Mo Money Mo Pwoblems? / The State of lowsec?

Very recently I have sold two of my alts and netted myself a solid 15 billion isk. To be very honest I haven’t been poor for a long time. This was just a onetime big injection of isk.

One character I never used anymore for personal reasons just sat there and it was time to bin him or sell him. 8 billion offered made it an easy choice not to bio him but take the isk. Then with the loss of a T3 worth about a billion on another alt I came to realise that Nashh is the one that should spend all the isk on flash ships and not my alts. I don’t make enough isk to have multiple characters losing expensive ships! So I sold him to making me another 7 billion.

I tried to burn some of the isk quickly to make sure something useful gets done with the isk. I purchased a new prober alt for 2.5 billion, donated 2 billion to the corp, gave away 1 billion in faction ships, purchased a cap fleet (1 moros and 2 thanny’s) and spend 2 billion on faction frigates and cruisers with 2 billion in modules and faction fittings.

My hangar is the sex. Everything I ever wanted and more, there are shiny faction ships in there I can’t even fly yet. My ships are fitted up in the way I want with whatever I want.

I have always had multiple ships ready to go at any time. I did this to avoid the sting of losing one or two. The problem with having the isk is that I undock ships rather carelessly. For situations where a T1 frigate suffices I now take out a faction ship. I engage ships or get into situations that any sane pilot would avoid. Obvious bait? Yes please, why not? I have plenty! Gun-Ho Gun-Ho! Oh crap I am dead. In general sloppiness and over-fitting the basic requirements of my ships I have lost in the region of 1 billion isk. /me shrugs…

I am an atheist, although I do have a strong belief in morals and values. This also leads me to believe in a twisted version of karma, or if you prefer; what goes around, comes around. Shit is coming around. I fitted an Ishtar with Centum A-Type Medium reps, faction point, T2 rigs and more such juicy stuff. Wow, on paper that thing is a beast! Let’s test it? Anyone? Hey dude you free? What about you? Ah nevermind chaps I’ll just shoot at the station for a bit and see how she rolls. Pew! Bish bash bosh, LOL this station sux balls, cup of tea you say? Yes please, o btw did you see so and so, holy fucksticks I forgot to inject some cap! The 1.3 billion Ishtar bought it, due to being careless.

I buy some more faction stuff in Jita, and not that I have any immediate use for it I decide against better judgement to take it home myself, in an Ibis. Yes, a corp-mate offered to cloaky-haul my gear the following day but I didn’t want to wait. Needless to say I didn’t even make it halfway home, losing the 1.2 billion cargo.

I had intended to take very good care of my new prober alt. No I don’t fly a T3 prober/gang booster no more. Instead I figured as I will only be flying a single cheap ship and look after it well to invest in top-spec probing implants. Just before lunch-time I docked up Nashh and my prober alt. I had a cheese sandwich, a cup of coffee and some stick-crisps, you know the ones that look a little like skinny French fries. Nashh was docked up just where he should be, my alt however was docked 44 jumps from Evati. I didn’t even have to think too long to figure out what happened. The station must have rejected my ship as it was still cloaked, then uncloaked it and left it floating outside. As I was tucking into my cheese sandwich a scoundrel blew up my ship and 1.7 billion pod.

One might say; surely you have made some wicked kills to compensate for the soul-destroying losses you have suffered? The answer is pretty simple; no. I have not made any more kills than when I had limited isk. In fact, I have made less kills. To be very honest, I have not scored a satisfying kill for some time, other than a few arranged 1vs1’s and that time I dropped a Thanny on a noob-ship.

Is it the general state of low sec? That seems to be what everyone else is proclaiming. Low sec apparently is shit, the game is fucked. Veterans I respect are fading, not logging in anymore, playing other games, moving on. ‘New-breed-so-called-pirates’ suck mayor balls and either blob or run away like little girls, ruining the game for others, or are they? ECM is overpowered, unless it’s on our side, right? Is strength in numbers? Is running away, hiding, ECM cowardly or clever? Someone is having fun right?

I guess a discussion is what I am asking for; does isk rot the brain? Have I become spoiled beyond my means? Am I now too careless and if I am does it matter? Will I be able to amend my ways? Will my mind ever allow me to return to just T1 ships? T2 and Faction makes you feel like a demi god though right? And they look sexy right? Is it not me? is it you? Is it low-sec? Was it the cheese sandwich? what is the solution to any of these questions? Am I asking too many questions? Is this post about anything at all? did I have to many coffee’s today?

