Farewell Mynxee (part 2)

Farewell Mynxee part 2

A short drive from the beach hut, at the very southern part of the Island, stood 'the lighthouse'. It wasnt really a lighthouse, but it was a tower and did at one time provide seafaring vessels with information about the local coast line and sandbanks. 'The lighthouse' had been decommissioned nearly 100 years back and the building was getting in a bad state of disrepair. Doors and windows had been removed and most walls were covered with writing or drawings. The top floor provided spectacular views of ocean-side of the island, the sea was much wilder on this side and huge waves crashed loudly into the rocky shore below.

'So where have your plugins gone?' Nashh quizzed as he stroked her red dreadlocks.

'Gone, I am done Nashh' she sighed and turned to look out into the distance. 'Its time for me to return back to my roots, my people'. 'I have sold my remaining properties and ships, I shall not have any worries for isk'.

Nashh seemed unfazed. She was probably joking, or at least she would realize the mistake she was making soon enough.

'My remaining clones have been destroyed or sold'.

'Can I have one?' Nashh smiled.

Mynxee smiled back and waited for him to realize what she was really saying.

In the distance a shuttle glided through a small patch of clouds. It was Mynxee's ride home.

'So...' Nashh started, 'you have no clones and no plugins?'

Mynxee didn't respond.

'You are mortal?'

'As I said... I am done. I intent to live the remainder of my natural life in peace and planet-side'.

'Why? What for? Where?'

Mynxee looked deep into his eyes and smiled. 'Its probably best if you didn't know'.

'So that's it?'

'My shuttle is here, I have to go.' The wind blew through her well-groomed dreads. 'I am driving north to the airstrip, I can give you a ride?'

Nashh remained silent.

'I am sorry' she stroked his cheek and kissed him on his lips. 'Farewell'.

Farewell Mynxee (part 1)

Farewell Mynxee part 1

In his brief break from daily space flight, Commander Nashh Kadavr choose the planet Intaki V to enjoy some well earned rest and recuperation.

Not all planets are suitable for capsuleers to find peace and quiet. Their implant slots quickly give away their position in society and there where numerous issues to be expected when mingling with the general public.

Intaki V however sports various capsuleer-only-resorts. Around the planets equator lay several small islands just off the coast of one of the main continents. The islands where entirely dedicated to servicing space dwellers and providing them with seclusion of prying eyes.

The east side of Bonbonair was well known for it's calm, turquoise sea and white sandy beaches. Prices for a weeks stay could easily feed other small countries on the same planet for a year but with his good friend Cyber being the majority shareholder of the resort, his stay was considerably cheaper. Not that it would have mattered. All the isk in the universe wouldn't have mattered.

News had come to him that she had registered herself here a few weeks ago. Perhaps not active and not found causing trouble that was recorded anywhere, but alive non the less.

The opportunity to see her again was worth anything to him. Her radiating presence and magnetic beauty had captured him many years back. He wasn't really sure if she would be as pleased to see him, in fact he wasn't sure what to say to her if anything at all. It was entirely possible she wouldn't even remember him...

There where no less than 7000 capsuleers on the island this time of year and a further twelve thousand staff members, service and security personnel. It wouldn't be easy to find her.

The aptly named 'Beach Hut' provided a little shade and refreshing drinks as he contemplated how long he would stay to look for her. He tried to work a little on his Neo-com but there where too many distractions. Mainly the brash Amarrian on the far side of the bar, telling tall tales of business and combat, most of it lies. He still carried a full high grade set of Slave Implants, not uncommon to own by revelers in Bonbonaire but unusual to come to a planetside beach-resort in a clone still carrying such luxuries.

'Hey' the Ammarian shouted over, 'Hey you, you are Kadavr right?'.

Nashh looked up from his Neo-pad and sipped his beer before nodding, eager not to end up in a conversation.

The Amarrian made his way over and placed a hand on Nashh's shoulder, 'barkeep! Get this man a drink on me!'

'No, honestly' Nashh interrupted, 'I am about to go'. With a big gulp he finished his beer and threw his payment on the bar-top.

'What? is my beer not good enough!?' the Ammar pod pilot barked as he tightened his grip on Nashh.

Nashh stood up from his barstool and straightened himself to find the guy was considerably taller than him. It didn't worry him, a punch to the throat could floor a man of any size.

'Get your hand...'

With a loud crash a glass smashed over the head of the heavily implanted Ammar before he sank to his knees and toppled over.

There she was, beautiful as ever, holding the remains of a glass bottle. 'Hey Nashhypoo, come on, time to go before the big guy wakes up'.

To be continued...

EVE Blog Banter #21, low-sec love...

EVE Blog Banter #21


Welcome to the twenty-first 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 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 comes to us from @ZoneGhost who a few month ago asked “Is Low Sec the forgotten part of EVE Online?” Is it? I’d like us to explore this even further. Is Low Sec being treated differently by CCP Games than Null Sec (Zero-Zero) or Empire space is? Can one successfully make a living in these unsecured systems where neither Alliance nor Concord roam to enforce their laws? What’s needed? Or is everything fine as it is?


-=o0o=-

I am not much one for complaining to be very honest; I play within the boundaries set out for me. Its not that I don’t have an opinion, I simply have no energy or time to fight for these ideals.
We are the only gamers privileged to have a democratically elected body to fight for our beliefs; the CSM. The Counsel of Stellar Management has taken up the unenviable task of fighting for game improvements on our behalf.

Perhaps next year I will run myself, as I will be kicking it in the Caribbean and hope to have spare time by the boat-load. I do have ideas and suggestions and as always; I do like to throw in my two cents and then run away, screaming like a little girl.

As a Low-sec dweller by choice I actually rather like how things are set out but if anything requires some attention than let it be these;




Traffic
Low sec could always do with more targets, more and more valuable missions please CCP. Let’s get more faction-loot-dropping-rats and more valuable, rare ores in our belts while you are at it.



GCC and timers;
There may be a thought behind these ‘aggression-timers’ that I don’t understand. However now that I am used to them I have to admit I use them as often in my advantage as they are a hindrance.

My only real issue with these GCC timers is that they last too long. Fifteen minutes of stopping your game-play is pretty serious if you have limited playtime already. Every time you do manage to find someone to fight (with you instigating the action against a pilot with -4.9 sec status or higher), with an explosion as a result or not, you have to sit out 15 minutes doing nothing. Reducing this to 5 minutes seems more acceptable.

Other aggression timers are hard to spot and hard to keep track of. My first few months in low sec there have been occasion I felt the need to petition the loss of ships due to gate or station gun fire. It took me a third petition before a GM explained to me the mechanics of the ‘invisible timer’. A what? Why? It would be nice to have this made clearer or abandoned altogether.




Sentry Guns;
Sentry guns can work in ones favor or against; it just takes getting used to. There is an argument however that says gate guns encourage gate-camps and blob warfare, not so nice. It is very obvious that the perfect damage at incredible range demands either a remote-repping gang (either rolling or stationary) or a sizable fleet of battlecruisers and above to share the sentry fire. This makes small gang warfare and or solo work incredibly difficult (unless your name is Lady Shaniqua).

It would be nice to see Sentry gun statistics amended so that as like with ALL other guns in the game; target speed, size and resists make a difference to the damage impact. Hereby it would become viable to engage at gate’s in smaller, faster vessels creating a more creative game-play.
Another suggestion would be to make Sentry guns destroyable with a re-spawn timer or perhaps Station-owners and Gate-managers can be ‘bought’ or ‘bribed’ with as result them switching of Station- or Gate guns for a set period of time.




-=o0o=-

That’s all I’ve got for the moment. I highly recommend you visit Mynxee’s Blog and in particular this post re low-sec improvements. Your input matters, so if you care about low-sec, give her your support!




Other participants;

CrazyKinux's Musing: The Lure of the Wild
Banter 15: Arr, Yer be talkin’ bout me lowsec TheElitist
Banter 21: Low-sec- Chocolate Heaven
Subs' suds: Forever a noob in Eve: Low-Sec - the forgotten part of EVE Online
Blog Banter XXI - Lo-sec = Low Priority? I am Keith Neilson
In the Ghetto A Mule in EvE
where the frack is my ship?: Blog Banter 21: What's good for the goose...
Blog Banter #21: Change? Sarnel Binora's Blog
Low Sec = Wild West ~ Inner Sanctum of the Ninveah
a merry life and a short one: Low Sec: I Wanna Talk to You
Low Sec = No Sec Diary of a Garbageman
EVEOGANDA: Blog Banter 21: Friggin' Low Sec
Drifting through the Stars: Blog Banter #21: Low-Sec - The Forgotten part of EVE Online
Captain Serenity: Eve blog banter #21 - Low Sec, The Forgotten Part of Eve
Low Sec: the Best part of EVE Online Nitpickin's
Aeroxe's Assault - “Is Low Sec the forgotten part of EVE Online?”
Eve Blog Banter 21 A Scientist's Life in Eve
Latro's Bunker: Eve Blog Banter 21 - Low-sec
A "CareBears" Journey » Blog Archive » EVE Blog Banter #21: The Low Sec Conundrum
More coming shortly...

