For being a hardcore, impact, PvP, NOT easy to play, sandbox kinda MMO, EVE Online has such a great community that the occasional pirate can’t break the mood.
Here’s the thing. After delivering two loads of Kernite to Old Man Star, a 0.3 and hence open PvP system, without any trouble, I was kinda thinking that maybe all the PvPers were living even deeper in low security, in 0.0 space, and I wouldn’t really have to worry much about them.
I was buying a new skill — Surveying — yesterday, and most of the stations selling it were five or more jumps away. This one station was only two jumps away, and had it for a great price. So I buy it, and being a new player, I had to go to the system to actually retrieve it.
I punched the station into the autopilot and it warned me that the system was in low security, a 0.4 system. Well, thought I, if I can warp into a 0.3 system with a so-slow-it’s-nearly-stationary Iteron and make it back out alive — TWICE — then 0.4 in a speedy Tristan shouldn’t be any trouble at all.
I warp in, nobody at the gate, great. Set course for the station, and as I maneuver for docking, see two pirates zooming at me at top speed. The station docks me before they get a shot off…. Suspecting they will be waiting for me, I wait a few minutes, then leave the ship and duck outside in my capsule.
Barraged with lasers, I wait out the clock while the station decides whether or not to let me back in, and finally they do, and there I am, hovering in the hangar in my pathetic looking capsule, wondering how I’m going to get out alive.
My Tristan is really fast, fast enough perhaps to outrun their guns and warp disruptors and make it to the gate alive, but I didn’t want to take that chance. I tuned into the Local channel, said hello to the pirates, and wondered if there was anyone else at the station who wouldn’t mind undocking and chasing them away so I could escape? Apologizing for coming into lowsec space unprepared, of course.
Immediately a bunch of people said they would, and I guess my lamb-with-a-broken-leg bleats for help had drawn all the other pirates in the system to my station as well, because when I undocked, the space in front of the station was red with battle, ships large and small everywhere. A guy in a capital ship told me he’d snared the pirates, and to leave ASAP.
I left. ASAP.
So that was exciting, reminded me that yes, lowsec space is dangerous, but also: there are friends wherever you turn in EVE Online.
Saylah and Sister Julie and I met up a little later to run some Level 1 missions in high security space. Not that we couldn’t have handled any of them solo, but it’s good to have an easy night to work out voice chatting, how to run missions with more than one person, etc. By the end of the night things were humming, much like the humming Saylah kept hearing in the background whenever I’d speak.
“It’s like a scratching noise,” she said. I made scratching noises. “No, maybe… is the mike too near your mouth?” No, my mike was closer to my nose. I made nose-breathing noises. “Maybe,” I suggested, “it’s because I’m watching American Idol on the other computer?” Yeah. Maybe. I turned off AI but had to take teasing about it for the rest of the night 😛
So I missed Kris Allen win American Idol season 8 in a stunning upset. But I’m not bitter.
I find what you really need in EVE Online is discipline. I want my Battle Cruiser! But my Brutix seems to be winging away from me at warp speed.
First there was Salvaging — a very good and lucrative skill, the starting point for many, many ways of earning my keep in New Eden. So that’s about a day to finish. Then there’s my Retriever mining barge. My buy order for one was filled nearly immediately, but it’s just sitting in the hangar and there it will sit until I have the skills to fly it and the skills to fit it. So that’s nine more days for the necessary skills for a very basic platform. Saylah, who has a hangar full of so many ships I hear Jay Leno is envious, offered me a Vexor cruiser as an intermediate step to the Brutix, and of course I accepted! The skills for that and a basic loadout from Battleclinic? Another couple of weeks. Is there any chance the battle cruiser won’t get bumped back by yet another priority?
Oh yes, Tracker Wolf invited me along for some … piracy! OMG! And he transferred enough ISK to my account to fit out a really nice tackler ship. So add in the skills for tackling and build a new Tristan or better for that… and Uber NK (NK_?) offered to build any Gallenite frigates I might need, so I’ll probably buy a Tristan or two from him.
