Feels empty sometimes…

Low-sec, that is. Before I decided to tinker around with some mission runners and do that old “goto” tactic of the ninja, I ran through the Marele/Spaen constellations in my Stabber. Looking for trouble. I had a couple of people following me from some random corp, but nothing that I as really worried about. I did know enough not to fuck with a corp while I’m out on a solo roam.

Then again, a few moments after starting this post while popping back into EVE to click “warp to zero” – I found two members of a corp called “Peanut Butter Jelly Time [PBJT]”. One in a Tormenter and the other in a Badger. It turned out, I did not manage to catch them for more than a few seconds, but I did get some experience in the art of direction scanning, etc. I met up with them in Groothese and as I started to burn toward the little mining operation they had setup, they warped off. No big deal. I’m on the way back to Dodixie to prep the Orca and head out somewhere to pick on mission runners and snag some loot for the market.

Naturally, it was a trap.

Can’t say I wasn’t hoping it wasn’t a trap, but I knew it was based on the number of corp mates in the area, cans, etc. But I still walked right into it. That Crow was a nice and fast boat, and I enjoyed the fight. My conversation with him, after losing my Jaguar to him, follows.

[02:30:55] Gilbert Hamilton > gf. never even used a crow – loved the fight against it.
[02:31:03] Gilbert Hamilton > was a tasty chase.
[02:31:11] Donnie Supertramp > haha, ty
[02:31:42] Gilbert Hamilton > I’m going to have to look into that ship – hella fast, it was.
[02:31:53] Gilbert Hamilton > what was the other ship? a missile boat?
[02:32:13] Donnie Supertramp > nah falcon
[02:32:22] Gilbert Hamilton > oh yeah, ok that’s what it was. nice.
[02:32:25] Gilbert Hamilton > anyway, gl and fly safe.
[02:32:26] Gilbert Hamilton > o/
[02:32:31] Donnie Supertramp > ty, gf

I always enjoy a good conversation after a fight – as little as it was, really. Unless I’m the one going for tears, of course. Now to puff up my manhood and piss off someone weaker than I. Naturally.

Mean Streak Contest Winner

Congratulations go to the Mean Streak contest winner, Ulik Kahn! Great job!

I hung around Hek last night, in my hurricane, named Gloria. Plotted another low-sec run around that loop, just on the lower end of the map. It started off bland, as if everyone was just passing through. No miners, no activity, nobody chasing me. Hell, this ship cannot even cloak. Just warp from safe to safe, keeping aligned, while I scan. It’s actually great practice for that sort of thing. Less signatures in the system seem to be letting me focus on getting a warpable result.

In one of the systems, I was able to pin down a POS. Warping to it at 100, to take a look, showed it was online and fully of tasty goodies. I hung out there too long, and ended up warping off with my ship at 80% armor. No big deal. I’m docked for the night in a high-sec system, and will head back out for more safe gathering, fun, and whatnot later tonight.

That said, that POS is actively recruiting. I may see if I can get my alt out of the corp I stole from a while ago, and join this one with the POS. Only catch: they request the API key and a screenshot of your character selection screen. Ha. Not going to happen. If anyone wants to infiltrate it with a clean account, send me an ingame mail, and I’ll hook you up. You can even pay me if you want. :P

So, last night’s lesson learned: at 100km, a POS will still shoot at you. It stinks. But not before you can spend a few minutes taking inventory/screenshots.

Self destruct, for 25 million

While I have very little experience killing Drakes, solo or in groups, I feel the “win” in this failed killmail was not only the ransom, but the self destruct. This scan was just the first of a few of them; however, the length of time I spent at this drake meant the other scans were empty of mission runners by the time I arrived at them.

No worries. The tears from this chat with Tyler Aurilen are plenty, for the night. Not to mention the 25 million ISK ransoms. Just under the price of a new Drake, and I felt I got out of him about the most I could. (An interesting aspect of ransoms. If I were to ask too much, and then “barter”, I feel I lose credibility overall.) Funny thing was, while I said I had a bunch of ammo (I did), I couldn’t break down his shields.