Joining VETO...

‘Jacque!’ Nashh belted over the comms channel, ‘send me three... Now… Usual spec…’

‘Mr Nashh, I ..I can't after last time. I am sorry but two of the girls are still having treatment after their last visit.’

‘I'll pay Nashh slurred. Double…’

‘I am sorry the pimp stutterd, t-tools are not toys... I can't put my girls in harms way… You must understand.’

‘Triple.’

‘Well I guess I can make an exception, Jacque started... But no funny stuff ok?’

‘Just send them up…’

-=o0o=-

The door chimed. Nashh stumbled half-naked off his desk chair and tripped over the bottle of rum next to it on the floor, spilling what little contents was remaining.

The chime chimed a second time.

‘I' m coming for Christ sake!’

His hand landed on the plaque next to the entrance of his apartment and the door slid open.

‘Er… I didn't order you...’

Nashh rubbed his bloodshot eyes and blinked.

‘Venom? Holy fuck! I…’

Venom orchid had not changed much since last time they met. She still had the Hellcat tattoo on her left arm, although the oversized Hellcats-belt-buckle had been replaced with the insignia of the Bastards. She clearly still liked leather.

‘I knew you joined but we keep missing each other I guess…’

Venoms hand struck him hard across the left cheek before she paused and stepped inside.

‘What the fuck is your problem’, the foxy pirate stated, looking around the messy apartment. Empty bottles of booze strewn across the floor, some filled to the brim with cigarette ends.

‘Did you really think she'd come back here? To the Bastards? Wake up Nashh.’

‘Look, this is not a good time right now... I am expecting guests’, Nashh managed, scratching the back of his head.

Venom orchid stared at him blankly, raising her eyebrows in disbelief.

‘Mr Kadavr? Jacque sent us...’ A tall, scantly clad Minmatar girl had stepped into the room. She looked nervous. Two more dreadlocked ladies of leisure waited in the hallway, curiously peering in.

Nashh looked from Venom to the girls and back, ‘this is not...’

‘You fucking sad bastard’. If venom had exuded any joy for seeing Nashh previously, that had drained away.

Nashh gave a wry smile and hung his head, staring blankly at the floor.

Shaking her head, venom started her rant... ‘Look, your a nice guy Nashh, but what is your fucking obsession with her!? Give it up; it's not ever gonna happen…’

Nashh shrugged his shoulders and wiped some moisture collecting in the corner of his eye.

‘Fucking man up you little girl. Look at you!’

The trio of prostitutes huddled together, mouths ajar in amazement, watching the spectacle unfold.

Nashh straightened up, chest out, anger, adrenalin and lust coursing through his veins.

Venom stroked his cheek and rested her hand on his toned and tattooed chest…

‘Out... Get out...’ Nashh glanced sideways at the three girls.

‘GET OUT NOW!’

The three girls stumbled into each other and hurried out, fear in their eyes.

Venom let her hand slip and turned towards the door.

Quick as a viper Nashh lashed out and grabbed her by the wrist.

‘Not you’ he spoke softly, pushing the panel on the wall, closing the door.

100 blog postings

100!
This is my onehundreth post! For some not a mayor achievement perhaps, but for me it is. I had never thought I enjoyed writing to be very honest but August 2009 I started off to give it a try.

Being a big fan of the Capsuleer application on my i-pod, being part of the blog pack was a dream. That dream realised I just hope to post enough readable material to keep me in it.

The beginnings
One of my first projects took off like a rocket. Celebrity Death Match was born the day I fought Shae Tiann and wrote a post about it calling it CDM just for shits and giggles. Piggybacking on the success of others the concept became well known and before I knew it I was renamed; ‘that CDM guy’.

The CDM project is still going but it is increasingly harder to get celebrities to commit and agree a time and place to meet up. The series however remains the back bone of my blog and still gets the most hits when I post a new one.

Just this week #21 has been completed and CDM #20 is still to be posted, I have a few celebrities that have agreed to meet and fight me but more on that soon.

Then what?
Other than the CDM posts I run various other projects; ‘A week in the life of…’ Is a series where I spend a week in a well known corp to see what they get up to and what the pilots are like. ‘A week in the life of the Pythons’ proved to be a huge success and a second one had been planned not long after. I intended to spend a week with the Tuskers but with a Bastard/Tusker alliance now in full effect it seems a little pointless. That and the fact the Tuskers have been getting enough attention lately made me put this one off a little longer…

‘Project Rifter’ has just commenced and seems to be reasonable popular also. I wanted to see what the big deal with the Rifter was and thus skilled 46 days specifically to fly this frigate. The project is in full swing so more on that soon…

Fillers
The all important fillers; in between projects I try to keep my audience entertained with some Pirate related adventures under the posting header ‘Pirates Ahoy!’. In these posts I tell the tales of Bastards and friends and the yarring we get into.

I tried to be clever like Roc Wieler and do a ‘Roc’s Rules’ type thing with the Series called ‘Bio Funnies’, however I have not found this particularly stimulating and have stopped these for the time being.

Another string of posts I started is the Help Desk. Originally I intended to publish self written guides about; D-scanner use, probing, aggression timers etc etc. These have all been done so many times already however and much better than I could do myself. Instead it evolved in to a ship fitting guide with clear disclaimers to avoid too much trolling.

Ramblings is another header I use to post stuff I simply can’t fit in anywhere else, it is indeed filled with ramblings and if I doodle anything this is where it can be found.

Fans?
I don’t know about fans but my blog has 46 followers and I get the occasional shout-out in local. I find it all very flattering and have learned to enjoy it. My goal is to eventually have as many followers as Kirith or Mynxee, go on, stroke my ego and click 'follow'.

Pilots have convo’d me throughout EVE to complement or duel me and I always accept. I don’t mind losing a ship here or there…

I did once get an EVE-mail from an army-chap based in Iraq, who said my post made his days easier, that choked me up a bit…

Stats
I have to admit I am a bit of a pc-noob and thus don’t know how to find out if anybody has subscribed to this blog through Google-reader or such likes. A friend has been so kind to add Google Analytics to my blog and I have been following that every day ever since…

In a game of statistics lets have some statistics, please note that these figures are taken from Google Analytics and thus do not show some RSS feeds and no i-pod capsuleer readers are added to this. God knows how many i-podders read all this rubbish, they never leave a comment =)

Top 5 most viewed posts;
1 A week I the Life of the pythons
2 Help Desk 4; how to fit a drake
3 EPIC Celebrity Death Match #16
4 Celebrity Death Match #19 Prometheus
5 Help Desk 5; how to fit a Vexor

Top 5 reffering sites;
1 Mynxee’s; Life in Low sec
2 Spectre’s; Evenewb (RIP?)
3 Kane Rizzel’s; A pirates perspective
4 Crazy Kinux; Crazy Kinux Musings
5 Kiriths Kodachi’s; Inner Sanctum of the Ninveah

Top 5 Country visits
1 United States
2 United Kingdom
3 Canada
4 Australia
5 Germany
(Blog visited by CCP; 22)

Top 5 strange keywords that apparently land you on my blog
1 ‘celebrity crutch shot’
2 ‘jensius duo’
3 ‘banana alpha’
4 ‘pre-arranged girl fight’
5 ‘eve rifter blog jerk’

And now?
Wow, I don’t know really, we’ll see where all this takes me. I am a proud Bastard and intend to stay there and thus posts will be Bastard related in some way for sure.

As CDM #20 has already happened I shall post CDM statistic next I guess as I try to do them every 5 CDM’s. Other than that I am working on a video to go with the next ‘Project Rifter’ post, desperately trying to get hold of Photoshop so I can work on some more art-work and then there is recruitment again soon too…


Watch this space

Mynxee for CSM5

Mynxee for CSM5

I have no problems to publically make my votes known and to show my support for Mynxee and her campaign this round of CSM.

