I was unaware of the kind of tank that can be fitted to a Punisher. After being more than slightly confused as to why I just wasn’t doing as much damage as I thought I should be to her armor, I went and looked at a typical PvP fit Punisher. Yup. That explains it. Maybe a 10x Punisher challenge is on the cards next for comparison?

Ship 6: Fight 1
Vs. Muninn, Moa, Blackbird, Stiletto – Lost (No shit)

Gate camp. Need I say any more?

Ship 7: Fight 1
Vs Federation Navy Comet – Lost

That’s right, time to avenge my last loss to this ship and kill it with gusto! Only no. This guy DID have Warrior IIs for his drones, and he made piecemeal of me. Still, I did a decent amount of damage on him before I once again became friends with my pods ‘run away!’ button.

Ship 8: Fight 1
Vs Federation Navy Comet – Lost

‘Misplaced hope for third time lucky’, or ‘glutton for punishment’? You decide.
What is slightly annoying about this one, is that I DID have some semblance of a plan in my head before I warped to him. My plan was to just burn right passed him, and then when he sent his drones after me, stay outside of his gun range while I pick off his drones one at a time, and then close to him again and start shooting away. However… at some point between me pressing ‘warp to’ and ‘lock target’, I completely forgot all about this plan, and defaulted to my ‘orbit and shoot’ plan… which didn’t work. Again.

Ship 9: Fight 1
Vs. Stabber – Lost

I knew I was going to lose this the moment I shot right by her, and ended up doing an impression of a ball on an elastic band, rather than performing a nice circular orbit. I ended up 10k away, outside my gun range, scram range and web range, then as I slowed to turn around, BAM.

Ship 10: Fight 1
Vs. Merlin – Lost

I was hoping that the last fight would be against another Rifter, but the one I was chasing around Heydilles just wouldn’t sit still, so I opted for this Merlin instead. I’ll be honest, I thought this would be an easy one. A nice simple fight to get my second kill of this challenge. Alas, it wasn’t to be, and I was the one who died in a fire.

Conclusion:
I suck with Frigates :p

Seriously though, I think my biggest downfall in this challenge was fitting a MWD instead of an AB. I ALWAYS fit ABs in my close range ships, so that if I get scramed, I can still have a say in what range I fight at. Why did I fit a MWD then? I wanted to see if there was any scenario where fitting a MWD for a close fit ship was applicable, and I’d have to say ‘No, there isn’t’. All too often I found myself just outside of my guns range, but unable to do anything about it because I either couldn’t go faster because my MWD was deactivated, or would end up farther away anyway with the sudden influx of speed from turning it on. In hindsight, I suppose I could have fit 5 with MWDs and 5 with ABs for a proper comparison, which would have been WAY better. Damn.

Still, despite only achieving one kill – thanks to some help from an NPC and a dumb drone – I had fun doing this, and will more than likely do another one soon. I haven’t decided yet if it’ll be another entry in the Frigate series, or a change of ship class. We’ll see.

Like I mentioned back in this post, I think it’s about time I started setting myself goals and challenges, so here’s the first one;

Frigate Challenge #1: Rifter

The main goal of this challenge is to give me a more comprehensive idea of what I can and can’t take in a fight while in a frigate. To do this, I have bought and fitted 10 Rifters. My aim is to fly each one in turn , engaging any ship I come across (within reason), and keep going until I lose it, then repeat the process until I have lost all 10 ships. Naturally, I will post details of each fight here.

This could last a ridiculously short amount of time or it could take a while. Either way, I plan to learn a few things during this event. I may even end up doing similar things for other ships. I mean, what better way to improve your PvP experience other than by just buying up some cheap ships and going nuts with them?

Oh yea, better not forget insurance.

I’ve decided it’s about time that I tried my hand at some Eve fiction, so I’m going to get involved with Casiella’s Friday Flash Fiction series. This weeks prompt is ‘Polycarbon Engine Housing’. Here we go…

——————————-

Swinging his legs off of his bed, Ulystar stood up and walked towards his comms unit that had just chimed to life, waking him up. Picking it up and lazily pressing the answer button, he spoke gruffly, still pushing the sleep away from his mind.

“What is it?”

“Oh come on…” an amused sounding voice replied “…I put a call in to an old friend, and the greeting I get is ‘what is it?’. Your standards have really slipped, Uly.”

Ulystar recognised the voice instantly. It was the voice of his long time friend and equipment supplier, Brassel. “Well, I would apologise, but considering you just woke me up, I’d call us even.” He chuckled slightly, before letting out a yawn. “How you doing, Brass? Did you get my message?”

“I’m doing good – business as usual and all that shit. Making a nice profit from moving certain weapons around different places right now. And yes, I got your message. What’s on your list this time?”