-=o0o=-

Watch this space…

CDM #23; Entity, Lord of the Items

Celebrity Death Match #23; Entity, Lord of the Items

-=o0o=-

The Celeb

If there were to be an -A-list for the way Celebrity Death Match ranks its celebs, this man would be somewhere at the top of the list. ‘The Lord of the Items’ has been playing EVE since 2003, and is best known for that title and what it stands for.

There are various alliances that wield great power through combined isk values; however this man alone, as a single individual is the wealthiest man in our Universe. His power is not used to fund vast armies or to conquer space; he uses his wealth to fund a very noble hobby, collecting and preserving EVE’s history.

I had heard and read about this man over 2 years ago, as a mission runner, drooling over Navy Issue Ravens, and then looking into a State Raven. Why were they never available on the market or contracts? Looking into rare ships history a bit further it became clear how rare some of these ships actually are. EVEWiki is a great tool to look up basic information on guides or items. Every time I looked at a rare ship’s history; the name ‘Entity’ could be found in the text somewhere…

Entity holds the single largest collection of items in EVE. This includes one hell of a lot Faction, Commander and complex gear most of us could not afford to buy a single piece of. Other than that there are items in Entity’s collection that do not even exist anymore; prototype drones, artefacts. Then there are the items most pilots only dream of having; the rare ships, and boy, does he have a nice collection.

I feel extremely honoured to have been given some time to speak to Mr Entity, he made time for me, joked with me and spoke openly about his history and pretty much anything I asked of him. His involvement with CCP, his banning and un-banning from the game, his isk income… you name it.

One of the reasons I started this project was to be able to meet Pilots of the ‘celebrity’ persuasion, see what they are about, and find out what makes their EVE-day tick. Entity has been one of the most interesting EVEbrities to have met so far, a unique individual with a great history and noble existence in our Universe.

-=o0o=-

Preparations

Entity had not heard of my blog prior to me contacting him, many celebs not in the blogging community haven’t. Its nerve-wracking trying to explain what I do and why I would like to meet up with a potential participant for CDM. Not knowing of CDM, people must think I am nuts. The Lord of the Items was as suspicious as I suspected, but took the time to hear me out and read over previous CDM’s before agreeing to participate.

Interceptors it was to be, another CDM first. Jokes were exchanged about there not being any ‘rare’ interceptors… even if there was, he wouldn’t have undocked in one. I am glad he wouldn’t have; he is preserving items that pilots like me would have foolishly undocked in, then lost, forever.

Faction items were allowed as was Faction ammo, no ECM or ECM drones, other than that everything goes.

As soon as the fight was confirmed I contacted the only man I know that gives me ‘no-bullshit-advice’ on ships, ship-fittings, tactics, my hair and anything else I need help with. Lady Shaniqua answered the call and we got to work…

Yes Entity can be found on Battleclinic but with hardly any history; kills or losses no concrete info is available. He has an army of alts that do his Industry work for him so there is no need for him to have his skills trained in that direction. With well over 100 million skill-points he must be able to fly all races, and be able to fit them as he pleases and well.

Our best guess would be that he would come in a close range, high DPS fit ship and therefore he must be coming in an AB fit Taranis. Within minutes LS ruffled up and old Rail-Ranis fit, some modifications were made, tactics discussed and that was that. The tactics were simply to ‘kite’ at the edge of scram- and web-range peppering the pain. If Entity would for some reason bring a kiting MWD fit himself, manual flight would have to trick him into scram range and victory would be assured. Discussions went on about ‘orbit’ and ‘keep-at-range’ but for the most part I was confident that with this ship I stood a chance, however so slim...


-=o0o=-

The Fight

With Entity not having undocked other than to collect rare items for several years, stood in my favour for sure, I PvP as often as I can. However with a near unlimited budget and with a significant skill-point advantage this fight was sure to swing in his favour. I had already accepted the loss before undocking.

The agreed system was a mere few jumps from my home system and the journey there was without hassle, evading a small camp on the way. I docked up in the agreed system to find a missing module. For some reason the Stasis Web was missing from my setup however a replacement was quickly found.

I baptised my Taranis ‘Entity Destiny’ and undocked into the blackness… and certain doom.

The Carrier that had previously sat at the undock, had gone, and the system was fairly quiet.

‘mm a Ranis?’ Entity quizzed in our fleet chat.

Quickly pinging the scanner revealed no ships in space within 14.5 AU, he must have seen me come in, perhaps the Carrier was his alt, or maybe he was watching me, cloaked.