I feel that perhaps it needs some justification apart from the fact that my fictional character wants to bed her. So here we go;

Mynxee has had a mayor impact on my life in EVE. From the very first time I actually got to meet her for a Celebrity Death Match I have admired her commitment to the community and the game. It was after meeting her I knew where my EVE-life would take me; the Bastards and honourable piracy.

The Hellcats have since left Evati and the Bastards alliance and its core members; Shea Tian, Venom Orchid and even Mynxee herself have moved on to other things. Such is life, eve-life even more so. The Hellcats leaving the Bastard alliance made me consider giving up on the Bastards, that’s how high I hold these ladies in esteem.

The high quality of her blog has been part of the reason why I am blogging myself and with her association saw my own popularity skyrocket. The majority of my blog referrals come through her site, very much so helped by our joint venture EPIC CDM. (Part #1 and Part #2)

Mynxee as an avatar has been the muse in my first fictional story some 8 months ago, if you so wish please read; chapter 1, chapter 2, chapter 3 and chapter 4. (Please note this story will be republished this year with some corrections and more artwork).

Outside of EVE Carole is a RL Facebook friend, (however shallow this medium may be) it meant a lot to me for such a high profile player to share her RL details with me.

Last year Mynxee just missed out on running for the CSM, I believe due to passport issues, however this year she is in and sharing herself with us as players even more!

Her campaign affects my every day life in eve as it does for many, many others and thus she needs your vote too! Her main campaign points are;

*Low sec content for outlaws and changes that reflect low sec's outlaw nature and will create a more vibrant, compelling environment for all who live and operate there—outlaw or not.
*UI improvements to streamline routine tasks and tweaks needlessly cumbersome design. I will request a session at one of the Iceland summits to discuss planned UI changes, learn where they are in the backlog, and push for sharing a "backlog summary snapshot" with the player base on a regular basis.
*Continued balancing of logistics and e-war, particularly harsher consequences for remote-repping neutrals and more diverse options for countering ECM.
*Discouraging blob tactics by removing some of their advantages--perhaps by subjecting fleets over a certain size to "stacking penalties" tied to the ship types in each wing/squad.
*More timely communication from CCP, particularly in response to en masse negative reactions from players to dev blogs, game changes, and game-related events. I believe the CSM should be tasked with a more active role in assisting with this and will push for discussion with CCP about it.

I also hope she finds an opportunity to address;
*T2 Rigs; and the fitting requirements thereof. T2 rigs have higher fitting requirements than their T1 variants but it makes them useless for most ships other than perhaps Capitals and Super Capitals. I would like to see these used more and perhaps have the fitting requirements match that of the T1 types, the fact that they are 10 times the cost should be enough of a limitation in use anyway.
*T2 Frigate prices (build requirements); Some T2 Frigates are extremely overpriced due to the too high requirements of T2 items. It would be nice to see more T2 frigs out in space.
*Rokh drone-bay increase. I don’t actually fly the Rokh but this is a noble cause.
*Probe Scanning; Mynxee has touched on this subject and some great ideas have been proposed already for making probe-scanning less of a complete ball-ache. It would be great if probe-positions could have standards settings or if a ‘save-option’ would be made available.
*Implant distribution; the way implants are distributed sometimes makes no sense. The omega slot 6 is also the slot that is required for implants that give related bonuses to the faction sets. Also if one would like to get a head full of armour, gunnery or missile related implant concessions will have to be made; for example ROF and damage implants require the same slot etc etc.

Please visit Mynxee on her blog or on her campaign website for more information, above all; don’t forget to vote!!!

Important dates;
May 5th - Voting for the fifth CSM opens

May 19th - Voting for the fifth CSM closes

May 28th - Results of the fifth CSM elections announced

June 3rd - The fifth CSM take office

June 22nd to June 25th - First CSM5-CCP summit in Iceland

December 7th to December 10th - Second CSM5-CCP summit in Iceland

Alliance Tournament 8

Its that time of year again, AT8 is around the corner and we are in it! As the CDM proprietor you can imagine that I am a great advocate of pre-arranged fights and I am extremely happy for ‘The Tusker Bastards’ to be participating this year.

Extremely happy and nervous I have to say. Nervous simply as I fear not to be picked in any of the starting squads. Last year my alt's corp participated but I was kept on the bench as the big boys got to play. This time around I am nervous as there are far more skilled pilots at the Bastards than myself, and many of them ranking much higher on Battleclinic to prove it. When our CEO Flashfresh called a corp meeting and announced the plans to form an alliance with fellow pirates 'The Tuskers' my heart sank; more good pilots to take away a possible spot in one of the greatest events in eve.

Out of 20 Bastards attending the meeting I was the only one to vote against an alliance for this very reason, that and the for the simple reason I wanted the tourney to be a Bastard-only effort. Yes, I have only been a Bastard officially for 6 months but I hold the corp close to my heart. There has been some hick-ups along the way and z0de is a prick but not everything can be perfect. I have great respect for our cool, calm and collected CEO and many pilots within the Bastards have taught me lots and still do.

A future post will describe my bastard love in more detail and I am sure to shock at least my mum with that post...

In the last couple of weeks various fleets have been formed between the Tuskers and the Bastards; now collectively known as 'The Tusker Bastards', and to be fair I have warmed to the idea. The main concern for both parties involved was that neither would be able to field enough pilots on the day of the AT to actually participate. We certainly will do now and we (collectively) will show the rest of eve we mean business!

AT8, yarr we come!!





O yeah before I forget I wish to make very clear where my votes will go this CSM (more on this later);

'A week in the life of...The Python Cartel'

‘A week in the life of…The Python Cartel’

Corp Name/Ticker; The Python Cartel (GROP3)
Current CEO; Spectre3353
Directors; Spectre3353 & Golden Helmet
Home System; Old Man Star
Description; A pirate corp set out to have fun and talk a lot about penis.
Alliance; The Jerk Cartel
Recruitment Status; Open
Recruitment Contact; Spectre3353, Golden Helmet, Lachesis VII, Lars Lodar
Additional Info; Spectre would say this is the best corp ever, they rule, are extremely good looking with huge phalluses and everyone else should sit in belts afk so they can kill their faces.

===

After making contact with Spectre we agreed my first day with the Pythons should be Thursday 25th February. This date was to have a scheduled op; part 2 in the ADF series. I read Spectres first post on the first ADF adventure and laughed my ass off. A good day to come along for a bit of work experience I figured…

After getting details of their vent server and logging in I was greeted with the following message; ‘Welcome to the Jerk Cartel, we love penis’. The Jerks love of penis has been rumoured about before, but I can assure you it’s true.

The first words in there communication channels usually start with ‘PENIS!’ Generally any conversation will involve or revolve around genitalia and all the fun chit chats makes it surprising how well organised these actually guys are.

Much to my liking the op started on time with Spectre calling for all ADF Officers to undock our ECM heavy fleet in Old Man Star. I had expected to see some cheap ECM cruisers at the undock point of the Quafe station but when a 10 man strong fleet filled my overview I had to do a quick retake; Scorpion?! Wowser, surely this is a one way trip? I was surprised to see someone putting a ship of reasonable value on the line. The fleet comprised of 1 Griffin, 1 Celestis, 1 Scorpion and 7 Blackbirds, later joined by a Federation Navy Comet (just because it looks like it’s got a flashy light on its roof).

(I shall not bore you with too many details of our little excursion as Spectre’s tale of events is pretty accurate)

Every system where acts of aggression were found would find the following stuff in local;
Spectre3353 > By order of the Amamake Defense Force, we request full compliance from all pilots in system
Spectre3353 > Halt! In conjunction with The Amamake Peace Accord of 58177 we, the Amamake Defense Force, demand that you cease your aggressions and retreat from the field of battle immediately!

Compliance was greeted with;
Spectre3353 > Thank you for your complience.
Golden Helmet > Thank you for your cooperation, citizen
Golden Helmet > If all citizens were like you, New Eden would be a much safer place for us all

Non compliance simply meant any aggressor got 40 ECM modules trained on him/her. In small numbers of aggressors this was extremely effective and the local chat response made it worth its weight in gold. Some pilots played along but most just spammed local with abuse.

At the Bastards we have a (fairly) strict ‘no chat in local’ policy so I was hesitant at first but joined in here or there.

After flying and ‘securing’ various systems in the region the final destination was set; ‘Tama’. I used to reside around these parts and god it’s a hell hole…

The fleet warped in to the top belt at range and waited. Some complete retards in local were amusing to toy with for a while. The Jerks have a great sense of humour and all the abuse flung at our fleet got laughed about and witty responses returned.