“I need you to pick up three Rifters for me, with the usual fittings for all of them, as well as ammo for the same. I’d go to Jita and get it myself, but… you know…”

Brassel laughed. “Yea, I know. You and the Faction Police don’t currently see eye to eye. Something to do with ‘continuing to harass innocent people’ isn’t it?”

“Well, that’s what THEY say. Personally, I like to refer to it as ‘earning a living’. Admittedly, it’s a living they don’t quite agree with, but still…” Ulystar walked back to his bed and sat down, rubbing his eyes with his hands, slowly becoming more awake. “So can you get that stuff for me?”

“Sure, shouldn’t be a problem. Should be able to get that for you within a week. Anything else that you want while I’m here, or was that it?”

Ulystar thought for a moment before replying. “Actually yea, now that you mention it. Could you also get me a couple of small Polycarbon Engine Housing rigs?” Brassel was quiet for a moment. Probably trying to work out why I need them thought Ulystar.

“You want me to get you some P.E.H’s? Really?” Brassel said, sounding slightly confused. “You thinking of trying something different with your Rifters? Getting adventurous with them or something? I always thought you were more of a ‘if it ain’t broke, don’t fix it’ kinda guy.”

“I am, Brass. You know that. In anycase, they’re not for my Rifters. I’ve recently acquired a Dramiel, and need them to help keep up my speed while orbiting. It’s all well and good being able to fly like a comet out of a wormhole in a straight line, but if I can’t keep that up while circling someone at my optimal, there’s more chance that I’m going to get shot. And I hate getting shot.”

“You and me both, friend.” Ulystar could hear beeps and clicks as Brassel pressed buttons on his computer. “Yea, I can get you those as well, no problem. You still operate out of Nisuwa?”

“Yea. Good old Home Sweet Home.” he said, adding a small chuckle. “Let me know when you’re coming and I’ll scout the gates out for you. Tama can still be a bitch.”

“I wouldn’t doubt that for a second. Talk to you soon, Uly.”

“Yea, see ya.” And with that, he closed the comm unit, lobbing it on to the bed next to him. After sitting in silence for a minute or two, collecting his thoughts, Ulystar stood up and stretched. Well, seeing as I’m up, I may as well go get something to eat. He thought. Then after that, head out and seperate some people from their ISK.

This is something I’m curious to know. I’m not talking about when you started playing Eve. I’m not even talking about why you love Eve (mainly because that’s already been done). No, I’m talking about that point in time when you either saw something, heard something or even did something yourself which made you sit back and realise that this game was truly different from anything else you had played. That point when you truly understood Eve.

For me, it was when I saw this on youtube:

After watching this, I realised that whatever you wanted to do with your ship, whatever idea you had, you could actually go out do it with a bit of planning and the right fitting for the job. This completely blew my mind at the time. The thought of grouping 7 – 8 Battleships close together, giving them all the same type of smartbomb, and then fitting hardeners against the same and pulsing them at the warp in point in a plex would never have occured to me.

That’s when I “got” Eve. When did you? You can reply either in the comments, or on your own blog and link it here. Your choice. :)

I’ve decided that I need to give myself some goals and challenges to perform, in regards to Eve as well as this blog. I don’t feel as if I’m doing as much as I could do, and looking at how often I update this blog, it would be hard to argue against that. So, here are my goals;

For the blog:

My biggest goal for this is to post more often. I think part of my problem before was that I mistakenly thought that I had to be actively doing something in game in order to post. After looking closer at the other blogs that I read, I noticed that this isn’t always the case. Some people write about thoughts they’ve had, others write up guides, and others write about what their alts are doing. Widening my range of writing subjects rather than waiting for something to happen should help heaps in this regard.

For general Eve-ness:

For this, there are a number of things I can do. First of all, I will look into joining a corp. Whilst I’ve had fun roaming around on my own, there is a limit to the kind of things I can do as a solo pilot. By joining a corp, I will have the option to go out fleet roams, which will not only give me more chances of yarr, but it will also give me more to write about (see above). I could also start setting myself challenges, like ‘get 5 kills every day for a week’ or ‘fly x amount of y ship until they’re all gone’ or something.

I think those are a good place to start. Now to just stick to them…

As they say, better late than never! I figured it was about time I got in on this ‘Show us your EveSpace’ bandwagon, so here we go:

As you can probably tell from that picture, I use my main computer to play Eve, while using the laptop to keep up to date on Twitter, read blogs, etc – although I do use it to ‘dual-box’ from time to time.

There’s only one thing I would change about this setup really. Like CK, I either want to add a 2nd monitor so I can dual-screen properly, or just get a bigger monitor, but I can’t decide which route I want to go down.