Silence on deck, as usual, silence before the storm.

With nothing left but the fight, we wished each-other good luck and I initiated the Warp-drive.

Instructions to the Ranis navigation systems were clear, I intended to land at 10k from my foe and remain at roughly that distance.

The long warp didn’t settle my nerves, hitting the D-scanner again as soon as I was within range showed up a single Claw. A Claw? Is that good or bad? I am not familiar with the Claw and don’t know anyone that flies it, in fact I don’t think I have seen one for some time. Should I change tactics? Should I try a tight orbit?

The warp-tunnel collapsed, spewing out my frigate sized vessel, my time to think was up, time for action.

Entity had manoeuvred himself away from the warp-in-point, creating a distance of about 25 kilometres. This was not good; if he was range fit he could easily outrun me, and my anti-blaster-Ranis fit would be useless.

Drones are often overlooked on ships that can only field a few of them, with this in mind I immediately ejected two Hobgoblins and on resolving lock both sped towards the enemy Interceptor. As expected both were ignored as the gap between us rapidly closed. The drones initially overshot but on the return-loop they opened fire and steadily began eating away at the Claw’s defences.

Our speeding vessels nearly collided, both clearly determent to keep each-other close enough to keep within the optimal range of our weapons. Entity’s Auto-cannons ripped large chunks of shield away from my spacecraft, demolishing it in merely a few volleys.

Red and blue lightning snaked from Entity’s Claw to my Ranis; diminishing my capacitor every 4 seconds. A quick check of his speed showed he was AB fit and I turned of my scram, saving every last bit of capacitor for my overheated Rail-guns, Afterburner and Web.

Desperately I tried to create a little distance as my Armour buckles and tears as easily as the shield had done. Flames erupt from my Ranis, this fight was nearing its end, my end.

The superheated rounds of Caldari Navy Antimatter propelled from red-hot-Rail-guns combined with the power of two high-damage drones slowly took their toll on the armour-tanking claw. Too slow however and closing down my HUD I prepared to capture the moment I would valiantly explode in my efforts to take down the Lord of the Items.

I selected his vessel as the focal point, with myself in the background for maximum cinematic effect.

The camera jolted heavily and a burning Taranis appeared in my overview. I… what? The confusion took a few seconds to settle down until I realized what this meant. Opening the HUD showed my vessel had a solid 15% hull remaining and all three mid-slots burned out. Unbelievable! I made it!

-=o0o=-

Aftermath

It took about a minute to make my way back to Entity’s wreck and raid its contents. I returned all dropped goods to its original owner, as I always do. It did drop one unusual item, estimated at about 80 million isk and the Claw sported T2 rigs.

His fit was more expensive than mine; his skills are nearly three times that of my own, why did I win? The answer is not that simple, yes I did manage to get myself to a range where his guns did less damage, whilst mine still did full damage. The truth is; Entity didn’t overheat his modules or weapons.

Mynxee introduced me to overheating, a skill-book I immediately purchased and use every fight I get myself into. It is often the first thing I do, even before a fight starts, it is second nature to me.

I explained to Entity that most modules had burned out and laughed, he went silent for a moment but then stuttered; ‘Crap, I forgot to overheat’. PVP skills go rusty if you don’t use them regularly, it’s not like riding a bike, it’s a spaceship.

This simple equation shows the result if Entity would have overheated;

WINNER =\lim_{z\rightarrow z_0} f(z)=f(z_0)ax^2 >(hothothot)+ bx + c = 0 (Mad skillz) ax2 + x bx + c = 0> = Entity

Pretty obvious indeed, perhaps next time Mr Entity…

-=o0o=-

The video

After my second meeting with Mr Entity, where we spend maybe 2 hours talking about life, love, EVE and other related stuff, I decided to include a video with this CDM. This is not an easy decision as I already knew how much time it takes to make a video, to a standard that pleases me enough.

I had prepared the basic intro to the video in the weeks before our fight, I did some basic editing of the video and Lady Shaniqua helped me get some extra footage to make the video into a spectacular one. I posted a very basic version of it on youtube for LS and Sassy B to give me some feedback on. We agreed it was too long and LS wanted to see some kittens?!

A further 30 hours had been spent on the video; editing, clipping, adding effects, adding music, overlays, you name it.

And then my laptop crashed, and no, I didn’t back anything up. A years’ worth of fraps, programs, fittings, blog-posts, artwork and the Entity video gone forever.

So for your viewing pleasure I present the very first upload of the video, pre-editing;

Fiction; TFS Tibbs

Tibbs contemplated his next move, his could take a while.