Before long a few would-be-aggressors got chased off until a sizable fleet warped in at various ranges. Warp-scrambled and my overview filling up so fast I could find the right target to jam I went down in flames.

The end of my career as an ADF officer and the end of my op. The difference in time zones forced me to log for the night as I parked up in a local station and get some sleep…

===

Day two and Spectre briefly logged on to give me access to the most used comm. Channel for the Pythons. Great as a roam was scheduled to leave not long after.

As the clock struck 1:30am the channel filled up nicely. The following is a brief and fairly standard chat with the Pythons;

IEATCRAYONS > morning
Golden Helmet > we have things up our arses, but they're often big, black, and ridged
Nashh Kadavr > nice my fave!
Golden Helmet > i apologize in advance for our two kaz's
Nashh Kadavr > circumferance?
Golden Helmet > we got complaints that we weren't equal opportunity employers, so we hired two retards to fill our quota
Nashh Kadavr > i see
Nashh Kadavr > any gays?
Golden Helmet > we also have a contingent of stoners, since High Times magazine complained about us all being sober
Golden Helmet > we're all homo. we need straight people so the non-gay magazines will stop complaining
Nashh Kadavr > righto
Nashh Kadavr > /emote makes notes...
Golden Helmet > and we have a large portion of alcoholics too
Apoctasy > then we beter start recruting straight people
IEATCRAYONS > penis
uwai223 > an stoners
kazz djinn > lol
IEATCRAYONS > the most said word by our corp would have to be "penis"
kazz djinn > hey gh can i tend to the rabbits now
Golden Helmet > so we're 1\3 gay stoner, 1\3 gay retard, 1\3 gay drunks, and 1\3 gay and bad at math
Nashh Kadavr > would you say there is a minimum iq requirement for this corp?
HAUL 5000 > 60.
Apoctasy > and 1/3 multiple categories
Fred Neiman > and i'm a miner!
Golden Helmet > if you can identify the difference between a shoe and the sky, your in
Golden Helmet > brb
Nashh Kadavr > whats a shoe?
HAUL 5000 > Apoctasy is in the catogory of gay and bad at math fyi

The scheduled op was to start at 2:00am and left on time yet again, very impressive. By now I had had a few beers and settled in on the sofa.

Golden Helmet was the fleet commander and did a brilliant job too, scoring the fleet some nice T2 cruiser kills. I was only able to participate on one of them as after my first kill I had to safe up due to an aggression timer. The Pythons are at war with some guys around here and are scoring some lucrative kills on them.

Mynxee showed up in local and it was nice to speak to her briefly before moving on again.

About 25 jumps around the local area got a few more kills under our belt but when a mission-ing Drake was probed out and promptly tackled a request for his ship was promptly answered with the pilot ejecting.

I finally logged of at 4:15am absolutely knackered and half asleep. It’s nice to be in a fleet that can bring decent numbers instead of running away all the time. I was also somewhat surprised to see the value of ships taken out on this roam; the majority of ships where Tech 2 Cruisers.

===

Day three saw another late night roam (for me) under Golden Helmets lead. Some great kills along the route. The fleet was fairly well organized and the ship types again mainly consisted of T2 cruisers.

I only mention it as the Bastard roams are a little more Frigate or Battle Cruiser orientated, some Stealth-Bombers roams perhaps but T2 cruisers are referred to as shiny’s and valued highly and rarely put on the line.

I spend the duration of the roam chatting to Trazis, a pilot that tapped me up some 5 months ago regarding a 1 vs 1. We had intended to catch up for a fight ever since but never got around to it. Along the route I suggested he joined the roam with GH’s permission and fight a little later.

Trazis joined the fleet around the Tama area and with my night coming to an end the time arrived for our duel. Still under GCC timers I docked to repair my overheating damage from a previous fight.

Undocking with GCC made station guns pewpew my shield and a touch of armor but I felt very confident. We agreed to have our fight in front of the Python fleet and GH would be our warp-in point. Bets were taken and it appeared my Vexor was to be the favorite, great, more pressure…

With my shields recharged I signaled I was ready and initiated warp. Trazis fielded a Maller, the same ship 00Sage00 killed me in some time ago.

Our shields vanished within mere seconds. Beer made my confidence grow in my new Vexor fit and I let rip my guns, overheating them before I even launched my drones. Beer made me miss-click my heavy damage drones. Instead I launched 3 Warriors and two Hammerheads.

I realized my mistake and pulled the Warriors and released two Ogre’s and a Hobgoblin. Our armor steadily decreased in equal measures and it dawned on me I should take out his drones rather than concentrate on his hull. Right, good idea, switch off guns, retarget drones, fire guns…fire guns? Wtf? Beer made me burn out my guns.

There was nothing left to do but watch our ships slowly drop armor, bit by bit, it sure was going to be a close one now… our hulls peered through as the last bit of armor escaped us both at the same time. Crossing my fingers I hoped for a wrecking blow to save my day...

Alas, it was not to be, my remaining structure expanded into the vacuum, vomiting out my pod in the process. Trazis got out with a mere 26% hull still protecting his fragile egg. Too many mistakes on my part but nevertheless a great win for Trazis.

Slightly ashamed to be pummeled in front of the Pythons I retired into the nearest station and called it a night…

===

Day four to six were mainly spent talking to some of the peeps in the Alliance Comm channel. I did spend some time in space with some the pilots but I kept it local as I couldn’t face another late op. Well I could but the RL repercussions (wife-aggro) made it difficult to justify.

LEE118, an ex Bastard recruit has been accepted into the Pythons for a trial period. It was nice to catch up with him and he appears to be having fun.

Another familiar face was Gorgoleon, an ex-Bastard of epic proportion. It’s nice to see he has found himself a good home and he has fitted right in with his banter.

00Sage00 has also taken up residency in Old Man Star recently and joined the Python ranks. He has spend some time with the Tuskers before making his move here and it was interesting to hear about the difference between the two.

One of the longer standing members of the corp Apoctasy explained that the old core of the corp was still there. He himself has left the game and come back, remaining with the Pythons. He explained that over time the corp had grown steadily in number, are more organized and have more roams on the go.

Spectre himself was logged in at a more Euro suitable time and was chasing some ships around OMS. I asked to join him and tried to keep up with him for the next 30 minutes. I say tried to keep up as I didn’t actually manage to do so, he scored some sweet frigate kills, with me exiting warp just after he squeezed out some tears.

I did participate in a Drake kill, rather brave of the participants as you can see on the killmail its Russian owned. We didn’t get blobbed even though it took a long time to take him down.

===

Closing statement;

I have really enjoyed my time at the Python Cartel, so much so I have left 3 fully equipped and rigged ships in Old Man Star may the opportunity arise to fly with them again.

The corp-chats are filled with penis related conversations, and smack talk in local is deemed absolutely fine. The guys are rude and crude but extremely witty and clearly intelligent. Their responses quick and calculated had me in stitches for the duration of my time here.

All this joking around would lead one to be believe these jokers are badly organized but to my surprise the arranged ops left on time and the fleets were well led. Although the fleets usually are not scheduled to leave until 2am Evetime.

Many high profile events are organized from within the Python Cartel, ADF and Hulkageddon to name but a few, doing their thing and leaving their mark.

The amount of shiny ships the pilots are willing to risk surprised me a little but have given me reason to pull out my T2 cruisers from under the dust sheets and actually fly them.

There are plenty of highly skilled pilots (some more reserved, some more balls out) within their ranks and they should be feared indeed.

Remember may you wish to apply contact Spectre3353, Golden Helmet, Lachesis VII or Lars Lodar in game.




(or if you want to join the really cool guys apply at the Bastards)

Where have I been....

Where have I been…

I have been quiet on my blog for some time now and for that my sincere apologies. Work has been busy as hell for me in December and the little time I have had has been spent getting myself into space causing havoc.

Now we are in the New Year I hope to find more time to pursue some more EVE activities.

First off I want to thank TehMastersword for his work done on my laptop cover. Unfortunately no other works have been sent in despite more interest having been shown earlier on in this design competition. This is not the way to win a competition but I want you to know that I am very happy with the design and if you come to Fanfest 2010 you will get to see the design glazed over my laptop with your own eyes. The 500 mil isk shall be sent to you as soon as possible.

Pirating has been very mixed up for me over the last few weeks. The Bastards occasionally in disarray and with some of the veterans leaving has been a little demoralising. Also the Hellcats leaving our alliance and moving away has been a bit of a shock, but hey, such is EVE life. Flashfresh has had to attend to RL issues and so he should, but his presence is sorely missed.

