Saturday, October 24, 2009

Low Sec Hauling Can Be Profitable, But Also Costly

2012-03-14 -- Reviewing my log entries made prior to my absence I have discovered several left in a draft state and have published them. Unfortunately this one did not recover completely.
It started out as a normal day for me. I had recently discovered a program to install in my POD to help in my hauling endeavors. With a little work it would plot the best routes and pick the best commodities to make a profit off of moving goods around in my trusty [[ship:Bestower]].
...
I was under attack immediately after jumping into the system
...
Should have known low-sec was a bad idea
...
The [[km:8349299][loss]] set me back probably more than the profit of the past few runs
...
One of the guys in [[corp-kb:IDT]] was nice enough to send me a few ISK to replace my ship. Always nice to have friends.

Thursday, October 15, 2009

Betrayle Hurts, and Lost Me an Osprey

2012-03-14 -- Reviewing my log entries made prior to my absence I have discovered several left in a draft state and have published them.

Today would be the day I learned that New Eden is a dark and lonely place, full of evil and vile beings.

I have been in [[corp-kb:New Interstellar Order]] for a little while now and was excited to join them on a corp mining op, even if it was rather early for me. I had accustomed myself to a clock where my piloting begins around 0:00 EVE-time during the week and maybe 15:00 EVE-time on the weekends. However, our mining op was at 13:00 EVE time, a couple hours ealier than I really wanted to be up, but I wanted to be part of the corp so I got up early and headed to my POD to start some mining.

Things went smoothly for awhile until a [[Myrmidom]] warped in. We didn't think to much about it as it was highsec, so he wasn't likely to jump us out right, but instead he can flipped us. And that is what started a series of unfortunate events that almost lead to me foresaking the life of capsuleer to go back to a life on solid ground.

You see the world is full of people who live off other's tears. That have no other goal in life but to anger and frustrate other people and just generally be jerks. I understand there is some allure to espionage, but being a traitor just to be a jerk is low and dirty. There are no rules of engagement for morality, CONCORD doesn't show up insta-gib capsuleers for being scum. They should, but they don't.

Now I have no problems with pirates, if I wander into low-sec its at my own pearl. I'm even okay with can flipping, after all CONCORD gives me permission to attempt to exact vengeance on the theif, but I don't have to and they can only steal what is in a jetcan, which after all, we knew was a possible outcome. So where is this all coming from? Well, back to the story.

As I was saying we were mining along and [[Myrmidom]] piloted by [[player-kb:Neekoon Trabird]] warps in. He glides on over to one of our cans and flips it. "Well, thats just great," I though to myself. One of the corp pilots had his own myrm in system so [[player-kb:Crimson Slash]] went and fetched it from a near by station. After warping back he engaged the enemy, well, lets just say that it didn't go so [[player-kb:8265236][great]].

Low Sec: You Cost Me A Cormorant

I've been busy in the world of New Eden, flying around, killing rats, mining roids, just generally having a good time and making some ISK. I found that ratting was actually enjoyable, it seems like a public service to warp from belt to belt taking out those pesky [[Guristas]] and then salvage their remains. The problem was two-fold, one, they weren't worth much in the way of bounties where I was, and two, they were a little to easy. So, in hearing that the lower the security status a system has, the more dangerous the rats (and hence higher bounties) I plotted a course to a nearby lowsec system. All went well, I killed a few rats and had a great time.

A couple of days go by and I decide to head back out to lowsec since it was entertaining the last time, this time however would prove to be different. I picked [[sys:Ishomilken]] which is a nearby .4 system, and set off in my trusty [[Cormorant]]. My fitting skills left something to be desired as I had an odd mixture of railgun sizes, 2x 150mm,  2x 125mm, and 2x 75mm, all firing basic [[antimatter charge s]] with a couple of salvagers to clean up the rats remains. While not a stellar fit it worked great for what I was doing, picking off relatively harmless rats.

