I'm drumming my fingers and waiting for T2 guns and thermodynamics. In the meantime, I've been cruising some lowsec systems on an alt and creating a web of safe spots. I really want to be out there pvping and I don't mind losing ships - but I've decided that I'm probably not going to learn much unless I'm fighting with a halfway decent fit. Am I overreacting?
Two things I've learned:
1) Damage Control Units are active mods. I was very proud in my first fight that I remembered to turn everything on. Well, the next day, I was looking over all my modules and suddenly exclaimed, "Doh!" Not sure how I missed that, but it was a good lesson in the necessity of basic reading.
2) Speaking of careful reading, I also learned the important lesson of not updating one's skill queue when sleepy. When my small hybrid turret queue became short enough that I could fit on small hybrid turret V, I accidentally dragged small energy turret V into the queue. I didn't notice for three days. In the long term, I won't regret those points, but in the short term, I sure wish I could put that 200k SP into skills for my Merlin.
One observation:
The jump clone/skill implants system seems designed to encourage players to be cautious and, in fact, not to PVP as much as they otherwise might. A bit of a bummer. I'd love to hop into a ship for brief round of pvp (even without T2 guns), but I don't want to set back my skill queue even more than I already have with my energy turret goof up.
Oh well. I'll be ready to start blowing up (my own) frigates at a more rapid rate in about 8 or 9 days. Until then, things may be quiet here.
Sunday, November 4, 2012
Sunday, October 28, 2012
Frigate #1
This afternoon, I headed out in a Reaper to Hevrice. This system is one of the current Tuskers' stomping grounds. I figured that here, if anywhere, I'd be likely to have a first fight that resulted in a learning experience (or someone willing to chat afterward, at any rate).
In my Reaper, I experimented with creating bookmarks and using my d-scanner. I still need some experience with both, but I left with a much better sense of how these things work in practice. I suppose I could have practiced in high sec, but I figured I might as well figure out how to create safe spots and various bookmarks somewhere useful.
Later in the evening, I shipped out in my trusty Punisher.
I was using the following fit (criticisms welcome):
High:
3 x Gatling Pulse Laser I (Multifrequency S)
Small 'Knave' Energy Drain
Mid:
1MN Afterburner I
J5b Phased Prototype Warp Scrambler I
Low:
Damage Control I
Small I-a Polarized Armor Regenerator
Adaptive Nano Plating I
400mm Reinforced Rolled Tungsten Plates I
Rig:
Small Ancillary Current Router I
Upon arrival in Hevrice, it was obviously a bit busier than in the afternoon, though not overwhelmingly so. I warped to a well-positioned safe spot and began d-scanning. Immediately, I pulled up an executioner and an incursus. For some reason, I decided to try to find the executioner, hoping to get the drop on it and blast through its flimsy defenses. In retrospect, I probably would have just been kited to death. I'm not sure if my d-scan skills are crap, if the executioner itself was warping around, or if it was in a safe spot, but it was taking me a little bit to narrow down exactly where the bugger was.
Eventually, I had a hunch that he was at a particular spot. Being overly cautious (I mean seriously), I warped in at 100k off, just to see if he was there and if he'd be game for some fun. He wasn't there.
A R1FTA incursus, however, was.
We promptly began burning toward each other at full speed. I clickied off to the side, attempting a spiral approach. However, we both really just wanted to be close to each other. At about 10-12k, we opened fire. I was missing at that range, but he landed some hits immediately. Then we were in real range of each other and proceeded to slingshot somewhat tightly around each other. As it turns out, I set myself to orbit at 1k while he set himself to keep me at 2.5k range (I think). The result was that we stayed pretty much within each other's ranges, both scrammed each other, and both unloaded. I also used my neut.
My shield vanished almost immediately. "Ah ha!" thought I. "Just as expected. Now my armor specialty comes into play."