It’s not all doom and gloom however, new recruits that have come in at the same time as me have proven to be great pilots and fun to fly with. Competition is stiff and I am proud to be at the top of various awards over the last few months. Realyf, one of our directors has been a great pilot to fly with and I got to spend time with him even though we are on different time zones. He truly is one of the best pilots in EVE and I hope to learn a lot from him.

Some good kills have been scored and some bad losses had. My current isk-efficiency is pretty poor after a streak of losing T2 ships for stupid reasons. Solo gate camping in Ishtars when you are drunk is not one of my recommendations and neither is tackling in an Interceptor within station gun range.

I had never flown Attack Frigates before but I have decent skills for them and thus figured I should buy some Ishkur’s and try them out. Fitting cheapish Gistii and True Sansha modules I took out my new found glory to join Arrhidaeus on a little roam. A fellow blogger and Bastard Arrhi is due a CDM but that will come. Arrhi has certainly proven his worth as a solo pirate with a penchant for faction frigs but boy does he score some kills.

It didn’t take him long to score the initial tackle on a Tusker Firetail but I was unable to save/help him in time. However the Firetail pilots friends came to late to avoid the loss of their Faction frigate in return. Then it happened… the moment I fell in love with my new ship, not only did I finish of the Firetail, the supporting Jaguar and Rifter also fell to my drones and Ion Blasters.

Love never lasts long in space I found out as I since lost the ‘Predator’ trying to kill a Rupture, failing to see he had 4 friends in Local with him. /me sighs… I was on my way to Vitreauze to spend a little time with Venom and Mynxee, hoping to go on some roams with them and the Hellfleet boys. I did manage to buy another Ishkur from a passer by as there was nothing on the market available that tickled my fancy. I paid heavily for it but I felt naked without a ship surrounding my little egg.

A slight detour later and I caught up with the Mynx herself whom kindly helped me to some more modules and ships to use while I am stationed here.

Having been away for the weekend I returned for a few hours this afternoon to get ‘Predator 2’ into space and started scanning belt in the surrounding systems. A cruiser hull in a belt seemed like a good idea but the slightly inferior fit and a hangover did not help me in the slightest. Even in top form I don’t think I made the right choice in engaging and the inevitable happened.

Out of Ishkurs and I figured it was time to go T1 to work on my stats but curiousity killed the cat when I hung around a bit to long to see what all the fuss was about outside the station. Time to log out I figured…

Is shall return to space later and maybe get into some of the Hulkagedon funtimes….

Watch this space…

EPIC Celebrity Death Match #16 Planet Risk (Part 2 of 2)

Planet Risk – EVE’s Voice (featuring Mynxee-the peoples favourite)

The wormhole sparkled brightly, with a dark red coloured heart, beating. Wormholes are fascinating to observe. It’s like looking into the back of a pulsating spoon made of mercury…

Upon entering Planet risk’s worm hole I felt strangely comfortable; I had spent a lot of time in wh space myself some time ago. My cloak faded around me as the mesmerising pulsating blob overshadowed my tiny frigate.

The journey had been tough, stressful and nearly fatal. An overwhelming sense of relief came over me. Still in unprotected space by far but the chatter in the now joined channels took away the feeling of fear. I made it, thank fuck I made it.

It had already been a long day by now, far longer than I intended but I had the house to myself and relaxed with a brew. I had earned it. The pending radio interview made me a little nervous but Mynxee gave me some good tips and advice; the best one being ‘have a drink’.

The inevitable attention this fight would get made it even more important to win than any other CDM so far. Mynxee, none other than Mynxee had agreed to join me in this adventure and I did not want to let her down.

Our tactics were solid, our setups had been solid until I lost the fittings I intended, however I still had faith in my modules recommended by 67 to 1 pilots according to Battle Clinic. I couldn’t wait to get into the Navy Vexor for the first time and online my shiny gear.

The wormhole was bustling and a fair amount of pilots had logged in by now, keeping themselves busy; some going off to mine, some returning to watch the warriors collect their vessels. An orca placed securely within the gun-less POS held our Faction Cruisers.

I had not dealt with a POS for so long I couldn’t remember where to enter the password for its shields. I had to swallow my pride and ask for help and kicked myself for looking like a dork when the answer came.

My laptop already in a bad condition, had severely heated up since arriving and I feared it might over heat. For some reason it used to overheat quicker when I spent time within my own wh POS some time ago. The only thing that helped was zooming all the way out for the time I spent in the protective bubble, then get out as soon as possible.

The shiny hull of the Vexor appeared just metres away from me. God she is sexy, her greenish sleek hull, like a Greyhound on roids. I never thought I’d like Gallente ships, being a Caldari myself those Vexors where laughable a few months ago. Vexors look like hairdryers at best, so I thought, but more and more I appreciated their shape and power.

Fitting didn’t take me long, I had exactly what I wanted and needed. Mynxee realised she had not crammed a plate in the hull of her covert ops ship and requested the local inhabitants for a spare. I immediately joined in, asking for some spare Cap Boosters myself as I had only managed to bring 6. I had enough so I thought but I didn’t want to risk capping out so a few spare wouldn’t go amiss.

Having my ship ready I decided to warp out of the bubble and wait 100k from the POS to save my laptop. I am a PC noob but am I right in thinking the POS bubble takes up more CPU due to graphic content and therefore can affect a laptops overheating? Maybe not, but it sure worked for me. The laptop cooled enough for me to believe I could make it to the end of the fight.

We had all switched to the Ventrillo channel used by Planet Risk by now. It didn’t affect my reception but Mynxee being rewired via Athens clearly didn’t help communications. Patience however is golden in this girl and her experience with bad connection showed.

We requested a private channel to discuss tactics during the fight and I had hoped Mynxee would take the lead. Instead she made me the reluctant Fleet Commander. Our tactics discussed again became worrying as Mynxee was convinced more EWAR would be used than I anticipated myself.

We decided in the end however on an open approach to the first minutes of the engagement; I would warp in 20 k further than Mynxee to ensure she would be primary and for me to drop sentry drones to take out their ECM drones may they use them. Mynxee sported a mean tank on her ship compared to mine and with her reputation she was sure to be the main target.

The arena was set; in between 2 planets a safe –spot was made and we were to warp to our optimal range from our prospective planets. The Bastards took up planet 7, Planet Risk would fly in from planet 6.

Teadaze got himself into the right position to record the fight; close enough to target the participants but far enough not to get in the way. The gathering crowd warped in just behind him, popcorn at the ready.

Heart beating faster, controlling my breath I signalled I was as ready as could be. Quivering Palm and Luminus Aardokay were also clearly nervous, speaking fast, repeating the rules again. Mynxee had remained calm throughout but now excitement had clearly affected her. This was it, now was the time.

The Bastards warped in, Mynxee to 0 and me following closely behind at 20k. The rules were simple; we would warp to the bookmark at out preferred range, we would wait for Teadaze to count down, then fight to the pod. The enemy Navy Vexor warped in, nearly hugging Mynxee, not a surprise, and then the Navy Caracal came in at a similar range?!? Now that was a surprise. We expected to kill the Vexor first, and then try to catch up with a range tanking Caracal.

Too late to change our mind or change our fittings; Teadaze signalled the inevitable 5...4...3...2...1...GO GO GO!

I stuck to the plan, immediately speeding towards Lumi’s vessel and opened up, obviously my initial shots missed as I was not in range. I dropped the Faction Sentry’s and started targeting the various drones now deployed by our foes.

Somewhat confused and in disbelief my shields started to take damage. I...what? Why? Why would they go for me? ‘O shit..’ I mumbled to Mynxee, ‘I am primary’. My shields vanished swiftly; I had expected this however it is still a scary sight being a shield tanker normally.

The moment of truth for me had come, this was the point were Battle Clinic would prove itself. I activated both small Armor Reps and the damage seemed to negate for a brief moment. Not for long however as the enemy Vexor had reached his optimal and started pounding away more Armor than I could fix.

I had fitted an ECM module to counter the Gallente vessel ripping into me but so far it had proven unsuccessful. With my DPS split as the sentry’s where still going after various drones I panicked and switched all weapon systems to the Vexor clearly doing the most damage, in the hope to take him out before I would blow up myself.

In a final attempt to get away from the damage being inflicted on me I turned and aligned to the planet we had flown in from and burned off. Overheating modules could not save me any longer and I admitted to Mynxee; ‘I am going down..’.

