2024

What Did I Learn?

stargrace August 31, 2024 0Comment

Joining Pandemic Horde Inc back in April of 2024 opened a few doors to me that I never knew existed. First of all, a huge number of the regular / steady EVE Online players belong to nullsec blocks. Whether it’s Goons, Pandemic Horde, or someone else. Even if you don’t play in nullsec, I dare say that everything that happens in EVE, is touched in some way by these players. Whether it’s the huge battles & content that happens, the mining, or the ratting. To implement things like scarcity within null is to make a change that trickles down and affects every single person in the game – and scarcity, is not good. CCP needs these players to keep doing their thing, so that other aspects of the game continue to thrive and survive. I was astounded at just how many nullsec players are active in the game. On reddit there’s tons of comments about nullsec players crying when changes happen – but nullsec players are the majority. Implementing changes that cause them to quit, is bad. Whether or not everyone else likes it.

Content is good. Cheap ships are good because that lets everyone undock and create that content. If we’re all too scared to undock because ships are expensive, that’s bad. Lack of content is bad. People LOVE the big fights. They LOVE being a part of something larger than themselves. They thrive on the drama. It was so easy to get caught up in it all. Some take it a lot more seriously than others.

Because Pandemic Horde Inc doesn’t have a screening process, ‘Awox’ is common. This is when someone joins only to lead the enemies right to your own alliance. Sometimes it’s as simple as a 1 day member, sometimes it’s someone who has been around plotting for months. Scams are common, preventions are put in place, until those are figured out and so on.

I remained loyal to Pandemic Horde while within their corporation, but eventually you learn you’re just one tiny little insignificant person within a giant cog of other more important people. In a lot of operations, bodies, are what matter. Even when I left PHI to join an ‘ESI-Gated’ corporation (I eventually joined two) – it was quiet. These people had been gaming together for 10-15 years, and I was an outsider joining. The friendliest corporation I joined was actually PHI because of the rotating new players. I’ve mentioned a few times now that I’m not a huge PVP player – but I do feel a fierce loyalty to my ‘area’ in space, I’ve stood up to gankers who were harassing miners, and I chased neutrals out of spaces when they were attempting to rob ess, or skyhooks. ISK is easy to make in nullsec, but there’s also risks. Some newer players would (wrongfully) assume that because it was “our” lands that it was 100% safe. Absolutely not true. It is ‘safer’ than other areas, but never 100% safe. Anyway.

I learned how to fit ships, how to make ISK, how to escape when someone was after me. I learned how to protect an ESS, how to defend a gate, how to roll a wormhole, and so many other little tips and tricks that you can’t learn in EVE without participating in something bigger than yourself. My bookmarks folder overflowed with charts, graphs, websites, and information all relating to EVE Online. I stayed out of the drama portion of it, but I read about it in chat and saw others talking about it. Why certain fights went the way they did, why we did certain things over other things, etc.

One thing that constantly came up that frustrated me to no end was the abundance of misinformation in the newbean channel in game, and the inability for people to just read. I doubt this is a PHI specific issue, more likely an issue with people in general. All of the information someone could ever need has already been written out and posted, somewhere, you just need to actually read it. Day in and day out, the same questions would be asked, and answered, sometimes correctly and sometimes incorrectly. I obviously don’t know everything about the game, but there was just so much misinformation. I wasn’t expecting that.

Ahbazon? Sure, I was There

stargrace August 30, 2024 0Comment

*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.