EVE

Stronger Than I Think

stargrace April 28, 2024 0Comment

For years now I’ve been training skill points in EVE Online, and while I don’t have hundreds of millions like a lot of people who have been playing since 2009, I do feel like I have an ‘OK’ amount (on my main account, at least). The problem is that all of the skill points in the world won’t give you hands on experience and so it’s very difficult for me to judge whether or not a site or encounter is too hard for me.

Since 2015 I’ve been flying a Tengu, but it wasn’t until this round of playing that I decided to spend most of my time in jspace – and even then, I have been incredibly cautious and nervous about doing much combat. Turns out I’ve probably been able to handle C1-C3 sites for some time, I was just too scared to try them. Yesterday I was looking for some relic/data sites to complete on my Tengu, but instead I found nothing but combat sites. I decided ‘why not’ and went for it anyway. The system was a quiet C2 with no one around. I knew people had been there earlier because I found (and then rescued) their drones that were floating away in space. It was just some tech1 drones though. I made short work of the site with very little issue and walked away with 20 million ISK – It’s not the min/max ISK making that people like to dive head first into but it was fun, I learned a lot, and over all that’s a win in my books.

I’ve been talking on Mastodon to some lovely EVE players about what I’d like to work on moving forward. Even though it’s a lot of bling, I really want a Stratios. Instead of just going out and buying one – I thought I could do some dedicated work towards purchasing one. Then Alex suggested that since I enjoy the industry side of things, I should try to earn the BPC from SOE and BUILD my own.

YES!

This idea REALLY appealed to me, I still haven’t done the math on the cost of crafting one vs. the cost of purchasing one, but ideally it SHOULD be cheaper to craft (that isn’t always the case). I think this would be a perfect way to work towards a goal and save a little (or earn a little) ISK. I’m going to get some math done and then hopefully have a string of posts about this newest adventure in the future.

As always, fly safe! o7

My First Shattered Wormhole

stargrace April 23, 2024 0Comment

Unfortunately I didn’t get into EVE yesterday until just before bed, so I didn’t get a lot of time to explore – but as I left my home in high sec (flying the astero that I won), I figured I had enough time to get a little bit done. I’m so glad I did. I scanned down a WH in my home system and it lead to – another high sec system. So far I’ve never had that happen, I was curious about where it was possibly going to lead, maybe it gave a short cut to some place neat – so I jumped, and found myself around 35 jumps away from home, in a quiet area of space. No one else in local. In that high sec system there were a few more signatures, so I scanned them down and one of the first ones I found was a shattered wormhole system!

I wish I had more time. I jumped in and things were quiet. For a few minutes I just warped around, enjoying the views. There was a beacon, an ice field, and a shattered debris field. I couldn’t scan down all of the signatures (I really wanted to) but I found a relic site and made short work of that, at least.

It was so pretty. I would have loved to stay and scan down more of the signatures, but alas, real life has me waking up early these days and I had to do the grown up thing and get some sleep. It was still pretty exciting.

Speaking of exciting, I’m looking for EVE twitch streamers to watch – if you know of any, let me know in comments! I’m not much of a PVP player, but I’m looking for calm and relaxing streams, family friendly would be great (but I know that’s not always possible). Like-minded folks who spend their time exploring, hacking, pveing (whether in high, low, or null doesn’t matter). Mining, Industry. Those types of things. One person I was watching last night was flying around high sec in a stratios doing ghost sites – woah. They had over 2 billion ISK in their hull from their pillaging. It was neat. Ghost sites are a bit out of my range at the moment, but I’d love to get there eventually. I know the stratios is an expensive bling ship, and there are other ways to work a ghost site, but I’m still new to all of that.

I also watched another streamer who was doing data/relic sites in jspace and I was amazed at how FAST they were. I feel like I’m very slow when it comes to the mini game. I try to be fast, I’m also using d-scan in between every move I make which I know slows me down (but also keeps me safer). They had a smaller audience but I really enjoyed learning how they handled relic/data sites and exploration in general. Since my time is so limited I tend to warp in, bookmark the exit, check for life, and then scan down a site or two until I find a relic/data/something of interest. I don’t scan down the entire system, because sometimes by the time I do that I have to AFK / log for a bit. If I just scan as I go, I usually have time for a bit of ISK making before real life drags me away. On longer game play sessions I would probably adjust this.

Any way, it was a lovely night exploring – and I have some ship goals to work towards.

If you’re looking to return to EVE or maybe to try the game for the first time, keep in mind that you can get 1 million skill points (new and returning players can each get this, one time only) and I have a link on the right hand side of my site you can use! I’ve been back in game for a little over a month now, and it has been a nice addition to my regular gaming habits.

Fly safe! o7

Flying Cheap

stargrace April 22, 2024 0Comment

As always, when I play EVE Online I seem to learn something new, or pick up some new information, or have an ‘ah ha!’ moment. I’ve been training my skills and learning about different ships and different fits for those ships and spending most of my time in jspace (wormholes) where I feel safest. Yesterday I was scanning my way around and found a C5, I think it might have been my first. I jumped in, someone was at the gate, so after I bookmarked my exit I jumped back out to check out the 4 other wormholes I had found – the person at the gate decided to follow me and jump in too, but by then I was already cloaked and zooming off towards a C2, so I jumped that, and since I had already scanned that one down too, then jumped into another C2 from there, and eventually I jumped into Highsec (35 jumps away from where I had entered from). I just naturally assume anyone I see wants to kill me, and it seems to be working to keep me on my toes and alive (for now at least).

In jspace I feel most comfortable when I can cloak, but, after I had scanned down all of the connections and created a bunch of bookmarks, I decided to bring out my Venture, which does not have a cloak. It’s a simple frigate, nice and cheap. Alpha gamers can use it (CCP’s name for F2P). I stuck myself in a gas site for 18 minutes and warped off before the rats could show up. Then went to the next gas site, and so on. Since I couldn’t stealth I was hyper vigilant about checking d-scan for anything at all, but I didn’t see anyone else. I just assume everyone is cloaked and lurking about, like me. I figured even if I lost the ship it wouldn’t really be a big deal, and after a few sites the day paid for itself. I have done almost zero mining since taking a greater focus on exploration, but I’ve done a fair amount of gas huffing, and a LOT of relic/data sites. I’m gearing up for ghost sites next. I’ve also been looking at some other combat fits that are less expensive to fly than my Tengu (which I adore, but I’m not keen to draw so much attention) including my Gila, and maybe a Myrmidon. I’ve also got a Dominix (not sure if I have a current fit for it) but I still always seem to default to the Tengu. I’m learning that you don’t have to fly expensive ships to get stuff done – and the ‘stuff’ to get done, is plentiful.

Fly safe! o7