‘What?! No way?!’ she replied, as stunned as I was. ‘Sorry’ I managed to squeeze out as my screen turned into a bright flash. Parts of my Faction Cruiser violently propelled themselves across the battlefield, leaving a trail of grey smoke behind them.

Months of preparation, hundreds of millions of isk spent, a six hour stressful journey and an angry wife, all for 2 minutes of adrenaline fuelled action; priceless.

The hope of CDM victory lay with my glorious wing-woman. She fought valiantly and did not give up. Being chased by our two foes she held up well. ECM drones buzzed around her hull, tracking disrupters to boot. Not a chance, no hope.

The reason why we had intended to make Mynxee primary now very obvious, her tank was immense. However, unable to fire, frustrated, the people’s favourite finally gave in.

The smooth surfaces of the Pirate hull no more, as it bent, buckled then expanded into the vacuum.

‘Aww’ Mynxee spoke. As we discussed what had happened and what went wrong the Planet Risk crew celebrated their victory in the background.

I sat back with a fresh beer and watched their pilots fight over the dropped faction loot from my wreck, like ravenous dogs, pilots claimed the drones and the Gisti Armor reps. To the victor the spoils I sighed…

You win some, you learn some. That was my motto and this time it turned out to be the latter. Mynxee too took the loss very well, I had flown with her before in a Bastard roam where she lost a ship and remained calm and focussed, no tears ever from this pirate.

We hung around and decided to record our post-match Radio interview, the moment I dreaded. ‘I don’t have the face for radio’ I had protested some time ago but by now I didn’t care anymore.

For those of you reading this I presume you will all be living it large and partying hard in the Hellcats Pub. I on the other hand am missing out. I had booked the night off work, rare for me as Saturday nights are the busiest night of the week. But I am without a laptop. It is still not fixed and it doesn’t look like I will have it back before Wednesday now.

I shall post related links as and when I can and hope you all have fun, watch me and Mynx go down in flames in the fantastic video provided by Teadaze and listen in to our radio interview; it’s not too bad.

Ps; if someone wants to donate their winnings in the lottery that’ be sweet as it appears I am fresh out of Carriers, Faction ships and shiny gear. =)

Ps; pictures to follow if my laptop ever returns…

Ps; http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=kujJJVpIcms this is the link to the video!!! Ace job Teadaze!

Ps; yes i did get my laptop delivered back to me at 11pm Saturday night by my computer man. for all the hard time i gave him the poor bastard came to my house to drop it of. What a legend. however I can run EVE for a mere 5 minutes before it cuts out. I got to show my face in the Hellcats pub briefly, said hi to the bloggers and poof... laptop is fuuuked up. /me sighs. Watch this space....

Ramblings #11 What is a celebrity?

Celebrity (Encarta Dictionary), descriptive name given to individuals, male or female, who capture public attention, largely through the media, and who have a broad general significance in contemporary society and culture.

Now this pretty much sums up what a celebrity is. I mean I could explain Wikipedia’s version of what a celebrity is but it seems pointless. Also I think that this term explained as it is leaves enough space to leave it open to interpretation.

Some of the celebs I have fought in the preceding Celebrity Death Matches have been surprised why I would ask them specifically to participate. The answer is simple really; I set out to fight well known pilots in New Eden.

Some are more well known than others I admit ,however the pilots is selected have stood out in the fact that they are known through the blogs they have written or in some cases the work they put into the Eve community.

Some names will be familiar to a lot of people simply because they have been selected by The Blog Father Crazy Kinux and get uploaded by 25000 capsuleers. There are over 800 blogs written for and about Eve but the 40 most prolific, the cream of the crop, are added to the famous blog pack.

Some pilots have not stopped here; some have written articles for the EON magazine and other Eve related publications. Some have had their profile increased by Radio interviews or made it in the CCP newsreels.

Some are part of famous Corporations and top the ranks within those organizations by skill and determination, automatically becoming a representative of said organization.

Now this begs the question; am I then by these standards a celebrity? I mean; I am part of the Blog pack, I will appear for a radio interview and I am part of a famous Corporation. Or am I simply taking a piggy-back on other peoples success? Is or should there be a ranking in celebrities? If so where would I fit in?

Do I like or dislike it? I never thought I would but I must admit I now follow my ratings every day; I love my followers and crave more hits. Having worked with a major name like Mynxee has clearly shown the effect on my own ratings. And a fan base even half the size of hers would maybe convince me to convo myself for a CDM…

Above all and most importantly; I do this for fun. I love the excitement of meeting these people I have read about and finding out what they are like. I love the thrill of the preparation and the excitement of the fight and run up, no matter what the outcome.

More Celebrity Death Matches will follow so watch this space…

Weekly Update #10

Weekly Update (12th – 18th October)

The worst possible thing has happened to me this week; my laptop has crashed. I would settle for being station bound but no such luck, planet bound it is. I am getting my EVE-fix via blogs and the Capsuleer app on my I-pod, and get to do some drawings for my fiction story. My laptop should be returned to me by Wednesday if there are no further complications. Until then I’ll ninja the wife’s laptop to blog.

A quick shout out to the 4 new followers I have gained since my last reference to it, bringing the total to 17! I have also managed to sign up to Google Analytics which has been insightful. I have been told that is unlikely to show all my readers and neither will it show the I-pod Capsuleer readers. But it’s a start. At least it gives an indication what posts’ have been popular and where my traffic has come from. Shame I didn’t get it any earlier.

It will not be a surprise that working with Mynxee on the EPIC CDM has boosted my ratings too. To give you an idea; nearly 50% of my hits have come through her post on the events. It begs the question how many hits Mynxee gets in one day? 1000? 2000? More?

Another neat feature of Google Analytics is that it shows the Google searches people made to get to your site. ‘Kestrel of Doom’ has landed me 6 hits, ‘Voers Fitting Tool’ has been searched for four times and ‘eve invention vexor Ishtar skills’ apparently leads the way to my site too?!?!

The highest referring site other than Google and nearly matching it is Mynxee’s class blog. To my surprise Kane Rizzels blog gave me 45 referrals in the last 7 days too, surprising only because our CDM was a fair few weeks ago...

Other than that I just wanted to spur on more people to join the in-game Bloggers Channel. Whether you write a blog yourself, want to write a blog or just want to say ‘hi’.

Celebrity Death Match
This week finally saw the completion of CDM#17 the long awaited and overdue re-match with Kirith Kodachi. It’s never nice to lose but kirith beat me well and outsmarted me. The blow of the loss has also been softened by the fact I have also secured a Battleship duel. A fight I have been craving for for some time. Rules for this have not been established and thus please keep suggestions coming.

I had hoped to get the blogfather Crazy Kinux to offer me this opportunity but CK is impossible to find in-game. Clearly our on-line times missing each-other. CK is as rare as Morphite in high sec. =)

Pirating
This week saw my Bastard application accepted! Big news for me as I have been following all Bastard related Blogs and stories available. I have been flying with the Bastards for a fair few weeks and have had a great time doing so. The crew is great to hang around with and are professional but above all; fun. I can see myself settling in for the long haul as I have been made to feel right at home. Special thanks to Happy San who has helped me settle in and has also being my mentor and recruiter.

As new recruits come in, unfortunately some of the older members move on too. Gorgoleon has by now indicated he is leaving and his colourful FC’ing will be sorely missed. I am grateful for him dragging a small bunch of us around the other day scoring some class-A kills; including a Cerberus, Raven and a Loki.

I am now also recognised by CONCORD as a criminal as my Sec status dropped to -6.2. Helped along by a few pod kills I must add but hey; can’t make an omelette without breaking some eggs.

Another great feature of the Bastards is their ranking system which strives one to be better and get involved. I have, with the help of the kills I made in the last few weeks, got my first promotion to 1st Luitenant and if my laptop would still have been with me this weekend I am confident I would have made it to Captain before this post. The curve upwards after this is steep however but my goal is to be at the top one day.

For those of you that read my first fiction story and particularly the last chapter can imagine my excitement when I joined a bastard roam in my Crow Interceptor and a Charon Freighter got scanned down by Happy San. I simply had to be involved and after a first fail with 2 interceptors to get a lock, Happy managed to scan him down again.

I was the first one there, eager for the ransom or kill. On landing and warp bubble collapse my primed point started to lock... Point! Point! Point! I shouted over comms. My excitement replaced by frustration as the freighter disappeared from my overview. WTF?!