While in a belt looking for targets I noticed someone warp in . . . . and they were flashy-red. No wardec's were on at the moment so it meant one thing . . . a pirate. Not some pathetic Gurista, but another capsuleer set on my destruction. I quickly aligned to a celestial and warped off, thinking myself safe I paused for a second to let my heart slow down. Again my ship warned me of an incoming vessel, he had manged to follow me. I warped off again, barely making it away, he was faster this time and I was flustered, he managed to land just behind me at the next celestial and engaged. Sirens were blaring as I was alerted that I had been warp scrambled and webbed. I tried to run, I didn't even return fire, but hopped I could get away. I was to flustered to even notice the pilots name or the ship type. Alas, my ship was shredded under a barrage of missile fire. I warped my capsule out as fast as I could, pounding on the warp button. I then headed back to high-sec jump gate, again pounding the jump button until I was safely back under the watchful eye of CONCORD.

A lovely [[km:8263577]] was generated which allowed me to actual find out who had attacked me. Well, first off he had been flying a [[Caracal]]. I had never heard of such a ship nor even took a second glance at it. It wouldn't be till far later that I would eventually fly my vary own Caracal. Who was it you ask? Why none other than [[player-kb:Octavious Maxamus]], who earned the privilege of being the 2nd person to earn a personal -10 standing and who I someday hope to POD.

Monday, October 12, 2009

The First Ship Lost: My Kestrel I Will Miss You

I switched on my log viewer and notice I'd fallen way behind. I find that piloting takes way more of my time and when I come back from a long day the last thing on my mind is to rehash it. However, I guess I might have some fellow capsuleers who like to hear what I'm up to. Then again, considering my hiatus they may have written me off as dead.

These events took place coming up on two months ago.

I had recently learned how to anchor [[giant secure containers]] (GSC) in space for my meager mining operations. Mining is not my favorite thing to do, but at times the gentle hum of the mining lasers is relaxing and it allows me to catch up on other things and study my skills. My [[Bantam]] floated in space with the mining lasers droning away, chipping up bits of rock. Now I had just recently joined NIO and new to being a capsuleer and was out mining in the middle of a war dec. (Now in hindsight not the brightest thing in universe.)

Things were going swimmingly when I saw someone warp in who was red, again, I was new and didn't know the difference between red and flashy-red. Thinking it a war target I warped away to dock up at my home station. Before I left I got a good look at the ship class, it was a [[Griffin]]. Now, all I knew was that Griffins favored ECM a bit and that it was a frigate. Eager to pick I fight I hopped in my [[Kestrel]] and warped back out to the belt I had just been mining in. I set my throttle to full and began to close the distance as fast as my little Kestrel could move. Once I was in range I opened fire and quickly found my self warp-scrambled and under heavy fire. I panicked and begin jamming the warp button as I aligned to a celestial, but alas the "Talon of Vengeance" was unable to out of scram range and quickly disintegrated.

It was a very sad moment, I had never lost a ship before and she had been a gift from an older friendly capsuleer. I shuffled off in my pod down trodden and docked back up at the station. I eventually convoed the guy because I couldn't figure out why he was red because at some point I noticed that he wasn't in any corp that had us wardec'd. Turns out he was a can flipper and was there to pray on new capsuleers like myself. And was from that point forwards that I set my first standings to -10 with the now infamous (in my mind) [[player-kb:Mores DeVoid]]. And for those of you who just have to see it, here is the [[km:8236534]].

Sunday, October 11, 2009

New Interstellar Order

The [[Kestrel]] entered a sharp turn pulling into the acceleration of the afterburner as it ignited giving an extra boost of speed. Trying to maintain the ridiculously small orbit, the pilot could "feel" the ship strain under the stress, but he knew she would hold, she always held.