Yeah, not so much. It did take him longer to eat through my armor (which isn't saying much), but the armor nonetheless vanished at a steady rate, despite the armor rep. Meanwhile, I didn't even get halfway through his shields, despite the fact that I was hitting him with only one or two misses. The neut ... it did nothing. In short order, I went boom.
The good:
- I remembered to turn on my neut, keep my AB on, and to run my armor rep. Yay me.
- I made at least a passing gesture at flying strategy during my approach, even if it was pointless.
The bad:
- T1 guns with mediocre gunnery/damage skills will do nothing against a ship with t2 guns and defenses. My opponent was flying a dual rep armor tank and I didn't get through his buffer. That's ... that's just depressing.
- I did not pay proper attention to our distance or whether I was successfully tracking him. I occasionally need to pull my eyes away from watching my own armor disappear. I only know that he was within my ideal range because he told me.
Observations:
- It's pointless to take on a pilot who's over a year old (and a member of a pirate corp, no less) if I've only got T1 guns and beginner defenses. I didn't do squat to him, despite the fact that he was right in my range for 99% of the fight.
- I should pick up thermodynamics. Even if it was a losing battle, it would have been nice to go down while overheating. That means engineer V, of course, but I could use the extra grid anyway.
- Picking fights in Tusker territory is a great way to meet some cool PVPers. It's not a great way, I suspect, for me to find equal fights. Most fights that I'll find there will probably be experienced pvpers, either the Tuskers themselves or pvpers looking to tangle with them. I'm not sure how much I'll learn from these fights if I only last 15 seconds.
Conclusion:
My opponent suggested that I don't lock myself into a punisher at the moment, but instead consider other frigates. Apparently, the other frigates have been buffed since the days when Taurean's punisher plan was written. My opponent suggested a Merlin and I'm considering it. Yes, I'll have to slow myself down to pick up caldari frigates, hybrid turrets, and some shield tanking skills. I'm concerned that I'm going to be a bit too jumpy and never really specialize. However, I don't think I'll ever regret having those skills and maybe I should experiment in a few different ships before settling on one for the long term. Of course, my first punisher fight ended so quickly, maybe it's the perfect ship for me and I didn't even know?
Hmmm. For now, caldari frigate is in the skill queue. I want to get back out and do some pvp, but I'm trying to decide if it's worthwhile before t2 guns.
In my Reaper, I experimented with creating bookmarks and using my d-scanner. I still need some experience with both, but I left with a much better sense of how these things work in practice. I suppose I could have practiced in high sec, but I figured I might as well figure out how to create safe spots and various bookmarks somewhere useful.
Later in the evening, I shipped out in my trusty Punisher.
I was using the following fit (criticisms welcome):
High:
3 x Gatling Pulse Laser I (Multifrequency S)
Small 'Knave' Energy Drain
Mid:
1MN Afterburner I
J5b Phased Prototype Warp Scrambler I
Low:
Damage Control I
Small I-a Polarized Armor Regenerator
Adaptive Nano Plating I
400mm Reinforced Rolled Tungsten Plates I
Rig:
Small Ancillary Current Router I
Upon arrival in Hevrice, it was obviously a bit busier than in the afternoon, though not overwhelmingly so. I warped to a well-positioned safe spot and began d-scanning. Immediately, I pulled up an executioner and an incursus. For some reason, I decided to try to find the executioner, hoping to get the drop on it and blast through its flimsy defenses. In retrospect, I probably would have just been kited to death. I'm not sure if my d-scan skills are crap, if the executioner itself was warping around, or if it was in a safe spot, but it was taking me a little bit to narrow down exactly where the bugger was.
Eventually, I had a hunch that he was at a particular spot. Being overly cautious (I mean seriously), I warped in at 100k off, just to see if he was there and if he'd be game for some fun. He wasn't there.
A R1FTA incursus, however, was.
