Bigger is better

... at least this was the theory taught back in the high school gym changerooms. I entered the universe of EvE online with the same belief.

If a frigate can pvp, just imagine how well a battlecruiser or battleship can pvp. It must be leaps and bounds better! It is generally accepted in the gaming community that bigger is better. I entered solo pirating with the "BFG" of ships somewhere in the distant training horizon.

I now am flying some of those bigger ships. It didn't take long for me to miss the fast and maneuverable ships that I've flown in the past. It is for this reason I will always keep a few rifters and jaguars in my dock and ready to fly.

Don't get me wrong... there is something beautiful about pulling out the hurricane somedays. A little more firepower and tank is all you need sometimes to put that smile on your face.

0.0 is a different ballgame. A game that I'm not very familiar with. When it comes to low-sec piracy, don't count out the little guys. They may be flying those frigs for a reason :)

What I've learned from learning...

I'm one of those obsessive-compulsive type people who feel the need to know everything before doing anything. Sounds annoying doesn't it? If you don't think so, just ask my wife.

I actually started researching this pvp thing well before I ever made moves within my carebear corporation. I'd read forums, study guides, look at fittings, examine my characters skillsheet, etc. I was trying to become a good pvper before leaving the dock.

It is quite difficult to do that in EvE. There is a lot of learning that needs to be done once undocked.

Get a ship, get it fitted and go learn! Fly something inexpensive and don't get down on yourself when it goes pop.

Learn about the scanner, intel/age on the pilot you are hunting down, ship types, good/bad targets, dealing with drones, spiralling/MWD/AD/orbits and other maneuvers, criminal countdowns, ranges, ammo types, tackling, etc. There are a myriad of things that are best learned out in space.

I'm learning more everyday. I'm a confident rookie now. Get the basics down then you can start listening to your corpmates or understand what they are talking about on the forums.

Happy Hunting Friends!

My heart... It Beats!!!

The transition from killing mission NPCs in my drake to the active fights of low-sec was a rough one for me. I was accustomed to warping in, locking 6 NPCs targets and unleashing heavy missile fury until there was nothing but wrecks. You can see how I grew tired of this after a few months. The high-sec blues had their toll on me.

Well no more. I was in low-sec, my seatbelt was on, I had half a can of Coke left and a twitchy trigger finger. I had paid my 10 bucks for some plastic surgery. My EvE lifestyle was changing so I changed my portrait to match my transformation.

I scouted the systems learning the scanner as I went. Speed and accuracy were definitely not my forte. I eventually learned how to use that little scanner and the amount of targets really opened up to me.

There were some quick lessons learned in those first few days and weeks.

My first solo encounter never even resulted in a kill or a loss. I forgot to use the warp scrambler and he bolted once he was into armor. My heart was pounding nonetheless. That was the first exhilarating experience I had in EvE. I'm several kills into my pirate life now but my heart always jumps a few beats when the engagement begins. I love it!

I had two hard lessons learned with thermodynamics and over-heating. The first was the most painful. I had a harbinger (that's correct... in a rifter) to within inches of his life when he warped off. I actually thought I killed him. It wasn't until the search for his wreck that I realized what happened. The over-heating caused my scrambler to burn out. It stopped working and he bailed. Gah!!! that would've been a great kill for my Tusker application.

The second was when I docked to repair and never put the scrambler back online. A second escape had me screaming at my monitor.

I have been put in my pod a few times by concord. I had a lot of learning to do with criminal countdowns and such.

I've shot and destroyed wrecks that I was about to loot. I sure hope it was T1 junk. I don't even look at those killmails because I don't want it to hurt more than it already does.

I'm finding the learning experiences are coming much less frequently which must be a good sign. I jumped face-first into this pirate thing so it has been a wild and sometimes bumpy ride.

Many of my corpmates are grizzled veterans with a lot of experience. I'm glad that they are down to earth enough to answer many of my less-than-intelligent questions. I really see myself becoming a better pilot with each day in game.

Leaving High-Sec

After a little searching and reading of Wensley's Rifter Guide I made the decision to leave my Caldari training on the backburner for the next while.

I bought and fitted a few rifters and set out with the goal of fulfilling my application requirements to The Tuskers.

Kills.

I needed them.

Solo.

And with that in mind I set off in my T1 fit rifter. I gave a friendly wave to the Concord as I passed through the gate into low-sec space.

I had some training in fleet ops and I thought my solo roaming would make use of those skills. As it turns out, I needed a few more skills that I knew nothing about at this time. I'm not talking about those late 30s-erotic-female-voiced "Skill Training Complete" skills either.

I'm talking about those target finding and dog-fighting type skills. I won't share how many rifters I lost learning those firsthand.

Trials of a Carebear

How does one become a pirate? or desire such a fate? I suppose the answers are numerous and as varied as the EvE universe itself.

I will tell you the tale of one lowly pilot who found his way there after a somewhat indirect journey...

I played the 14-day three separate times before I was able to get past the initial roadblocks that face an EvE player who has no goals. After the trials, I would return to my current MMO and leave space behind... only to return with another e-mail address and yet another 14-day trial.

It was a confusing time in my gaming life.

Toff Lemire?? No I'm not French. I am about as scary though. I drill and pull teeth during the day and fire off autocannons at night. That's right... I'm a pirate dentist. My original names were lost to e-mails and passwords forgotten. I used one of my original names Tofflemire and threw in a space. I won't bore you with the details and uses of a Tofflemire. I just need to clarify that I'm not French :)

Enough of the naming Reminisning. Back to the boring.

My last (and current) subscription to the game involved many months in the NPC corp followed by some months in a carebear corp. I did all sort of exciting things (/sarcasm off) like dock trading, mission running and salvaging.

Even while I was doing this I would dream of player-versus-player combat.

The day came. I joined a pvp corp, signed up for a pvp course, paid my tuition and prepared for my last days of carebeardom. The course came and went, my corporation disbanded and I was referred to The Tuskers.

This my friends is where this young pilot's life changed in ways that are yet to be shared...