He wasn’t going to die to my guns. It was all the chat, and the arrival of the Ninjas to the scene that helped him blow up his own ship, I think. The ninjas arrived and started filling up his overview with all sorts of extra targets, though he wasn’t shooting, I am certain the appearance, “suddenly” of a bunch of us, helped.

It’s what we do.

 
[01:44:22] Gilbert Hamilton > sir, you shot at me first.
[01:44:35] Tyler Aurilen > you nija my shit
[01:44:45] Gilbert Hamilton > it was my loot to take. sorry.
[01:44:45] Tyler Aurilen > i shot when you went red
[01:44:59] Gilbert Hamilton > I have plenty of ammo, time, and web. cap stable. are you in this for the duration, or what?
[01:45:11] Tyler Aurilen > what u want
[01:45:32] Gilbert Hamilton > I would be happy to leave, and assign to you a permit to leave objects in space for 24 hours for a fee of 25,000,000
[01:46:13] Tyler Aurilen > ok stop shootin and ill send it to you
[01:46:22] Gilbert Hamilton > 15 seconds
[01:46:39] Gilbert Hamilton > ten
[01:47:02] Gilbert Hamilton > that was only 25,000. please send 25,000,000
[01:47:49] Tyler Aurilen > ok fine i will put a flag on you and that was 25mill
[01:48:10] Gilbert Hamilton > flag?
[01:49:27] Gilbert Hamilton > if you eject your ship, I will leave you and your ship and pod alone.
[01:49:46] Tyler Aurilen > how can i trust u
[01:49:57] Gilbert Hamilton > let me jet my ammo.
[01:50:15] Gilbert Hamilton > the rest is in my guns.
[01:50:38] Tyler Aurilen > ok when yor 200 shots are up maby
[01:50:44] Gilbert Hamilton > one gun left.
[01:50:57] Gilbert Hamilton > there we go
[01:51:19] Tyler Aurilen > why ejeckt ill leave if thats what u want
[01:51:23] Gilbert Hamilton > yes
[01:51:51] Gilbert Hamilton > no, eject then I know i can trust you I mean
[01:52:22] Gilbert Hamilton > you don’t have to leave.
[01:52:39] Gilbert Hamilton > just eject and I will refund your 25,000 and assign contract to you for leaving cans out into space.
[01:52:54] Gilbert Hamilton > 15 secons.
[01:52:57] Gilbert Hamilton > seconds*
[01:53:12] Gilbert Hamilton > ten
[01:53:26] Gilbert Hamilton > taking my ammo back.
[01:54:30] Tyler Aurilen > self destruct
[01:54:53] Gilbert Hamilton > how much longer?
[01:55:11] Tyler Aurilen > sec
[01:55:18] Tyler Aurilen > 29sec
[01:55:57] Gilbert Hamilton > thanks. :)

Weekend Fun

Memorial Day weekend was fun – I did the expected family stuff and rested a lot. Then, spent some time with my Ninjas. I ended up getting involved in a fleet op *just* a little bit too late. In fact, I was able to convince the Dominix pilot to shoot me (seriously: via chat) but just as he did, he already had died. So I couldn’t sneak my way into the mail. I didn’t have mumble, so I couldn’t keep up with much of the details so I cut that short.

The alt is in another corp. A new, fresh corp. Which is good and bad. On the infiltration things – it’s bad because there is nothing there for me to steal yet. But on a good note, if I behave and just leave because “real life is keeping me away, etc.” or something on a good note, it’s a good reference for the next guy should I say I don’t agree to an API check and give references instead.

The night ended with a lesson for a newbie: *never* ignore the “don’t steal this” warning.

Another low-sec lesson

Burning 70km toward the interceptor is not a good idea. But really, who cares? It’s just 8 million, and internet spaceships. I am enjoying this “go out and shoot stuff” stuff. #tweetfleet ftw!

Lost the wolf

I lost the wolf to a Caldari Navy Hookbill tonight. Which not only was fun, but kind of gives me hope for what I thought was a shitty ship. He wouldn’t give me the fitting, though, but that’s ok. Thermal wasn’t doing shit, so he could have probably fit it with resists and whatnot – eg: paying attention.

