*note* These posts are all historical in nature, everything has already happened, and I’m no longer in these corporations at the time of posting, which is why I’m posting. This will be a series of posts about my experiences in Nullsec, the good, the bad, and what I learned as someone who was new to it all.
In April of 2024, I watched a YouTube video talking about making ISK in EVE Online, and in specific, it went into details on how to do this in nullsec, which at the time, I had never lived in before. It was basically click bait, but I didn’t know that, either. The very first step in this video mentioned joining one of the nullsec blocks, Pandemic Horde, and then spinning vexors for hours while semi afk. Since I’ve always been a big fan of the financial side of EVE, I decided I was going to make a new character and try this.
Pandemic Horde Inc is the entry corporation that doesn’t do any background checks, not that they would have found any with my brand new character anyway. I opted not to blog about my adventures for a while, and I’m not a big PVP player anyway, so it’s doubtful that I would have any intel to give. When I first joined I was overwhelmed with the information they throw at you – but I learned it. I joined discord, mumble, and various websites. I read about the corporation rules, where we could rat, where we could do PI. I read about the history of the corporation, where we had come from, and where we were headed.
I was approached by a member of the ‘NBI’ team – this fantastic entry level community called the Newbean Incentive. They check in with new players, offer them free ships & skills, and answer questions. They also provide classes to teach you how to live in nullsec. This program is the main reason I stuck with Pandemic Horde Inc for as long as I did, and I have almost nothing but good to say about it. There are a few ‘bad apples’ who make you feel lesser, who want you to jump through some hoops for them and want you to know how important they are compared to you – but those people are on the minority side. Ideally, you hang out in PHI for a little while, and then after some time passes you move up the ranks to an ESI gated corporation, someone who does background checks on you / your accounts and vets you, before you join. This opens up the areas you can do things in, and so after 2 months of PHI, I did move on.
When I joined PHI I was immediately overwhelmed by it all – but I wanted to make a difference. I wanted to prove my worth, and be a part of things. So when pings went out for fights, I went. My first ‘big’ fight was Ahbazon – I flew logi. There was so much TiDi I was terrified I was going to do something wrong. This fight took 6 hours. It was NOT exciting but the idea of it was. The idea that there were so many pilots around was fascinating. Needless to say, I did not break even in that fight, but it was an experience that set the stage for the immediate future and I was hooked. I felt this strange patriotism towards a corporation that I had only recently heard of, had never been a part of, and I felt like I belonged, and that we could do no wrong. None of this ended up being true, but it didn’t matter.