The contentious comfort

This is my story... A true story that took place not to long ago in a rather quiet part of space.

Around me there were hundreds of solar systems. Each one of them had a central star with planets orbiting it and most of the planets had moons spinning around them. And inside the moons, buried deep down, there were valuable minerals!

All I needed was a Starbase with a Moon Harvesting Array and all the wealth of space would be pouring down on me. With little to no effort.

The New Eden Encyclopedias provided a lot of useful information. I set up a plan of action. I had to be able to deploy my Starbase. Fuel it. Baby-sit it. Defend it. Repair it. In 2-3 weeks I was ready. 

I started looking for those wealthy moons. Flying from one to another. Once I had found an empty one, I launched a Survey Probe. Waited for the result. And started all over again. Took a while. It had to be unoccupied. It had to have valuable moon minerals. It had to be in a low security space. It had to be in a quiet part of the space. With little to no pirate activity.

In a couple of weeks I have found it. Moon 6 of planet 4 in a system called Ruerrotta. I went to the nearest trading hub and spend almost all my hard earned wealth to buy a Starbase, modules and fuel for it. A whooping 200000 cubic meters! It will be a pain carrying all those out there. But I did it. I also got a few ships to help me defend it and repair it.

I was ready! I warped to the moon and launched the Starbase… Or at least I tried. I failed! Back to drawing board. I was in need of owning my own corporation. A new skillset was needed.  But in a few minutes ‘The contentious comfort’ was born! 

The Starbase was launched. 30 long minutes of anchoring. Another good chunk of minutes to online it. Finally! The shield protecting the starbase was up! I anchored and put online the Moon Harvesting Array and the Silo. One hour afterwards I had my first batch of 100 Titanium!

The whole world was mine. I was gonna be rich. Rich as no even the richest of the old Kings would ever dream to be.

In a few hours, after the Starbase was prepared, I went to scout the nearby systems and try to get in touch with locals. There were a few. They greet me with laser fire and my new shiny Augoror especially fit for mining was soon a pile of torsioned metal scraps.

“Why?” I asked them.
“Because we own this space. We control it. And you have to pay to be here.” they replied.
“No way. I won’t pay any form of ‘protection fee’” I fought back. I went back to my Starbase and call it the night.

Next day, I was in for a big surprise. All the equipment that was anchored and onlined outside the shield of my Starbase was incapacitated. Luckily I had a ship prepared. 2 days I repaired my equipment. 2 long, excruciating days. I lost my Augoror again while working on my Starbase equipment. They were taking turns at destroying my vessel from far away of my Starbase reach. But I finished the job. Just as I finished, they incapacitated them again. And again.

I was about to loose hope. I was about to pack my Starbase and leave. I tried one more time. I've anchored a fresh set of weapons. This time it took them less than 10 minutes to show on field. But something changed. They were so confident that they lost a vessel! But more important is that that Battlecruiser class vessel was piloted by pirate leader himself. Takezo Kensei. I felt immortal again.

And then it happened. In less than one hour, 6 Megathron class vessels were near my Starbase. They made short work of my newly installed weapons. 

“Why?” I almost cried in local.
“Me personally, I didn't give a f**k about your POS, other people wanted it down. I couldn't be arsed to give a f**k. But you turned into this faggot whining little bitch in record time - I'm just gonna take it down to prove a point.” replied Takezo Kensei. 

They were enraged and the level of testosterone was high. I was watching my Starbase surrounded by incapacitated modules and was foreseeing it exploding in a huge flash. It was bound to happen.

Shortly after they number dubled. Then tripled. The local was red. Red of enemies and red of my spilled blood. I was cornered. I was alone.

I’ve noticed 7 massive vessel signatures on my ship scanner. 7 capitals were in warp towards my doomed Starbase. They landed 10km away of the shield. They all spread out and aligned towards my Starbase. They bounced on the shields and stopped. 

They sieged.

I then lit my cyno.

P.S.  “The contentious comfort” is an anagram of “The Count of Monte Cristo”. And yes, I do had a personal interested in seeing their dreads down.

Quote of the day - Farming

XXX: bah I found one in eve living near me 
XXX: :D 
Mehenn: lol 
XXX: and had agreed to give me joints for isk :D :D :D 
Mehenn: awesome 
Mehenn: farming at a new level

A letter from a fan

Mehenn,
From: xxxxxx
Sent: 2014.04.28 09:13
To: Mehenn,  

Dear Mehenn,

Hi there, my name's xxxxxx and I am writing to you, first of all, to compliment you on your pvp videos on youtube which I came across today. I am currently on episode 3 out of 8 on your Lone Rider Series and I am impressed, and slightly jealous!