I had fun, though. Convo after was polite, too.

Lesson learned: The wolf can circle close, but so can the CN Hookbill. And the “friend” helping a MR who is obviously PVP fit will kill me. (That’s the point, no?!)

He was able to gain aggro because I politely jettisoned some ammo to help the process along. ;)

Don’t steal, please…

Hot tip – if someone asks you to purchase a license for the ability to jettison goods into a cargo-container (unsecure container), they are lying. Also, if you do play along from a role-play standpoint – ask them to abandon the new can, and don’t steal from it.

[18:05:15] Gilbert Hamilton good afternoon, sir
[18:05:32] prokchowmein howdy mate…
[18:05:56] Gilbert Hamilton I wanted to inform you – I have confiscated the ore you have mined into unlicensed “jetcans”
[18:06:06] Gilbert Hamilton Along with the abandoned drones, Vespa X2 and Hob X1
[18:06:10] prokchowmein why is that?
[18:06:13] Gilbert Hamilton Please do not litter our spacelanes.
[18:06:27] Gilbert Hamilton Litter, along with other reasons related to ship dents, paint jobs, things like that.
[18:06:34] Gilbert Hamilton Basic spaceway travel concerns.
[18:06:47] Gilbert Hamilton If you would like to obtain license to unlock the ore, please inform me as such.
[18:06:56] prokchowmein seriously…
[18:07:00] Gilbert Hamilton Yes, sir.
[18:07:24] prokchowmein well, please unlock it then
[18:07:55] Gilbert Hamilton I will. The fee for unlocking this ore (with the *added* bonus of unlimited jet-can licensure for the duration of the license (2 months)) is 500,000 ISK.
[18:08:15] Gilbert Hamilton You can send this ISK by right clicking my name, and using the “give money” option.
[18:08:34] prokchowmein fine, unlock it and I will transfer the money
[18:08:40] Gilbert Hamilton It is unlocked, sir.
[18:09:15] Gilbert Hamilton Authorization has been given, #22132.a (“a” is your first license. Congratulations.)
[18:09:30] Gilbert Hamilton Please transfer money within 1 minute, or I will be forced due to regulations to lock the container or destroy it.
[18:09:43] Gilbert Hamilton Disregard the warning – I need the money first.
[18:09:59] Gilbert Hamilton 30 seconds, sir
[18:10:07] Gilbert Hamilton wonderful news.
[18:10:09] Gilbert Hamilton thank you and enjoy.

Naturally, I blew him up right after he returned for the ore in his Iteron. In short, it made for a good “something to do” while I was reading the great new issue of EON magazine, and making my way with my wolf, back to my orca.

Bring More Ammo

Lesson learned: When you don’t know what resists you’re up against – bring a LOT of ammo.

I went to Agrallarier last night and scanned down three mission runners.  The first one, however, was all it took to make my night interesting.  He was in a hyperion, and shot at me pretty soon after I stole from him.

I returned in a rifter, and started shooting him.  His shield wasn’t going; or really was going down very slow.  I kept switching ammo types in both the projectiles and in the rocket launcher.

I was able to gather a 1 Million ISK bounty out of him.  I asked for 10, he gave me 1.  I kept shooting.

Eventually, another non-allied (though possibly friendly) person showed up.  He shot up the ship enough to get the mission runner to eject and then stole the hyperion.  If I could have flown it, I would have done the same, leaving my rifter there in space.

Boo.

30 seconds after I posted this…

The data-core I put into auction yesterday for 12 Million sold to Ray Paul.  Quick check – not in same corporation or alliance to s1l3ntw, below.  I would have loved to see that Ray Paul purchased it to keep happy the butthurt s1l3ntw, but no luck. (Unless he’s an alt.  Whatever.)

Of course, as it sold I was just putting up for auction the stolen core from _today_ for a price of only 1 Million; mostly to goad tears out of s1l3ntw.

Ray Paul bought that, too.  Someone likes my prices.  Someone (me) thinks there may be more money in this, than I realize right now.  Wee.