'Chess..' Nashh sighed. 'You fucking loser'. A grin hid his poor attempt at sarcasm.

Sarcasm, Nashh never quite got it. He had enjoyed playing the game himself, as a youth, many moons ago. These days he lacked the patience, fast paced, high octane action was now more his style.

Nashh leant against the inside post of the office door.

"The office" was pathetic really, in size, compared to the giant hangar it serviced; it had once been a freight container.

It had a coffee machine, 20 cheap fold-up-chairs around a long square table. Various blackboards had combat schematics and tactics drawn on them. Some rubbed out, some partly amended. Arrhideaus had left his mark by drawing random blobs, vaguely resembling frigates.

For the quality of the furniture, fixtures and fittings, it is rather surprising that so much time was spent here by the Bastards. It served as a staffroom, canteen or meeting place. A placard above the door read 'Dbastards' referring to days long gone, the days when the Bastards were known as the Dastardly Bastards.

It was rather quiet though today; just Tibbs and his chessboard.

'Where have you been mate?' Tibbs asked, not looking away from the chessboard.

'Busy' Nashh replied cold and direct, 'Queen to b4'.

'Ha! Yeah right' Tibbs muttered. Looking up he managed to get a glimps of Nashh leaving the shed-like office.

Tibbs pushed the intercom button. He glanced from the intercom panel to the chessboard and confidently proclaimed his move; knight c8 to a9, check.

A moment of silence passed…

'I had hoped you would do that' Flashfresh's voice crackled over the intercom. 'Queen to a3, check-mate' Flash reported with a hint of joy in his voice, 'good game my friend, good game'.

Tibbs snorted an embarrassed smile, annoyed he had spent as much time as he had on that move and then getting it so wrong.

'Well played sir, well played'.
Tibbs hesitantly pushed the intercom button again, 'what if I had moved queen to b4?'

The intercom went silent. Long enough to make Tibbs wonder if the message hadn't come through on the other side.

The intercom crackled; I don’t know, Flash paused; you may have lasted another hour...

Bastard for Life

Some of you that have me as an RL 'friend' on facebook may know that I am a fiend for ink. Over the last 14 odd years I have been slowly building on my collection of tattoos and many have now joined up to become part of one big blob of ink. /me shrugs...

The wife hates most if not all of them and occasionally forbids me to get any more, whenever she does I do excactly the opposite and get some more. Dunno why, just how I roll I guess...

Anyways, most tats have represented someone, something or a time in my life special or dear to me. I asked Mr Rixx Javix to design a tattoo that represented my hobby and the joy that I have playing EVE, for however long I will end up playing it. (please note it is also incorporated in my blog banner).

The tatt is indeed the ensignia of my beloved corp the Bastards and the many interesting people I have met in my time with them, friends or foes. I dont know how long this EVE addiction will last, perhaps a few more years? forever? who knows. Will I ever leave the Bastards voluntarilly? who knows, I certainly dont intend to.

Regardles, after today, I will be a Bastard for Life;

Crashed out...

I am out of game for the forseable future as my laptop has crashed, bigtime. My best mate and IT wizzkid is working hard to try and save what is left of my hard-drive and hopefully can salvage all the hard work I have put in the CDM#23 video, all my art-work and blog-posts from the last 11 months.

I shall have more news by Sunday...

ps. thanks for all of you signing the petition to save Capsuleer, no luck however; Capsuleer is dead...

Fiction; Welcome back...

Nashh was excited; impatient almost, to see him again. It had been some time since he had left, 'extended leave' as he had referred to it. It had sounded like a more permanent move from space-piracy at first...

Nashh's Ishtar slipped into the Gultraten Space Station. Having exited the advanced-tech vessel and his pod, he strode down the lengthy hallway towards the core elevator-shafts of the enormous station. Conscious of not looking nervous, he tried not to run, but excitement made him walk silly fast.

There were various other elevators on the way but none of them ran the full height of the station however. And Kane much preferred the bars situated in the upper parts of the Gulraten station. Not that the food was any better, or the drinks any cheaper... Being up high simply gave the illusion of a better view.

'The Watering Hole' was the place of choice, Nashh had been here a few times, not that he could remember much of any of the previous occasions he had attended here.

The tall, toned and slender figure at the bar was unmistakable, Kane Rizzel, one of the most revered pirates ever to have roamed the New Eden night skies.

Nashh smiled, a spring in his step propelled him forth towards the bar. Kane spun round slowly, already anticipating Nashh's arrival.