Corie did a logofski. We waited around in neighbouring systems for some time and I made the decision to log off myself in the place where Corie disappeared. The remaining gang returned home to Evatie and fell asleep. Asleep long enough not to notice Corie logged back on and made a safe get-away.

I sighed with frustration but my mood picked up when Corie was spotted in a belt of the system we had come from not long before. Clearly bait in his Drake and with an Apocalypse Battleship as backup. Still angry with the poor sportsmanship of logging off whilst under attack, both fell to our firepower and that eased my mind a little. The strangest thing is that although they where baiting neither one of their ship had a point fitted...

We followed this up with a Wormhole raid where we killed 2 Stealth Bombers and tried to ransom a T2 Destroyer. I say tried as we held our fire to allow our victim to pay as he offered to pay on his own accord. A minor delay allowed him to slip out of the wormhole itself with me and me0de hot on his tail. Both of us in our haste to catch the SOB jumped into a 0.5 system.

It appears I am no longer welcome there but managed to warp around the system and back out the way I came with just my structure intact. me0de was not so lucky unfortunately and had to go home in his pod.

In other news
My industry Alt has been parked up in a wormhole for some time now but I rarely log him in anymore. I feel the CORP he is in deserves better than that and so I have tendered my resignation.

I have not built anything for some time; in fact the last thing I built was the carrier in which he sits. My extreme spending spree over the last 2 months has seen me blow 4 billion isk on booze, woman, poker, CDM and some ships.

I have come to the conclusion my 3rd account is now too much for me to handle and it’s time to sell him to recuperate some isk. For those of you interested please contact me in-game, leave me a message on my blog or email me on nshhkdvr@gmail.com . Please note that although he comes complete with a Carrier he is not a combat pilot.

That’s it for now...

EPIC Celebrity Death Match #16 Planet Risk (Part 1 of 2)

Planet Risk - EVE's voice (featuring Mynxee-the peoples favourite)

The long awaited EPIC Celebrity Death Match. Well, part of it…This post is the mere prelude to the actual fight which I shall post on the 24th October.

The result will be easily found but the actual fight post will be supported by; links, a radio interview and a frappsed video by non other than Teadaze and will have to wait as an ode to the Hellcats party on the 24th.

Also the fact that a lot of time, preparation and isk has gone into today’s CDM warrants an extra long post therefore making it a 2 part works well for me too.

Three weeks ago I contacted Quivering Palm and asked if he would be interested in doing a Celebrity Death Match. He gladly accepted, but was surprised to be asked in the first place. Being the face of the great SIRadio and blog pack acceptance made it an obvious call to invite him for a Celebrity Death Match.

He quickly made the demand for a radio interview to which I reluctantly agreed. The second pre-requisite for the fight was that it was to be done in Planet Risk, his corps wormhole. No problem (or so I thought).

Now he is not the only face of Split Infinity Radio and he proposed to do a double whammy and include Luminus Aardokay.

Initially I thought that would be a brilliant idea however my laptop is becoming more fragile by the day and duel-boxing has become a big no no. ‘Just wait a minute’ QP stated. A few minutes later and QP returned; ‘Nashh?’. ‘Yes?’ I replied unsure about the delay. ‘Meet your wingman…’ QP continued…

‘I..what?! holy crap!’ I stuttered. ‘Hi Nashh’ Mynxee had typed in the now group chat.

Mynxee; every woman in New Eden wants to be her, every man wants to be with her.

By far the most prolific celebrity in Eve to date was going to be my wing-woman? This Celebrity Death Match grew exponentially into EPIC proportions. Radio? A 2 vs 2? Mynxee!? Surely this couldn’t get any crazier? Well it can apparently; ‘my only request is that we fly in Faction Cruisers’ Mynxee added to the mix. O my word, this is going to be sweet!

The next few weeks involved trying to find a suitable fit for my newly acquired Gallente Navy Vexor. But Nashh you only fly Caldari? Well yes I did. I did. But you may remember my fight with Spectre? Yeah that’s right, that’s the first time I tried a different flavour of ship. Now do you remember my post on the Bastard faction roam? I spent some time ogling z0de and I nearly got an opportunity to fly his Navy Vexor…

My drone skills are not too bad but I did spend my time getting up some gunnery skills and armour resist skills to be able to fit what I thought to be a brilliant fit I found on Battle Clinic. Double small-armour reps, microwarpdrive, medium cap booster… ‘Excellent’ I thought and purchased the fittings.

Various emails where exchanged and Mynxee made me aware of Jaxxon Voers helping her with her fitting. Jaxxon, another Bastard, is a genius when it comes to fitting ships so it appears. I convo’d him and he kindly helped me with a more suitable fit, and quick. He raised my potential tanking and damage output within minutes of meeting him. Eve Fitting Tool? Blah! Voerss Fitting Tool!

He also recommended getting heavy drones or sentry drones to effectively create another cruiser but I didn’t think I’d have enough time to skill for tech 2 varieties.

By now we had contracted our ships out to Planet Risk in Jita for them to haul into their wormhole. With them knowing our ship types it only seemed fair we knew what they where going to be flying. A Navy Vexor and a Navy Caracal it would be…

After some more contact with Mynxee we agreed on our strategy and the plan was to both ECM-drone-swarm the Caracal as ECM was not banned and the possibility of the Caracal being fitted with ECM modules was quit big. The rest of our weapons would be turned on the Vexor.

A few attempts had been made to get the modules nearer to Planet Risk but it’s not easy with wormholes spawning entrances in different locations every few days. The Hellcat CEO suggested moving up on the day of the fight in cloaky ships.

I finished work late on Saturday and browsing the market I spotted some Faction drones. A yes, I had heard of them but not seen them yet. Without to much pause I spend the last of my isk (after selling some collateral) on 5 Faction Hammerheads and 5 Faction Bouncers. I fitted a Manticore with cargo expanders and cargo expanding rigs. Loaded with all my modules, ammo and 15 drones I went to bed for an uneasy night sleep.

The reason why I say the last of my isk is because my industry alt has not been active since I spent all my online time in Evati. Fists full of isk have been spent on my small fleet there and some CDM losses, a carrier and the skill books for my alt and poker.

Celebrity Death Match is a costly hobby I have found out. This CDM alone has cost about 450 million isk but I will give you that breakdown later.

Sundays downtime over and I logged in promising the wife I wont be on more than 3 hours.

Mynxee had found an opportunity to get into the worm hole safely so I was to make the journey alone. No problem I figured, I am by now a very seasoned space traveller and set off via Kuomi to pick up the Faction Hammerheads I left there by mistake.

Two routes where available, one deep into 0.0 and another one shorter and safer so the choice was simple. The last 7 jumps to Gomati proved stressful as I got chased briefly by a small gang. Alexia from the colourful Punishment Blog convo’d me mid travel. Another celeb on my list but why would she contact me? ‘Are you being chased?’ she asked. ‘er, yes’ I responded, ‘but how do you know?’. She paused (I think she put in a good word for me with the locals) and then explained she spotted a gang jumping after me. We chatted briefly and agreed to catch up some point soon. Unfortunately I had to cut the conversation short as I neared my destination and Mynxee just came online…

Mynxee explained she used the deeper 0.0 entrance and made me aware that Lumi and QP where not going to be online for at least another hour. I reset the route and a daunting 33 jumps through 0.0 planned itself out. By this point I have already made 92 jumps for this CDM to get my fittings etc to this point.

I sighed but activated my warpdrive… whilst travelling I explained I picked up some faction sentry drones so if we so wanted I could still go back to Jaxxon’s suggestion of dropping large drones. Mynxee expressed her joy and that decion made just left another 23 jumps to make.

Constantly checking local and my scanner I blasted my way through 0.0. A few close calls but nothing crazy happened sofar. I started to become aware of time as my missus started to ask how long I was going to be and I am nearing my 3 hour time limit. I activated my ECM on her and moved on.

Then it happened. With only 2 in local I ignored my scanner and flew straight to the next gate. 90 clicks from the gate I ended up in a bubble and the 2 pilots in local didn’t hesitate. Blood rushed to my head as I franticly tried to escape with my microwarpdrive. O fuck crap shit bullock no please no… pop went my ship.

My faction drones, modules, every last penny I had, was in that ship. I managed to get my pod out and docked up in a local station. I explained to Mynxee what had happened and took a minute to sort myself out. I am in the process of stopping smoking but I have some in the house in case of emergency. This was an emergency.

Returning to my keyboard I did not have many options. Getting more fittings was out of the question; I am broke. Making my 3 hour time window is now deffo out of the window. Wife aggro continued but I activated my ECM’s, Scrams and all available weapons on her, then overloaded.