I first started playing eve for the PvP but I have never managed to get my feet off the ground and I don't know where I am going wrong.. I am mainly writing to you, to ask you if you could spare me a little bit of your time and that we could possibly go roaming together and you could perhaps part some advice and wisdom my way for which I would be very grateful.

I understand if your too busy however I thought I would just ask as you seem a very capable pilot and I would really like the opportunity to fly with you and learn some things.

I hope to hear from you soon,
Regards,
xxxxxx

---

Re: Mehenn,
From: Mehenn
Sent: 2014.04.29 03:05
To: xxxxxx,  

Hey hey!

I am glad you like my videos. That's how I see it from my cockpit :)

My gaming time is kinda seldom lately and I don't know if I am gonna have 10 minutes or 2 hours of play. 

PvP in Eve is not hard. As long as you have fun. What I do to PvP? Like on any other matter, I asses the situation. Make a pro/con list. Establish a plan. Calculate and secure a budget. Stick to it.

So. Lets start.

- Choose the battleground
Use faction warfare plexes. Outside the gate you can warp to distance (0 to 100) and you will end up at the desired distance. But! If you are warping to a SS on grid, or to anyone on grid you will end up on gate. So if you fight someone at 150km off gate warping in help will end up on gate and you have time to do something before they land on you. Also inside the complex (after gate) you can dictate the conditions of the fight. Because anyone has to come to the gate, Choose Novice or Small complex since they cannot be accessed by larger hulls. You can also warp to 10 on those complexes and land in range to activate the gate but still at 10km off initial warp in so you have a chance to warp off if someone is camping the gate on 0.
Use a system that is relatively quiet since heavy populated systems tend to gather blobs. Use in-game map, choose 2 distant FW points and patrol from end to another - 10/15 systems. Check the Novice/Small plexes. You will get a fight on your first run.

- Choose your weapons
For the beginning I would go with a kiting light missile launcher ship. Like a Condor. Orbit at 20. Point, spam missiles. Use a tracking disruptor to negate the damage. 

- Chose your enemy
Stay away from drone ships (Tristan/Comets/etc) and missile ships (Caldari ones/destroyers/etc)

- Choose your budget
I usually invest 100mil / 10 ships. Will get me ammo (1000 of each), a couple of exotic dancers (never leave home without them...), some boosters, the ship... 10 times. 10mil/ship.

- STICK TO THE PLAN
Engage the targets you can kill. Stay away from things that can kill you. Study your enemy. Look at their ship and see what weapons they mount. Stay at range and let them come closer. See if they are AB fit - you can kite them. Check their KB while they approach so you can see what they might have. 

- Situational awareness
Maybe the most important of them all. It comes as a blend of the things I mentioned above. And many more. It comes with time and fights. It comes with experience and skill points. Wins and looses. 
For the beginning an 3:1 kill/death ratio is acceptable. Soon you will hit the 1/1 ratio and then go positive. You will need to know your ship. Its limits. And your opponent. Its ship. Its limits. 
For example I know that if an Incursus has a web, I can kill it because it does not have cap injector for dual rep and will run out of cap. How can I know if it has a web without getting into web range and die? Call it a hunch. Or the study of his killboard. Or just engage him and see if you can break the tank...

That's about the most important things. Maybe there are more... Feel free to shoot any questions you still have :)

Fly safe!

/Me

I don't fly shiny

I have my reasons...

The psychological barrier.

For a long period of time, shiny ships and mods were totally out of my reach. The ISK was tight. Skill points were tight. Eve knowledge was tight. Yes, shiny stuff (faction, DED, pirate or officer) can bring a plus to your flying experience from early ages since they have the same requirements as a T1 module (with slightly better bonuses and stats; many better than T2 modules). But they come with a price. A price I wasn't able to pay. Things changed now. The ISK, skill points and eve knowledge aren't shiny stuff blockers anymore. But the psychological barrier still exists. Even for that dirt cheap Shadow Serpentis Kinetic Plating (selling at 49k in Dodixie). Plus the fact that I don't like showing them on the loosing part of the kill mail. If I ever get shiny stuff... It's for my private collection!

The bait.

Yes. 90% of shiny ships are baits. Or they have heavy reinforcements. Thus I, as a solo/small gang casual PVP-er, will avoid. Because I don't want to get blobbed. I would rather engage 2 Drakes in Old Man Star than a single Harbinger Navy Issue. Or a T3. I wan't people to be interested in my ship. I want them to try to engage me and get a fair fight instead of either repelling the exact typology of pilot I am looking to fight, either attract the exact typology of the pilots I am looking to avoid.

