It’s BREAK TIME!!
Well, there have been quite a few kind suggestions as to where I could go next, now that I was discharged from Noir. All of them are appreciated, and it was nice to see so many buds from m3 Corp still around as well.
However, despite the positive things that are going on with the game, I can see that I have got to spend some time away.. or rather.. reduce my time drastically so that I can enjoy the game again. I can see that despite my better judgement, I still have plenty of bittervet juice running in my veins and that is making me irresponsible and easily distracted.
Certainly things that won’t benefit any corp that hires me right now.
So, for now, I think I’ll just take it easy, and back off from the game. Log on when I feel like it, not when I am compelled to. I figure that will take a few weeks, especially considering that I have RL things I have to attend to as well. You’ll still see me on, but this blog won’t be updated all that often.
Until then, keep your guns loaded and your enemies running. Don’t worry, I’ll be back.
Noir. 200th Celebration.. And improving my skills
So, our celebrated 200th contract finally was complete, and we moved out of 0.0. Fortunately, I had no more humiliating losses and despite having next to zero game time available.. I was still able to get on a couple kills. So, while not out of the doghouse, I am near the doggie door.
As most pilots well know, particularly those of the larger alliances and coalitions, Noir. has begun their 200th Contract Celebration which has started off much better than our Curse campaign. We have wardec’d a ton of major alliances and have been flying around all over Eve looking to find targets. The response.. well, the response was predictable. Some corps left their alliances because of the War-dec, others like Eve Uni sent out 100 man fleets to hunt us down. Ah, gotta love it.
During this time I’ve improved both my skills with the interceptor and stealth bomber, getting the real life understanding needed to fly them well and effectively (so expect to see new configurations for both of them in the near future). I am also revisiting my skill at using the Rapier, Huginn, and Vagabond. The simple fact is that my understanding of how to use the Rapier and Huginn fell behind the times. Both of those ships aren’t exactly necessary in the major 0.0 fleets that the NC had fielded.. particularly since 1400mm equipped Maelstroms because they were the NC’s FOTM for quite a while. The Vagabond on the other hand, I never got to get good with in the first place, because of type of fleets that were being run against us at the time.
So, how does that relate to my time in Noir. Well, I am still surprised at how resistant I am at the thought of going back to Battlecruisers and the like. But, the merc life means exactly what it sounds like. You are trying to make money, and if a 40mil isk ship can do the task just as good as a 140mil isk ship, then you bring the 40mil isk ship. Sometimes doing that isn’t as easy as it sounds because.. hey, I’m a 70mil SP character.. doing the same job that a 4 or 5 mil SP can do nearly as good. But, that’s the reality of living a merc life.
On other notes, check out the new banner I got from Rixx Javix over at Eveoganda (http://eveoganda.blogspot.com/)!
My Life as a Merc – Part One – Being rusty… really, really rusty…
For the last three years, I have operated under the typical belief that I was a decent PVP’er. I felt that, on a scale of 1-10, I was about an 8. I knew there were better players than me, but I felt that I could hold my own. However, our current contract in 0.0 has me thinking that I need to lower that number some.
See, it turns out that the mindset needed to be a merc is considerably different at individual level than what is needed for a Sov-holding Alliance. I find that I am having a little trouble adapting to is as well. So, let’s go over my two losses that happened this month. Both of which I take responsibility for, but they do illistrate how different the mindset is.
Huginn better not do dat!
My first Loss: http://eve.battleclinic.com/killboard/killmail.php?id=14269964
This was my first loss in Noir. I lost it following the FC’s general order to try and knock the Tempest away from the gate. The Tempest was set up with Neuts and I couldn’t get away fast enough before the rest of his fleet came in.
Now, in the 0.0 Allliance, most likely I would not hear a thing about the loss, and even if someone asked me, I could tell them exactly what I did and the answer would be, “Oh, okay.” and that would be that. Losses happen all the time in 0.0, even in the best of circumstances.
In a merc alliance environment, though, every loss affects every aspect of the alliance. It affects its reputation, its pay, its future contracts, everything. Because of this, I was taken aside and we had a discussion about what I did and where I went wrong.
One of the more thing I found new.. was that unlike 0.0 fleets, in merc fleets the FC isn’t necessarily “god”. I had to be more responsible for understanding what my ship could or couldn’t do. So, trying to use my T2 cruiser against a Tempest in a mass contest was not a good idea.
Oh, I still hate Stealth Bombers
My second loss: http://eve.battleclinic.com/killboard/killmail.php?id=14304208 was significantly less costly, but it still annoys me. In a 0.0 Sov Alliance, usually Stealth bombers are the bane of most fleets because often those flying them in fleets are just flying them to “get by” without investing in more effective battleships. And often they are more trouble than they are worth because invariably some idiot hits the bomb button (either intentionally or unintentionally) and wipes out the friendly fleet’s drones. And, in an era of 30+ man roaming gangs, a Stealth Bomber just isn’t that effective.
Plus.. I just really suck in them.
That being said, a stealth bomber does have its uses, and I decided to bring one out in fleet to get some much needed experience in one. During our roam we managed to catch a Typhoon on gate and we bubbled and locked him when he jumped over. Now, my uncloak point was about 30km from the target so, I AB’ed to the Typhoon to see if I could get under his guns because I thought that would be the one thing I could mitigate. Even though I could fly fast, I got caught up on the gate and got eaten alive by both the ACs and the drones. Looking back, I should have stayed in the 30km+ range and lobbed them from the safety of distance. I was also told to be aligned to a celestrial.. but considering my exit point from the jump.. that just wasn’t feasible because I was already pretty far away from the intended target.
In Conclusion
So far, I really haven’t pulled my weight, though I have been on a couple kills. It is rather embarrassing nonetheless. One of the big issues I’ve found is that in 0.0 alliances, you have time to make your mistakes and to improve. In a merc alliance, that time is decidedly short because the impact of each individual pilot is much greater, and losing ships has a higher cost than just the price of the ship. Right now.. gotta rate myself as a 5.
It’s Official! I am now a merc in the employ of Noir.!
Yes, they will see my Merc guns and my Merc attacks and they will be astonded at my..um.. Merciness.. um.. YES! My uber MERCINESS! And I will go on with my uber Merciness and create new words to profound and proliferate those who stand in my way!
Hehe
On a more serious note.. because, you know, Internet spaceships is srs bizness, I look forward to this new opportunity. m3 Corp once attempted to do merc work, but we found out the easy part is dealing with the targets. The hard part is dealing with the client.. and especially getting paid. So, see how an operation that actually works in that regard will be a learning experience. I’ll have to discuss what I can and can’t put on my blog.. plus they might be helpful in coming up with some ideas for articles on Eve Stratics.
In the meantime, I’ll read the forums, listen to my handler, and keep my eyes on target and maybe learn some new skills. It does seem though, by looking at their killboard, that my old skills will still be quite handy.
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