EVE

Torn Thoughts on The Agency

stargrace March 11, 2019 0Comment

I have mixed feelings about The Agency screen that is now in EVE. I’m not sure when it was added, but it’s new to me, and while I like the fact that it gives people some direction on what they can do in the current system, I don’t like that it has made HI a LOT busier, and it feels like it has taken a bit away from the people who used to chase down those events on their own.

As an example, in the system I live in there is ice mining, and normally you’d have to scan down the signature for those with probes and find your way there – but now they just show up in The Agency, so there are over 50 people in what was once a quiet area, all mining ice.

On the other hand sometimes I’m at a loss on what I want to do, so seeing it all in a neat and tidy list is nice, I can just choose something and go from there. The direction and guidance is nice for those who need it or those times that I need it. There are still things ‘hidden’ in the system, but there’s a much larger chance of it being promoted (or such is my experience so far).

Gaming

Lost a Tengu..

stargrace March 10, 2019 0Comment

It was bound to happen sooner or later. I got in over my head. I had been flying my helios around scanning signatures when I found a particularly interesting wormhole. It was a class 5 which I knew was dangerous, but still I wanted to try. Inside were 8 more signatures, and one was a relic site. Since I had such luck with my first relic site I decided I’d take a peek. My helios warped in and immediately some big nasty were there, so I left and decided to attend with my Tengu instead.

Well, that was a huge mistake. I was jammed and webbed and I hadn’t aligned myself with a way out (though I did have the exit pinned at least) and unlike my helios who made it out, the Tengu was almost instantly smushed (NOT a good ship for tanking, the way I have it fit).

Insurance paid 35,000,000 ISK but the total value of the ship including fitting, was 895,000,000 ISK. My most expensive loss to date. There’s a saying that you shouldn’t fly anything you can’t afford to lose, and that holds true no matter where you are or what you’re flying.

Thankfully I could afford to replace it – and while I was on my way to Jita to do some shopping a good friend of mine logged in and helped replace those funds. He’s been playing a lot longer than I have, has more skills than I would ever know what to do with, and I regard him quite highly so this was a really big deal to me. Shopping in Jita was quick, prices were good, and I flew back home in my new Tengu – I’m still looking for a name for it.

Losing the ship sucked, but again, it’s EVE – and whether it’s players or pirates, you just have to be prepared. I, was not. For now I’m back to HI missions and grinding some faction, and doing simple mining runs.

Fly safe!

Gaming

First Relic Site

stargrace March 9, 2019 0Comment

After much humming and hawing over things, I decided to reactivate my account in EVE Online and dive in. Not only did I activate my main account, but I actually activated two accounts, my main and an alt. Why both? So I could have a dedicated miner and hauler, of course.

Once that was set up and I figured out what skills I wanted to train, I took a bit of a break from mining and went scanning some signatures. Out of the four that were in my area, three were wormholes, and one was a relic site, which I had never heard of before.

They’re a lot like data sites (which I’ve heard of but never discovered on my own). An area that was filled with little canisters that I had to play a mini game with. I failed one (twice) and the entire thing blew up. Hope there was nothing good inside. The others I managed to beat, and was rewarded with some pretty generic crafting supplies (which I am always happy to have, as I do a lot of industry). Obviously the rewards vary, and if you’re in LowSec or NullSec they’ll be better (risk vs. reward). Still, it felt good to find one and solve it, even if I did have to train archaeology I before I could scan the site.

Happy gaming, no matter where you find yourself!

Gaming

A Bunch of Industry Stuff

stargrace October 8, 2017 0Comment

Monday is a holiday here in Canada, it’s Thanksgiving. Our holiday isn’t centered around Pilgrims or Natives, but instead is based on the seasons and harvest. Our harvest is coming to a close for the year, and so we look back at all the things we’re thankful for. While I know I have lots to be thankful for, this year, I’m just not feeling it at all. I feel like this year has been rather difficult as was last year and I feel sort of like I haven’t been able to get a break. As I write this my 1 year old is on the floor screaming his head off beside me because he threw a toy out of his reach (of course I got it for him I’m not a monster). Anyway. Since my husband is still gone for another few months I’ve decided this year I’m making ribs and salad for dinner, pizza for lunch, and I’m not doing Thanksgiving.

I did get some time to play EVE. I flew home from Jita, went to my Industry outpost, picked up a bunch of T1 and T2 blueprints I had been working on along with some PI components and re-filled all the manufacturing jobs I had let lapse. I’ll make another run to Jita in a few weeks to sell off the products, hopefully netting a tidy little sum. I’m also planning on doing some quiet mining, but I haven’t decided what I want to mine yet, and whether or not I’ll use my second account for hauling which is of course a decision I battle with every time I start playing EVE again. I’m also thinking of switching up where I call home, and moving all my assets someplace new, but we’ll have to see what, if anything, comes from that.

The Tengu is still treating me very well, but new ship itch is out in full force and it’s time to work towards something new.

Gaming

Casual EVE Online Streams (Maybe?)

stargrace September 29, 2017 0Comment

I love playing EVE Online, but every time I return I tend to forget whatever it was I was working on or working towards – it’s just that sort of game. I’ve been flying around in a Tengu for some time now, working on faction missions in order to be able to work with higher level agents for R&D (research and development). It’s what I’ve been working on for what feels like years now, because I tend to wander to and from the game.

Now that I’ve got a schedule set for streaming (see previous post) I felt like I could add some sporadic streams in there too, ones that don’t follow a schedule and don’t have a whole lot of hands on required. EVE Online lends itself to this very well – at least the way I intended to stream it. I did a practice stream today (you can find it over on my twitch channel along with my YouTube channel) where I don’t have my microphone active and I just fly around space looking at interesting things. It’s a relaxing chill stream with absolutely no pressure, something where you can listen to the EVE Online music (which is just fantastic) and if anyone has a question or two I’m around to answer them but things are pretty quiet. These streams are very different from my scheduled ones in which I’m doing a lot of talking and my little guy is roaming around yelling into the microphone. I can’t promise they’ll happen every weekend, but I’m hoping they do.

I noticed my computer was having issues trying to keep up with the stream this time around. I’m wondering if it’s my video card (a gtx 760) which is quite dated. The rest of my computer shouldn’t be too bad as I did upgrade it not that long ago. Video cards are pretty expensive and I can’t afford to go all out right now for one. Life is full of expenses, especially once you bring kids into the picture, and we’ll be moving in January to some where we don’t even know yet, and we have to prepare for stuff like that. Who knows how long it will take for our stuff to arrive. So I’ll have to see if I can tweak some settings and get the stream running smoother. For low intensity games like RimWorld I don’t seem to have many (any) issues, but for graphic intense games (EVE Online is an amazing looking game) I get a message from xsplit mentioning my computer is a bit strained.

Anyway. We’ll see how it goes. It’s nice to be flying again, and I’m sure I can come up with some things to do now and again. As always, happy gaming, no matter where you find yourself.

Torn Thoughts on The Agency

Lost a Tengu..

First Relic Site

A Bunch of Industry Stuff

Casual EVE Online Streams (Maybe?)

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