The Pinata Factor.

If I find a faction spawn in a belt, the faction ship will be my primary. If I pass an ongoing fight, the shiny ship will be my primary. For the same reason. The drop (+ the shiny kill mail). So, why not use this in your favor? I want the occasional soldier of fortune fighting by my side, not against me. Yes, that can also escalate on the other side. But most of the times they will go for the shiny ship.

So, yes. I don't fly shiny.

90% of the time. Because it feels damn good flying shiny and winning. You feel like you cheated death. Again. And again. Next time you see a 'fs' ending a conversation, think about it. Maybe it's not a shorthand for "Fly Safe"

FS 'till next time!

Brave Newbies Inc. - Testing ground

Many years ago, while playing NannyMUD, I did a personality test (I cannot remember which one, but something like this one) and it turned out that I was a combination of achiever and killer. Thus I like gathering points and inflict damage. Translating this to EVE? I love having tons of killboard points!

In order to do that you need to come up with brand new ideas and way of using the items EVE offers. Doesn't matter if it is a new fit or a tweak of an existent one, you still have to test it. 

There are a couple of ways of doing this. Some prefer doing it on Sisi. Others ask a friend for a duel. I just head to the nearest lowsec and start roaming. The problem is that I usually run into ganks that know what they are doing. So, not much testing on my side - beside the automatic pod eject on hull implosion mechanism of my ship.

A couple of days ago, I went to pay a visit to the Concord office from Barleguet. 200++ in local. I took my RLML Caracal for a spin. After a few encounters with BNI, I realized I found the Holy Grail of EVE testing. Its like doing a level 4 mission but instead of mission rats, you have BNI pilots. 

They either try to gank you (in numers larger than 20) and you can test the speed of the ship, the falloff, etc. Just align to a celestial/ss and let them come to you. Pop a few, warp off, tweak the fit and come back (by the way the market in Barleguet is fairly decent - you can find almost anything to refit your ship). You can also find the occasional solo ship (or this one) in the belt and you can test other features of your ship like agility, tracking, tank, etc.

Of course you wont be the only big fish in the pond. But that's life :)

Thus, fit your ship and head to Placid. You will have tons of fun while testing!

Later edit: Check the weapon of choice of the top damage dealer in this gank. Thanks Detanian!

How does one fly its ship in New Eden

I've been playing computers games since I was 8. Then for the first time I've encountered a ZX Spectrum computer. Tape recorders instead of USB Sticks and ROM instead of RAM. Many years have been passed since I've played my first multiplayer games (Warcraft, Doom, flight simulators). After a few more years, first online multiplayer game. A MUD. All those experiences defined and refined me as an EVE Pilot.

My goals and play style was slowly build and sculptured by games like Pac-Man - for example - where you were constantly chased by a gang a ghosts, blobbing you, trying to pop you, grief you! You had to outmaneuver them, playing the pray while luring them in a corner, where... BAM! You consume the yellow pill and pod them all.

Or Dynablaster-Bomberman where you needed to be 2-3 steps ahead of your adversary, setting up traps, calculating its route, setting the bomb so it can explode exactly when it passed the blast area.

Or pk (player killing - equivalent of pvp) in various MUDs. You learn to control your emotions, using the adrenaline rush in your favor, gathering and using the right pieces of equipment. Setting up the perfect trap. Using their strengths and weakness in you favor. Beating them at their game when they feel invincible.

So, yes. I like to fight outnumbered, against the odds, picking on the biggest predator on the field. Maybe I've seen to many Bruce Lee movies. Or maybe that's the way I am hardwired.

That's how I like to pilot my ship in EVE. Not only once I was the poor helpless Osprey lost in a belt, where a couple of ruthless pirates went for my throat. I dive head deep into enemies. Is it one? They are 20? Doesn't matter. As long as I feel it like a challenge... I don't care about WCS plexers or blobbers. I might get a bit irritatied about the obnoxious ECM ship that ruins your day. But there is hope.

Looking back, I realized that this is the way I have been playing EVE since day one. That day I jumped in low sec. And I stood there ever since - using high sec as a no-man land. I was merely 2 months old when I got this kill: http://eve.battleclinic.com/killboard/killmail.php?id=7226138. And I never stopped looking for those fights ever since.

I like to play with people that enjoy the same thrill. I think I've found them. I've been flying with them in the last month and I loved every second. Even now after 5 years, 100mil SP and 2000++ killmails, flying with the right people gives you the right thrills.

So, that's me. But, how about you?