(not quite) First Blood

My first adventure with my new corp The Protei.  We assembled a fleet of nine with 5 BSs and 4 BCs.  The mission was a simple POS-bash.  It belongs to a small corp (The Reborn Generation) and apparently had no guns deployed. 

Once we determined the system was clear we approached and opened fire....and waited...and waited....and watched the shields slooooowly go down.  At about 50% (1 hour), activity in the system started picking up.  By the time we got to about 75% (1hr45m) they brought their carrier, a BS and a BC. 

I've never been in a fight with a ship larger that a BS, so I deferred to my more experienced corp-mates.  We warped around system for a little bit and headed for the NPC station.  Once there, it seemed that momentum wained and people began to drop fleet.  The station we were in was camped.

I'm not sure what to make of this.  Part of the problem IMO was that there didn't seem to be a reason to be going after the POS.  Granted I'm new to the corp and not aware of the history...but basesd on convos, it was just for 'the fun.'  So when we failed, nobody really cared.

We had a decent-sized gang going...it would've been fun to raise some Hell with other ships for 2 hours rather than sitting and reading blog posts on my iPhone.

The (lowsec) Adventure Begins!

After checking out a few lowsec pirate corps, I found one that appealed to my bloodlust and, more importantly would take in a PvP-newb like myself.  Ran a couple of names by Spectre from EVE Newb.  I joined up with Protei.  Things are kicking off with an op tomorrow morning, so I'll get a pretty good taste for my new corpmates and they for me.  My only concern is they're asking me to fly an Armageddon and it seems a little big for one of my first forays.  I've got one of my Executioners on standby, just in case.

But, it should give me an opportunity work on my battle reporting.  Wish me luck.

The Road

I've been anxiously awaiting the release of this movie for about a year.  I was handed the book by an old friend last year.  One of the most depressing and moving stories I've ever read.  I hope the movie lives up to the book.  Unfortunately it's apparently in limited release this weekend, so I need to track down a theater in the city that is showing.

The Dominion release is quite highly anticipated for various reasons.  Some expect one of the most significant updates in years, some anticipate the end of New Eden, and some expect the legendary NGE.  I'm optimistic that we'll all survive the December 1st release.  The scheduled 19 hour patch downtime is a bit off-putting, but I'm halfway through BS5 so I'll throw that in the queue and check back in when the dust settles.

Post Turkey Day Plans

All nicely tucked and full from a day of family and friends, sharing some bread and some wine.  I'm thankful that I have the luxury of time and money that allows me to participate in the EvE online community.

But today, my quest for a lowsec pirate corp to call home continues.  I was given a "thanks but no thanks (for now)" from Spectre3353 at The Python Cartel, so my search continues.  I've received a couple of responses from a posting on the EvE-O recruitment forum.  I am trying to decide between joining a newer, small corp or a larger, more established corp. 

One down, three to go

At the end of my AU PvP class roam, I was left with my four fitted T1 frigs in Stacmon.  Last night decided to take the first out on a spin in the same area the roam occurred.  We were warned at the end of class that Agony roams those areas and will shoot you if they see you....there is no standing gain with AU just for taking the class.

I'm still working on my 'battle reporting' so bear with me.

Headed out of Stacmon and set a course for a random lowsec system four jumps away.  In the first lowsec system I got away from the gate and proceeded to make a couple of safespots (SS) and TACs (tactical positions 150km from gates.)  I snugged down into a safe and tried my skill at the directional scanner (DS).   That was another useful class in the course.

Not having much luck, I hop to the next system.  Same drill setting SS, etc.  There were people in local, but I didn't actually see any here either.  So one more jump.  Good news and bad news.  I found targets!  They had the gate bubbled.  Ok....don't panic.  I remained cloaked evaluating the situation.  There were at least 3-4 targets.  Not liking my chances and cloak timer running out, I decide to make a run for the edge of the bubble to see how I could handle myself with whoever chased.  They were on me as soon as I started moving....I decided I wasn't going to make out of the bubble so the fight was going to be here.  Adjusted my position/movement (shield at 50%) locked a target, and sent some multifrequency love to him.  The fight went probably 45 seconds thanks I guess to my speed tank setup.  As I started to take structure damage I switched to pod survival.  Picked a target and started spamming.  Lo and behold it worked!  Got my pod out (salvaged a tiny bit of dignity, I guess.)

Bounced around the system in my pod to re-evaluate.  Decided that it was best to just charge back to Stacmon.  If I make it great.  If I don't....well my med clone was there anyway.

The trip back was uneventful.  Jumped into an Executioner and decided to roll around hi-sec a bit and work on my DS skills.  Found a few miners, but I don't know the exact rules of can-flipping so just tried to make them nervous.  No luck.  Headed to a Drone Infestation and found someone in a frigate working the site.  Stole some of his non-wreck loot from the site and jumped the acc gate into an empty deadspace complex.  One more acc gate.  A couple of drones floating around, so I thought I'd see if I could tick off the other pilot.  I'm not sure exactly what happened, but the other guy warped in and pretty quickly went flashy red.  SWEET!  I go after him, and got him down to 50% armor when he warps off.  Had sensor damps on this frig and couldn't hold him.  I spent 10 minutes or so flying around the system trying to see if I could bump into him again.  No luck.  Headed back to Stacmon.

Agony Unleashed PvP Uni Rocks

AU has apparently been conducting training classes for pilots of various levels for years.  For some reason they are not quite as well known as their (precedent? antecedent?) cousin EvE Univeristy.  There is a relationship between the two, but I was never able to crack the code on what it actually is.

After making the decision to head to lowsec, I had a chat with an EvEUni recruiter.  We came to the conclusion that my EvE-O experience (1+ years) made me an unsuitable candidate for their program, which is geared more toward new players.  He pointed me in the direction of AU.

They have a great site and the enrollment process is fairly painless.  However, classes fill up quickly, so you'll want to be online soon after enrollment opens.  A week before the class I was granted access to their wiki in order to study things like Rules of Engagement (ROE) and other conduct.  There are also great documents for ship fitting, as well as an EXTREMELY useful posting on how to properly setup your overview for PvP and your client for minimal lag.

Got to the starting station with my T1 Frigs...brought spares as instructed.  Fitted for EWAR.  A couple very informative hours of class time and practical exercises, and we were ready for a lowsec roam.  Alumni and AU Corp members fill the key positions in the fleet (FC, Recon, etc.)  The bulk of the class (50+) in T1 EWAR fit Frigs made the main body, broken into separate wings.

The roam went for several hours.  I'm not quite knowledgeable enough in blogging to give a proper battle report, but Wensley at Rifter Drifter did a great job.  I got in on a couple of KMs and a final blow but didn't actually contribute a ton of damage.  Took a couple of bomb hits, but again AU trains you on how to deal with those, so I survived the roam without the loss of a ship.

Got back to Stacmon and sat looking at four fitted frigs trying to decide if I want to take them back or leave them here and try to look for a fight.

Welcome to me

So, here I am.  Beginning a new chapter in my EvE-O career.  I've lead a fairly sheltered life to this point (read: Carebear) and am making my move to Low Sec ( I hope).

We'll see where things go from there.