The Gurista ship turned and looped and dived in an attempt to shake the Kestrel but her pilot was just to good. It dawned on the pirate that the Kestrel must be a capsuleer's ship, it was the only way it could be keeping up so well. Checking his status board he saw that his shields had melted away under the barrage of missiles the Kestrel spat at him. In a last ditch effort the Gurista pulled the ship into a hard rolling turn, headed straight towards the Kestrel. But it was a futile effort, the last of his armor was blown away and the ships delicate internal structure was taking damage.  Alarms were blaring in a deafening cacophony as the ship screamed in pain. "This is it," thought the pirate. He watched the brilliant trail of the missiles engine as it streaked towards him.


I smiled as felt the slight shudder of my missile launchers release another volley of pure Sabretooth death into the on coming Gurista. It had been a rather dull fight in all honesty. The capsuleer's POD gave the pilots quite an edge over normal ships. The beauty of the cybernetic interface was a greatly reduced latency as mere thought alone was enough to control my ship. In pleasing fireball the Gurista's ship exploded leaving nothing but a scared and twisted wreckage behind. Checking my overview showed the immediate grid was clear of enemies. My comm beeped at me and an agent notification popped up indicting the target vessel had been destroyed. With the mission complete I aligned to the Science and Trade Institute School at Itamo VI - Moon 6. My ship picked up speed and then slipped into the familiar warp tunnel.

At some point in the past week I had moved my home base to Itamo VI - Moon 6 - Science and Trade Institute School, a place from my past. Itamo is a great system. With a .7 security status it allowed the anchoring of GSC for my mining runs and had enough agents in system to keep me busy. Its also somewhat of a dead in system, while it has 7 gates, 5 of them lead to true dead in systems, one is only yet one more jump from a dead end, and the last leads to Maurasi, which leads out into the rest of The Forge, including to Jita. This made for a great spot to settle down for a bit and get the hang of being a capsuleer.

While STI had served me well it was time to move onto a real corporation. I spent a couple of days looking through recruitment bulletins and talking to various recruitment officers. Someone had told me that looking for corp was a two-way interview, that not only was the corp accepting me, but that I was choosing the corp, and should ask all the question I wanted to. So, I took that piece of advice to heart and grilled all the recruiting officers trying to find a corp that would fit my needs. Determined leaderships and strong vision for the future were the key components I was looking for, not to mention some galactic domination in the future.

The problem is I'm a bit impatient and also rather new to the life of a capsuleer. While I managed to find one corp whose recruiting material was excellent and had me wanting to join up right away, the problem was I was to new. They didn't want fresh recruits but moderately seasoned pilots, it would take about 7 months before I could even begin to be considered. So, I had to set my sights somewhat lower and focus on corps recruiting fresh capsuleers.

After a bit more searching and a couple more interviews with recruitment officers I finally found a corp, that sounded like it would be a good place to join up. New Interstellar Order was a relatively new corp, but was growing and eager to expand. The CEO is Arondor and seems like a nice enough guy, so I decided to join up. This required plotting a course to Aokannitoh to get to a corp office to sign up. It was a short trip, 5 jumps from Itamo, and I was there. Aokannitoh was dead-end system with only a single station, so finding the correct station was mind numbingly easy.

I don't relish the process of leaving my POD, its rather long and annoying. But there are times when you actually have to be somewhere in person. Once aboard the station, cleaned up, and dressed to impress, I made my way towards the corporation offices section. Checking the directory I located the NIO office and headed that way. Finding it with ease I told the receptionist I was there to apply to join the corp. I filled in the application marveling to myself that beuricratics haven't changed in millennia and they still want red-tape and triplicates and they like to make you show up physically and use an electronic pad to fill out a form, by hand, just to be difficult. Even the immortal capsuleers still had to obey the red-tape.