Anyway, off to work 🙂 See you in New Eden!
I had a very good time last night. Sorry you missed the upset win on American Idol. I’m not sure if it’s the sensitivity of my headset or what but it just comes at the end of words which is what lead me to believe it was a “too close to mouth” situation.
I so shouldn’t be playing EVE right now – working on other thangs. However, the chance to have a little static group with a couple of ladies I enjoy speaking with was too good to pass up. I’ll have to fit this in sometime. It was fun doing just the piddly things we had going last night, I’m sure we’d have amazing fun in more sophisticated and challenging situations. You were more than welcome to the Vexor. The multiple copies were born out of the drama I had last time in a PVP corp. Once I got on my feet again I purchased several at a great price but unsubscribed shortly after so they’ve been just sitting there. It’s why I’m salvaging in one because – well, I have several. LOL But I’m going to go ahead a buy a Destroyer for salvaging since I’m going to move forward with some manufacturing plans.
oops, sometimes = somehow as in, more than the one night a week we currently have scheduled.
I always enjoy reading about EVE, and wish I could take part, but I don’t think I can. However I’d love to be shown the error of my ways. I’m mostly an infrequent solo player. I’d be happy to join a Corp but I can’t see why a Corp would want me. I tend to play my MMOs on weekends only, for the most part. I just don’t have time during the work week, with 2 jobs and the desire to spend *some* time offline with family.
So can a person like me enjoy EVE, or is it just not really doable? It seems, from the outside, to be a game more for pretty serious players who can log in quite regularly. Am I right in that?
So does this mean your the EVE version of Helen of Troy? Are you the pilot that launched a thousand ships? (-:
@HZero
It’s been done for comedy. The effect of jettisoning a hold full of shuttles has to be seen to be believed. (Interesting factoid for orca pilots: it IS possible to haul a battleship and it’s fittings to destination – you just need to do it packaged, then eject the bs and the mods/ammo so the pilot can jump in the newly auto-assembled ship and fit everything using the orca’s maintenance bay. You just can’t do it with a pre-assembled BS).
@Pete – One of the things Tipa and I discussed before logging last night, is that EVE is one of the few games where because there is no ending, there is not concept of “getting behind” other players. In level based games like WOW, there comes a time when most of the player base has hit max level. If you’re not there, you can feel like you’re missing out. That doesn’t exist in EVE. There are always players at your level with whom you can interact. This game can be as hardcore or as casual as you choose. The only limitation is that if you’re casual, don’t expect to compete with hardcore – you don’t have to and would be at a disadvantage in some ways.
I’ve had an EVE acct off and on for about 4 years but don’t think I’ve spent one year total in time-played. I don’t feel behind anyone other than my own personal plans which I’ve shifted each time I come back to play for a while. For the aspects of the game I play, PVE & Salvaging with an eventual move into manufacturing, there is no getting behind. The unique economy in which players manufacture all items is m means that even for the lowbie stuff I hope to manufacture there’s always a market. Worst case, I can make stuff for myself if I can’t sell for a profit. This is not like crafting in other games where you make a bunch of junk until you are allowed to make what you need. Here you start with making exactly what you want as soon as you can get your hands on the recipe (blueprint) and the components. The prerequisite skills are minimal.
There’s always PVE again, no way to really get behind there. PVP, corp intrigue and large scale industry are the things where going for long spells might find the terrain changing up under you while your gone but it’s still nothing that can’t be managed or recovered from.
I won’t see all the cool new things added exactly when they hit. I might not have time or the skills to take advantage of them but I also don’t care. LOL I like to do what I like to do in EVE and it fits my come and go as I please philosophy for this game. That’s my 2cents.
Thank you, Saylah, that’s very encouraging!! I might have to give it a try. I did play back at launch but that was years ago and I didn’t last very long, so essentially it’ll be a brand new game to me. Neat!!
It’s those little moments like that which make Eve bloody brilliant in my eyes. You just need people to cruise around with and as of yet I can’t get into it because i’m missing that. Nice to see you’ve found some companions to share some time with and have got some real aim within the game.