We promptly began burning toward each other at full speed. I clickied off to the side, attempting a spiral approach. However, we both really just wanted to be close to each other. At about 10-12k, we opened fire. I was missing at that range, but he landed some hits immediately. Then we were in real range of each other and proceeded to slingshot somewhat tightly around each other. As it turns out, I set myself to orbit at 1k while he set himself to keep me at 2.5k range (I think). The result was that we stayed pretty much within each other's ranges, both scrammed each other, and both unloaded. I also used my neut.
My shield vanished almost immediately. "Ah ha!" thought I. "Just as expected. Now my armor specialty comes into play."
Yeah, not so much. It did take him longer to eat through my armor (which isn't saying much), but the armor nonetheless vanished at a steady rate, despite the armor rep. Meanwhile, I didn't even get halfway through his shields, despite the fact that I was hitting him with only one or two misses. The neut ... it did nothing. In short order, I went boom.
2012.10.29 00:50:00
Victim: Nowehgo
Corp: Brutor Tribe
Alliance: Unknown
Faction: Unknown
Destroyed: Punisher
System: Hevrice
Security: 0.4
Damage Taken: 2800
Involved parties:
Name: Reyner Ve'chroneus (laid the final blow)
Security: -8.50
Corp: Black Rebel Rifter Club
Alliance: The Devil's Tattoo
Faction: None
Ship: Incursus
Weapon: Light Neutron Blaster II
Damage Done: 2800
Destroyed items:
Gatling Pulse Laser I
1MN Afterburner I
Multifrequency S
Damage Control I
Small I-a Polarized Armor Regenerator
Gatling Pulse Laser I
Small Ancillary Current Router I
Multifrequency S
Dropped items:
J5b Phased Prototype Warp Scrambler I
400mm Reinforced Rolled Tungsten Plates I
Gatling Pulse Laser I
Adaptive Nano Plating I
Multifrequency S
Small 'Knave' Energy Drain
I need to practice switching over to my "pod panic" tab. He managed to scram me before I could warp off, though it felt like the session reset really lagged me. He asked me if my pod was worth anything to me, and I honestly replied that it was worth the cost of my Delta clone. At which point, he put my dropped loot in a can and we both wished each other a "gf." Then he struck up a conversation with me, answered some questions, and was an all around swell guy. Seriously, I never would have guessed that this would be the culture among low sec pirates.
- I remembered to turn on my neut, keep my AB on, and to run my armor rep. Yay me.
- I made at least a passing gesture at flying strategy during my approach, even if it was pointless.
The bad:
- T1 guns with mediocre gunnery/damage skills will do nothing against a ship with t2 guns and defenses. My opponent was flying a dual rep armor tank and I didn't get through his buffer. That's ... that's just depressing.
- I did not pay proper attention to our distance or whether I was successfully tracking him. I occasionally need to pull my eyes away from watching my own armor disappear. I only know that he was within my ideal range because he told me.
Observations:
- It's pointless to take on a pilot who's over a year old (and a member of a pirate corp, no less) if I've only got T1 guns and beginner defenses. I didn't do squat to him, despite the fact that he was right in my range for 99% of the fight.
- I should pick up thermodynamics. Even if it was a losing battle, it would have been nice to go down while overheating. That means engineer V, of course, but I could use the extra grid anyway.
- Picking fights in Tusker territory is a great way to meet some cool PVPers. It's not a great way, I suspect, for me to find equal fights. Most fights that I'll find there will probably be experienced pvpers, either the Tuskers themselves or pvpers looking to tangle with them. I'm not sure how much I'll learn from these fights if I only last 15 seconds.
Conclusion:
My opponent suggested that I don't lock myself into a punisher at the moment, but instead consider other frigates. Apparently, the other frigates have been buffed since the days when Taurean's punisher plan was written. My opponent suggested a Merlin and I'm considering it. Yes, I'll have to slow myself down to pick up caldari frigates, hybrid turrets, and some shield tanking skills. I'm concerned that I'm going to be a bit too jumpy and never really specialize. However, I don't think I'll ever regret having those skills and maybe I should experiment in a few different ships before settling on one for the long term. Of course, my first punisher fight ended so quickly, maybe it's the perfect ship for me and I didn't even know?