'Welcome back! you sonofa..!’ Nashh shouted... Kane's bear-hug was tight, so tight it squeezed out enough air from Nashh's lungs to stop him from finishing his sentence.

‘Good to see you... you fucking Bastard’, Kane started, glancing down at the Bastard insignia on Nashh's chest. 'Can't believe Flash still hangs on to you after all this time ha! Quafe?!’ Kane pointed at the smiling and waiting bartender.

‘Ello Mr Kadavr’, Roy the tender grinned, ‘good to see you again’.

‘And you' Nashh nodded, smiling politely. Roy looked familiar, but nothing more than a vague memory.

Kane sighed a deep breath, ‘I missed this place you know ...’. He leaned nonchalantly with his back against the bar, slowly surveying the busy pub.

Roy had put a bottle of rum on the bar next to the two glasses of Quafe and smiled at Nashh. His smile diminished as Nashh waved his offer away, shaking his head.

‘Sixteen weeks my friend, sixteen fucking weeks and I feel better and stronger than ever!’

Nashh nodded, smiled and picked up his Quafe. 'Four weeks and counting' he mumbled before taking a sip.

Kane half turned and slapped Nashh across the shoulder. The extra height and weight Kane had, provided enough power for Nashh to swallow some of his Quafe and inhale some at the same time.

‘Fucking well done chief!’ He belted out excited. Mr Rizzel picked up his Quafe and in one smooth movement let it slide down his gullet.

Nashh stared at the feared solo pirate; admiration had always been the overwhelming factor whenever they had met. So many desired to be his friend, or merely be given the opportunity to speak to him.

Kane slammed his empty glass on the bar, exhaling loudly.

‘I was meaning to ask you Kane...’

A sharp bleeping sound interrupted Nashh mid-sentence.

Kane retrieved a data-pad from his jacket. Fixing his eyes on the data-pad he waved his hand, gesturing for Nashh to continue his question.

‘Well.. I was just thinking if...', Nashh looked from Kane to the data-pad, wondering if Kane was still listening, 'I was just hoping that maybe...'

'Holy-fuck-sticks!' Kane interrupted, slapping a hand on Nashh's shoulder. ‘Don't move sunshine, I'll be right back, some friends need a little help'.

'..Can I come..' Nashh already turned his body towards the exit.

'This won't take long’, Kane smiled, his piercing glance deep into Nashh’s eye sockets and firm hand on his shoulder made it clear he was not to get involved. I’ll be right back' Kane smirked.

Not for a long time had he seen Kane in such a good mood, happy to be alive. Happy to be back, killing and ransoming, doing the thing he was good at.

'Good luck…' Nashh nodded, trying his best not to look disappointed. Kane was already exiting and didn't respond, big strides carrying him out.

‘I'll just wait here’, Nashh mumbled to himself as he turned back to face the bar.

Roy smiled him another smile.

Nashh regarded him for a moment and then looked from the jolly tender to his Quafe and back.

‘He ain't coming back anytime soon huh?’

‘Not today Mr Kadavr, but he'll be back here, he always does'

Nashh looked at his Quafe, with pity…

‘Give it some flavour please Roy…’

‘A double, coming right up sir’.

Roy smiled.

PLEASE SIGN THIS PETITION!

Save capsuleer!

Christmas 2 years ago a dear friend bought me an iPod touch. Within a week the device and me have become inseparable; it's the last thing I put down at night, the first thing I pick up in the morning.

Why? Because of Capsuleer. The single greatest application made to date.

Great design, smooth handling and features wanted, ney; needed by every self-respecting pod-pilot.

The blogging-side of Capsuleer have been entertaining my bus/train journeys ever since. Promoting eve and allowing us to keep in touch with the eve community. It is Capsuleer and the bloggers I have met through there, that inspired me to start blogging myself.

With the release of EVE-gate, another great addition to CCP's arsenal to keep us connected to new Eden 23/7, the Capsuleer program is surely THE only handheld tool to integrate these features with?! With new developments already in the pipeline, all of us eagerly await an update or extension for Capsuleer.

To my dread late last night I received an update spelling; 'the end of Capsuleer'

This simply cannot happen! I plead with you to pretty please sign this blog post with your character name, and if you wish a few words of support. I shall forward this list to CCP and eon by the 15th October and beg them to reconsider their support for this most excellent, must have eve-related product.

If you write a blog please draw attention to this post, tell all your friends, spam Jita and help keep Capsuleer alive!