With my application complete I headed to the station concourse to find something to eat. Our PODs are great, amazing marvels of technology, but intravenous feeding gets old and a body misses honest to goodness food. Perusing the selection of restaurants I picked a mom-n-pop shop that looked greasy and delicious. I found a table in a corner towards the back where I could keep an eye on the entrance and examined the menu. The waitress came by and I ordered iced tea, a favorite drink of mine that supposedly traces its roots back to the old world. Not being a picky eater I asked her what was good and took her recommendation on the best dish they served.

A few minutes passed and I sipped my tea waiting for the food and taking in the sites as people bustled about the concourse browsing the myriad of shops and kiosks. My food finally arrived and it was a sandwich of sorts, a greasy meat patty topped with some whitish vegetable chopped up and served with a side of wedged shaped starchy vegetables. I dug in and it was fantastic. When the waitress returned to fill my drink I asked the name of the dish and she said, "Its called an onion burger with fries. Its from the old world." And off she went with a wink, to serve some other customer.

Thursday, October 8, 2009

Thanks For the Kestrel

My skills have been improving, but it seems so slow. The life of capsuleer is just to exciting and I can't wait to fly bigger and better ships. However, I've been heeding the advice of wiser capsuleers who say learn to learn first. Studying learning skills is even more mind numbing that working to complete a course on Science or Electronics. So, I sprinkle in some more interesting studies in with my learning skills. 


Being a proud Caldari I've been studying to become proficient in rockets and missiles. As my skills progressed I decided I wanted to fly a missile boat, the Caldari Kestrel. Now the Kestrel would be the first ship I bought, so far all my other ships were provided by the training agents. However, I didn't actually have to fork over my hard earned ISK! A friendly Capsuleer had a spare kestrel fitted that he had long out grown and was willing to give it to me. So we warped out to safe spot and he ejected into space I signaled my POD to connect up the ship.


Once on board I had the computer run a full systems check to see what the ship was equipped with:


[Kestrel, MissileBoat]
Reactor Control Unit I
Reactor Control Unit I

Civilian Shield Booster I
Small Shield Extender I
Cold-Gas I Arcjet Thrusters

'Malkuth' Standard Missile Launcher I, Sabretooth Light Missile
'Malkuth' Standard Missile Launcher I, Sabretooth Light Missile
'Malkuth' Standard Missile Launcher I, Sabretooth Light Missile
'Malkuth' Standard Missile Launcher I, Sabretooth Light Missile

Small Ancillary Current Router I
[empty rig slot]
[empty rig slot]





"Not to shabby," I thought to myself. Only problem was I didn't quite have the skills up to run the Reactor Control Units. Which meant I couldn't run all the launchers to begin with. I quickly plotted a course and warped back to the STI station and grabbed the book for Energy Grid Upgrades and started studying, I had to complete level 2 of the course before I could figure out how to bring those reactor control units online and keep them running. Still, it was a beautiful ship. 


After a couple hours of studying Energy Grid Upgrades I took a break and pulled up the IFF interface and began the process of changing my identification signal. Her new name is "Talon of Vengeance."


Monday, October 5, 2009

Immortal Capsuleer


It's been a day or two since I first entered my capsule. STI is still my home; it's been a friendly place thankfully. I have met several other capsuleers that have been around awhile that are happy to give advice to a new comer eager to make place for himself in New Eden. For several days now, I have been accustoming myself to the life of capsuleer, completing the missions the training agents had given me, acquiring a couple new ships, and so on. I will forever fondly remember my first ship, my IBIS, but I was happy to move up in the world, onto a Merlin.

My Merlin is a great little ship, though I'm sure its fitting is horrible. There is just so much to learn about equipping one's ship adequately. I had been spending a little time mining in my Bantam to make some ISK, so when I received my first badger I knew I had to learn to fly it. That would make moving ore so much easier. This, however, required dedicating myself to be a full time capsuleer. You see, up until now I had the option of backing out with no commitments to this new life, but in order to keep going I had to make the decision to become an immortal capsuleer. The final step was to be cloned.