Hmmm. For now, caldari frigate is in the skill queue. I want to get back out and do some pvp, but I'm trying to decide if it's worthwhile before t2 guns.
Saturday, October 27, 2012
All Quiet on the High Sec Front
So, I think I've been dithering a bit the last few days. Perhaps weeks.
On the one hand, I'm quite eager to jump into pvp, get blown up, and have fun roaming around low sec.
On the other hand, I really hate scrounging for cash, being space poor, and having to spend huge amounts of time awkwardly grinding isk. I'm in contact with a very cool null sec industry corp and my original plan had been that I would join them, focus on industry, become space rich, and then use the cash to PLEX a second account for pvp and to buy ships/modules.
Yet, I've read advice in multiple places saying that the best way to play EVE is to make sure that you're enjoying yourself now and that there's something fun to do when you log in. I feel as if I'm setting myself up to enjoy the game later (months down the road) and that I'll mostly be twiddling my thumbs and thinking about pvp rather than pvping.
Then I began to think about how much time even a well-oiled industry routine would probably take. I do know that I'd enjoy it and I want to give it a try eventually. Yet, putting in all the time in order to PLEX a second account and pay for ships to blow up ... I can't imagine that it won't take a time commitment.
I've also gotten a hold of a jump clone and some +4 implants. Even with being able to jump between clones, this seems to put a damper on my willingness to go pvp (thus kicking off a 24 hour timer of slower SP). On a side note, I think that any game mechanic that encourages players not to play is a game mechanic that needs to be tweaked. The long and the short is that I'm currently sitting around. Waiting. I log in. Then I log back out. What's up with that?
So, instead, I'm being tempted to the dark side. I realized today that if I bought one PLEX with real world cash, it would provide me with about 100 decently fit punishers (unless my math is way off). Punishers that I could start blowing up and playing right now, freeing up SP to immediately go into my pvp skills. It feels like selling out, yet ... hmm.
For the short term, I think I'm going to slow down my shift to industry/null sec and instead spend ISK and SP on pvp for a while. After I've blown up some ships, I can take stock again of what I want to do and whether I should invest in industry before further committing to pvp.
So, here's the plan:
- Buy 20 punishers
- Pick a region of low sec that looks fun
- Fit the punishers as best I'm able
- Blow up
That will make for better reading, at any rate.
On the one hand, I'm quite eager to jump into pvp, get blown up, and have fun roaming around low sec.
On the other hand, I really hate scrounging for cash, being space poor, and having to spend huge amounts of time awkwardly grinding isk. I'm in contact with a very cool null sec industry corp and my original plan had been that I would join them, focus on industry, become space rich, and then use the cash to PLEX a second account for pvp and to buy ships/modules.
Yet, I've read advice in multiple places saying that the best way to play EVE is to make sure that you're enjoying yourself now and that there's something fun to do when you log in. I feel as if I'm setting myself up to enjoy the game later (months down the road) and that I'll mostly be twiddling my thumbs and thinking about pvp rather than pvping.
Then I began to think about how much time even a well-oiled industry routine would probably take. I do know that I'd enjoy it and I want to give it a try eventually. Yet, putting in all the time in order to PLEX a second account and pay for ships to blow up ... I can't imagine that it won't take a time commitment.
I've also gotten a hold of a jump clone and some +4 implants. Even with being able to jump between clones, this seems to put a damper on my willingness to go pvp (thus kicking off a 24 hour timer of slower SP). On a side note, I think that any game mechanic that encourages players not to play is a game mechanic that needs to be tweaked. The long and the short is that I'm currently sitting around. Waiting. I log in. Then I log back out. What's up with that?
So, instead, I'm being tempted to the dark side. I realized today that if I bought one PLEX with real world cash, it would provide me with about 100 decently fit punishers (unless my math is way off). Punishers that I could start blowing up and playing right now, freeing up SP to immediately go into my pvp skills. It feels like selling out, yet ... hmm.