‘Want the Corpii’s back? 25 mil for both’, it read in local. Without hesitation I figured a quick check of what dropped and asking my killer to return them. FleshDiver answered my call and asked what I wanted. I complimented him on the kill and explained my purpose in his space. I explained my intentions and what I am doing. Then to try and save time, hassle and secure a safe passage I offered for him to keep the Navy Vexor if I win this fight, in return for my gear and an escort. He paused momentarily but then instructed me to come to the top station. ‘I normally don’t do this’ he said, opening a trade window.

To my amazement he traded me all the dropped gear back, minus the rigs.’that’s all I can do for you’ he said and left our private chat. I thanked him in local and offered to give him a mention on the radio interview and in my blog.

In the explosion I lost all the Faction drones, more than 100 millions worth. My rigs where gone too and a few other modules. Mynxee took pity and flicked 150 mil in my direction, I vowed to return it to her but she stressed the fact she will not accept any payment back.

Jumping around the local area got me a new Manticore and Covert Ops cloak then I set of to Rens to buy the missing modules. On route there I realised the Corpii armor reps where part of my original fit, not the Jaxxon Voers fit I intended. I discussed this with my wing woman and I decided to go with the Battle Clinic fit I originally intended, to save a little money.

Rens luckily had some more Faction Bouncers and I grudgingly paid the 60 mil. A few mods later and some rigs for the Manti to be able to hold all my gear and I set off again.

By now Teadaze had joined us and he offered his expertise in getting me to the wormhole entrance safely.

On route to meet Teadaze the wife decided enough is enough and returned fire, podding me instantly. The mic was to go…

No mic through 0.0? What was she thinking? However her alpha strike is strong and my resists non-existent so I obeyed.

The very first 0.0 system I jumped into nearly killed me for real. My heart pounding out of my chest, for there where several bubbles up at the gate. I quickly warped to the nearest celestial where upon landing 2 bubbles appeared. I managed to escape but upon landing at planet 1 another 2 bubbles appeared. Again I got away warping to planet 4 immediately. Mid warp I decided to just hide for a few weeks if I would lose this ship. Landing at planet 4 increased my stress levels further as again 2 bubbles came up. Jebus fuck what is wrong with these guys?!

I managed to escape the system in one piece with my head ready to explode from the amount of blood that had rushed to it. The wife had waited long enough and escaped also, using the front door rather than a jump gate however.

A further 14 jumps where made, lead by the expert scouting of Mr Teadaze. Some small hiccups but nothing life threatening luckily. We arrived at our final destination and were led to the wormhole by Luminus.

The wormhole sparkled brightly, with a dark red coloured heart, beating. Wormholes are fascinating to observe. It’s like looking into the back of a pulsating spoon made of mercury…

TO BE CONTINUED…

Fiction #1 "You win some, you learn some" Chapter 3/4; ‘Kourmonen Clone Facilities’

Chapter 3/4; ‘Kourmonen Clone Facilities’

Nashh opened his eyes. Blurred light bled into his retina. His movement was slowed by bio fluid. Ah yes, I died, he thought. Gentle humming surrounded him. The glass lid of the clone vat opened as the liquid drained. He could breathe again. Nashh slowly tried to step out unsure what to expect, unsure if his new unused legs would carry him.

'Hi, I am Arthur', Arthur Enpiesea said. 'I am the vat controller at this Kourmonen station'. A short slender man from Achura background stuck out his hand to help Nashh out. 'First time I see' Arthur noted scanning the small barcode on the inside of Nashhs right wrist. 'Yeah' Nashh replied slightly dazed and rubbing his head. Hair! 'Why have I got hair? and I still have my tattoos?'. 'Your clone must have been updated when you looked like this' Arthur explained. 'Would you like to purchase an updated clone while you are here?'. 'Sure, I suppose' Nashh said, trying to remember the day he installed this clone.

It must have been a year at least, guessing from the Mohawk he sported last summer. Arthur proceeded with taking a blood sample and scanned Nashhs body. 'I also sell and install implants, depending on availability; I see your records show you have lost some'. 'I won't at the moment I think, I expect to be back here before too long'. 'I wouldn't mind some clothes though' Nashh said now aware he had been naked in front of the Achura scientist for some time. 'Of course' Arthur started, 'the washing and changing facilities are at the end of the hall'. 'If you haven't stored any clothes in your locker, there are some medical pants available, one size fits all' Arthur smiled.

The faint whizzing noise from another vat opening came from right beside him. It was her! Her cloned body as perfect as the other, stirred then burst out. 'Aargch!' she screamed, 'assholes!'. Both men fell silent and took a step back. She took a moment to catch her breath then looked at the scientist and Nashh. 'O, hi Arthur' she spoke calmly as she straightened herself. 'Hi Miss Mynxee, good to see you back' Arthur started, 'had a little accident?'. 'Just fun and games' Mynxee said her eyes now resting on Nashh.


'Close your mouth boy' she said teasingly, 'never seen a naked woman before?'. 'Well I ...' he couldn't finish his sentence. He was suddenly aware she had started to look him up and down slowly, she smiled. She likes it. 'How is your first egg-breaking experience so far' she asked. 'You win some, you learn some' Nashh managed, sweat forming on his brow. She smiled. 'Update me please Arthur, I have to go'. Arthur took the required blood sample and scan.

'See you around pretty boy' Mynxee said. She stood on her toes, balancing herself with her hands on his shoulders and kissed him on the cheek. As she turned and started walking she jokingly shouted 'nice hair-cut!' and grinned.

The two men didn't speak for what felt like an eternity.'Friend of yours?' Arthur broke the silence. 'I suppose' Nashh had gone red in the cheeks again. 'Clones may be sterile but the mechanics still work' Arthur said clearing his throat. 'I see' Nashh said trying to cover his modesty. 'I'd best get changed, thanks for your help Arthur'. 'No problem, anytime, and time again...'

He had lost his implants, his favourite belt and his dads watch. None of it mattered to him. All he wanted was to see her again. And some clothes.

On arrival in one of the many drinking venues of the giant space-station Nashh made his way to the bar. A slim, young lady with full Brutor facial tattoos nodded at him. ‘Do we know each other?’ Nashh muttered whilst signalling over the bar tender. ‘You are not that lucky yet’ Venom Orchid snapped back. ‘Rum & Quafe’ Nashh instructed the bartender. As he looked sideways at the girl he added; ‘and whatever she’s having’. ‘Make mine a double’ Venom smiled at the bartender. It was only then that Nashh noticed the Hellcats buckle the vixen wore on her belt. ‘Are you here with Mynxee?’ Nashh stuttered. ‘No, she has already left’ Venom lifted up her mug and winked at him before emptying it in one go. ‘Working on a secret project’ she continued, ‘nothing for you to worry about’. She stepped away from the bar and tied her shoulder length dreadlocks behind her head. ‘We’ll be back in a few weeks young pirate’ Venom Orchid smiled and patted Nashh on the shoulder. Without any more words exchanged the female buccaneer picked up the bag by her feet, turned and walked out. 'Rum & Quafe please tender' Nashh called over the bartender.

'Rum & Quafe please tender'. 'Another?' the bartender asked Nashh somewhat concerned. 'I have paid for the previous drinks have I not?'. 'Well, yes sir, and I may say you have tipped generously' the tender leaned in 'I merely say it for your concern'. 'It’s the Quafe you see' he continued now whispering. 'It can send one loopy' the tender said putting a finger to his head and twirling it. 'Just the rum then I suppose' Nashh replied as the bar steward straightened up. 'Coming right up sir, would you like to make it a triple for only double the price?'

Some triples for only double the price later and Nashh lay slumped over the bar. Conversations had ranged from love to music. On love the bartender had only been able to advise him to seek her out and to tell her how he felt. The music conversation was even shorter. Nashh had requested for the music to be turned down, to which the tender could only reply 'what music?'.

It was very obviously time for Nashh to retire to his temporary quarters at the Kourmonen space station. Not knowing where she had gone and no way of knowing when he would see her again he retired to his room to contemplate his next move.

The few floors to the sleeping quarters seemed to take forever, hallways appeared stretched to infinity, lights blurred. The forever journey had given him time to think of the one place he could see her. By the time he reached his room and got inside, he knew the clone facilities are off limits and heavily guarded.

But there was another way. Sitting on the edge of his bunk, he unclipped the safety latch holding his blaster in its holster and without a second thought he put the hand cannon to his temple...