The medlab at a Cromeaux Inc. facility is harshly lit with glaring white lights. Doctors and med-bots scurry around a lone figure laying on a table. A med-bot approaches the table with tiny sensor modules on its tray. With amazing speed and grace, the many jointed arms fly around deftly placing sensors onto the body. Life-signs must be monitored with greater accuracy than remote scanning can accomplish, cloning is a tricky business. The capsuleers access to cloning bays is what makes them immortal.


Another med-bot approaches with a tube filled with a silvery substance, it moves and glitters in the light, appearing alive. The nanites are injected into the nasal passages where they begin their trek to the brain. These miniscule machines work their way into the brain where they begin attaching themselves to key points in hippocampus, entorhinal cortex, perirhinal cortex, cerebellum, and striatum. These regions of the brain are important for the storage of memory and the presence of the nanites is what allows the cloning process to retain skills and memories. The nanites are used to aid the burning scanner in the POD, which is responsible for the snapshot of the brain at precisely the time of death, and then the subsequent transmission of the brain scan to the nearest clone facility. However, the amount of information the nanites can effectively retrieve from the brain is limited by the number of nanites present. This is why as the capsuleers train and learn they must periodically return to a cloning lab to have additional nanites added to allow the retrieval of the hosts ever growing body of knowledge.

The cloning process is not entirely pleasant, nor is it particularly painful, mainly it is just strange. I woke up in a softly lit recovery room a mere 10 minutes later with the clone process complete and my brain full of nanites. I am now an official capsuleer, I am now immortal.

Saturday, October 3, 2009

Science and Trade Institute

Officially a capsuleer, I join up with the Science and Trade Institue (STI) corporation at Jouvulen III. Here is where I will begin to learn the ins and outs of being a capsuleer. STI is an open corp many of us new Caldari capsuleers join. Its nothing special, full of people, some rookies, others, well, they just don't want to bother with CEO's breathing down their necks. Really its a pretty friendly place, with many helpful people. It definetly beats the "Rookie Help" channel, come on people.

I opened up my comm channel the other day and saw "Rookie Help" scrolling by and the discussion turned to some anatomical function. I swear, the network must have been hacked and half the people in the channel aren't even capsuleers but school kids with to much time on a computer.

I board my Ibis and settle in. Sadly all civilian equipment, but hey, it was free. Civilian miner, check, civilian gatling gun, check. Propulsion systems online, cpu and power-grid nominal. I toggle the comm, "Requesting permission to undock." A brief pause, "Permission granted, undock at will. Fly safe." comes the reply. I smack the undock button, maybe  a bit to hard, but I'm eager to get out of here.

An small unassuming IBIS undocks from STI Jouvulen III, thrusters fire and it gains distance from the station, avoiding other pilots the ship begins to align towards a nearby celestial body. In a flash it leaves normal space and warps towards its destination leaving only a ripple in space as a testament to its departure. No other pilot pays any attention to the departure of that small IBIS, its one of hundreds that will depart in a similar fashion over the course of the day. And none would guess the path that lies ahead of that unassuming pilot.

Into Space

I don't remember exactly what led me to become a capsuleer. Perhaps is was the stories of old, the epic wars over systems, such as the BoB defense of F-TE1T System, Delve, against the invasion of the Coalition forces in an attempt to destroy the supposed production of a Leviathan-class Titan. Perhaps it was the allure of riches, trading, production, mining, all ways to untold wealth. Regardless, I finally entered my POD to join the ranks of the Immortal Capsuleers.

Immortality has come at great cost. The process of preparing my body for cloning and neural implants has not been kind. The mind is such a fragile thing and still not fully understood. Opening of the various regions of the brain to allow for neural implants causes irreparable damage to those very regions to be augmented. In preparation for opening slot 2 to install memory augmentation implants parts of my memory was damaged. I've forgotton most of my child hood, the doctors say the memories are technically still intact, but merely severed from the rest of the brain.

Here begins the story of my life as an Immortal Capsuleer . . .