For the short term, I think I'm going to slow down my shift to industry/null sec and instead spend ISK and SP on pvp for a while. After I've blown up some ships, I can take stock again of what I want to do and whether I should invest in industry before further committing to pvp.
So, here's the plan:
- Buy 20 punishers
- Pick a region of low sec that looks fun
- Fit the punishers as best I'm able
- Blow up
That will make for better reading, at any rate.
Tuesday, October 23, 2012
Everything went better than expected.
I'm quite new to EVE. Very new. I'm still getting a sense of what I want to do in New Eden. However, I'm interested in solo roaming PVP. After mucking about with various not-pvp activities in high sec, I started browsing the Eve Altruist plus Flight-of-Dragons' punisher plan and some other Tuskers blogs. After that sort of reading material, who wouldn't be drawn into engaging in some pvp?
So, I first set up my overview, using a combination of the Altruist's guide plus an Eve University guide. It all seemed to make sense and work well. But really, I needed to test it. I needed to see a blinking orange or red.
More than that, I was surprised to read on Taurean Eltanin's blog how easily he roamed through lowsec, even as an unskilled pilot in a (at first) poorly fit Punisher. Was it really so easy? I suspected that there were many things that I didn't know or guess. The only way to find out was to fit a cheap frigate with some bare minimums and take a stroll.
Thus, I bought a shiny Magnate because it's "one of the most decoratively designed ship classes in the Amarr Empire." How could I resist?! I slapped on a cheap microwarpdrive and warp core stabilizer. I'd never used a MWD before, so I mostly just wanted to see how it worked (not quite as I expected, actually). Starting from Jita, I headed for the nearest lowsec I could find.
From what I had picked up from reading blogs, it seemed like a frigate could align and warp quickly enough from its gate cloak that I should be able to stroll from system to system. For a bit, this was exactly what happened. I'd jump in, pick another stargate at random, select "jump", and repeat. It was fun to see some scary-looking people in local. At one gate, I saw a fight in progress, but just kept moving. Beep beep!
After about 5-6 jumps I thought, "Well, this is as easy as folks made it out to be. Awesome! I can survive in lowsec long enough to maybe start making some bookmarks when the time comes!"
At about the moment I was having this thought, my screen stuttered and I was suddenly in a station with my mail icon blinking.
Checking the killmail for my ship and pod, they had both been destroyed simultaneously by two smart bombs. How did that even happen? I had no idea. So, I chatted with the pirate who had killed me and he turned out to be quite friendly and helpful. He explained that a scout had seen me in the previous system, that he'd seen me coming on his d-scanner, and that he deployed the bombs off the gate to catch me in warp. I had NO idea such things were possible. So I'm really glad that this happened to me. I'm unsure of how frequent this trap occurs, however. Does every person roaming in lowsec first warp to a safe spot off the gate, d-scan it to make sure that nothing that could have smartbombs is there, and THEN jump? Or was the mistake that I approached in alignment from the other gate, so it was easy to have the bombs set up for my direction? I'm really grateful for this experience, since I not only learned a very surprising way to die, but it's given me some questions to chew on. Also, the nice pirate sent me 30 million isk. I promise, good sir, to spend it on pvp.
What a great experience!
2012.10.24 01:50:00
Victim: Nowehgo
Corp: Brutor Tribe
Alliance: Unknown
Faction: Unknown
Destroyed: Magnate
System: Sujarento
Security: 0.3
Damage Taken: 925
Involved parties:
Name: Aerich e'Kieron (laid the final blow)
Security: -10.00
Corp: Snuff Box
Alliance: None
Faction: None
Ship: Machariel
Weapon: Imperial Navy Large EMP Smartbomb
Damage Done: 925
Destroyed items:
Warp Core Stabilizer I
Dropped items:
1MN Microwarpdrive I
Things I learned:
1) Always insure your ship. I knew this. Seriously, I did. Somehow I didn't insure the magnate. Not a big loss, but ... doh! I think I was too excited to get blown up and I just undocked and headed out without thinking.
2) Never fly what you can't afford to lose. I'm already sick of this phrase and I haven't been playing long. I already believed and planned to follow this phrase. But wow, this experience brought that home. I was vaporized before I even had an inkling that something was afoot. Awesome.
3) Damn smartbombs, you scary.
4) Lowsec pirates are (so far) as nice and helpful as the blogs portray them being. Cool!
So, I first set up my overview, using a combination of the Altruist's guide plus an Eve University guide. It all seemed to make sense and work well. But really, I needed to test it. I needed to see a blinking orange or red.
More than that, I was surprised to read on Taurean Eltanin's blog how easily he roamed through lowsec, even as an unskilled pilot in a (at first) poorly fit Punisher. Was it really so easy? I suspected that there were many things that I didn't know or guess. The only way to find out was to fit a cheap frigate with some bare minimums and take a stroll.
Thus, I bought a shiny Magnate because it's "one of the most decoratively designed ship classes in the Amarr Empire." How could I resist?! I slapped on a cheap microwarpdrive and warp core stabilizer. I'd never used a MWD before, so I mostly just wanted to see how it worked (not quite as I expected, actually). Starting from Jita, I headed for the nearest lowsec I could find.
From what I had picked up from reading blogs, it seemed like a frigate could align and warp quickly enough from its gate cloak that I should be able to stroll from system to system. For a bit, this was exactly what happened. I'd jump in, pick another stargate at random, select "jump", and repeat. It was fun to see some scary-looking people in local. At one gate, I saw a fight in progress, but just kept moving. Beep beep!
After about 5-6 jumps I thought, "Well, this is as easy as folks made it out to be. Awesome! I can survive in lowsec long enough to maybe start making some bookmarks when the time comes!"
At about the moment I was having this thought, my screen stuttered and I was suddenly in a station with my mail icon blinking.
Checking the killmail for my ship and pod, they had both been destroyed simultaneously by two smart bombs. How did that even happen? I had no idea. So, I chatted with the pirate who had killed me and he turned out to be quite friendly and helpful. He explained that a scout had seen me in the previous system, that he'd seen me coming on his d-scanner, and that he deployed the bombs off the gate to catch me in warp. I had NO idea such things were possible. So I'm really glad that this happened to me. I'm unsure of how frequent this trap occurs, however. Does every person roaming in lowsec first warp to a safe spot off the gate, d-scan it to make sure that nothing that could have smartbombs is there, and THEN jump? Or was the mistake that I approached in alignment from the other gate, so it was easy to have the bombs set up for my direction? I'm really grateful for this experience, since I not only learned a very surprising way to die, but it's given me some questions to chew on. Also, the nice pirate sent me 30 million isk. I promise, good sir, to spend it on pvp.
What a great experience!
2012.10.24 01:50:00
Victim: Nowehgo
Corp: Brutor Tribe
Alliance: Unknown
Faction: Unknown
Destroyed: Magnate
System: Sujarento
Security: 0.3
Damage Taken: 925
Involved parties:
Name: Aerich e'Kieron (laid the final blow)
Security: -10.00
Corp: Snuff Box
Alliance: None
Faction: None
Ship: Machariel
Weapon: Imperial Navy Large EMP Smartbomb
Damage Done: 925
Destroyed items:
Warp Core Stabilizer I
Dropped items:
1MN Microwarpdrive I
Things I learned:
1) Always insure your ship. I knew this. Seriously, I did. Somehow I didn't insure the magnate. Not a big loss, but ... doh! I think I was too excited to get blown up and I just undocked and headed out without thinking.
2) Never fly what you can't afford to lose. I'm already sick of this phrase and I haven't been playing long. I already believed and planned to follow this phrase. But wow, this experience brought that home. I was vaporized before I even had an inkling that something was afoot. Awesome.
3) Damn smartbombs, you scary.
4) Lowsec pirates are (so far) as nice and helpful as the blogs portray them being. Cool!
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