Providence Awaits

The stargate shimmers before me, holding a promise of unknown riches and adventure on the other side, a new life, a path I've never walked down before lies before me beyond this stargate..
I activate the gate and jump through, as I materialize on the other side I see before me a whole region of space I've never before ventured into, Providence awaits.

That was the scenario a few days ago after another successfully completed mission, another exploration site that didn't yield much in terms of wealth or excitement, since I returned from slumber it struck me how much everything had changed, and yet remained exactly the same. 
In EVE we make our own fortunes, adventures and narratives, it's our sandbox and if you find yourself bored, well it's probably your own fault. 
I decided to take matters into my own hands and go somewhere new, and somewhere a little further then the next mission hub to shoot the next bunch of red crosses for whoever payed the LP.  I decided to head into null sec, 0.0 security space, the promised land of EVE, where all the stories originate and empires draw their own lines in the sand.
I decided on Providence simply because I've heard about it since I started playing EVE.  A lawless region where CVA and the Providence holders enforced the peace, and a region that was open and welcoming to neutrals, unlike nearly every other null sec region in the universe.

So there I was, sitting on a stargate in my Interceptor, leaving all of high sec behind me and sticking my foot in the deep end for the first time since I started playing in 2007.
I've been in alliances before, in high sec, which rented space, I think I also headed out east on one trip, because I have a jump clone sitting in a system I've no recollection of ever being in.  So it was with some excitement I decided to take this plunge.

I've practically no experience with 0.0 and so expected to die pretty fast, but I've managed to survive for a few days now.  I've been careful, making sure to create bounce spots in warp, setting up scans and tacs on most gates I've passed through.  I've been diligent in creating instas for the stations I expected to use and to be social with the locals I've come across.  The last few days have been fun, I've been flying with a new attitude and vigilance, although I haven't really done much of note, it's still been a breath of fresh air to my playing experience.  I took Evv out there off course, he's the brawny one after all, but after a few days I did find myself seriously entertaining the idea of bringing Evoran out there as well, set up a cheap mining ship and just try it.  I'm not quite sure of how the industry in 0.0 works as opposed to high sec as I've never done it, but the idea is very tempting. 

I was planning on staying in Providence for as long as the Holders would let me, as a neutral, carving out my new life among the stars.
It did not last very long.
The neutral bit, that is.
Today I headed out to rat a little and as I returned from a short AFK there was a convo request waiting for me.  I was certain I had pissed in someones cereal and expected a thinly veiled threat and a prompt retreat from my new lifestyle.  The cereal was however quite unspoiled and instead of being run out of the region, I found myself chatting to a recruiter.
There was a slight issue however, the recruiter, Trisha D'Vaney, represented Imperial Dreams, a corporation that is Amarr exclusive, I'm Gallente through and through.  All was not lost however, I expressed how tempting the offer sounded to me and Trisha was kind enough to promptly connect me with Wildcard Trek, CEO of Corp 54.

So here I am, a new member of Corp 54 and one of the oldest and most historical alliances in the game. 
I've no idea where life in New Eden will take me from here, but I'm sure it's going to be an exciting ride.

I can only extend my sincerest gratitude to Trisha for the initial offer and to Wildcard for the confidence they extended me.  I shall do my utmost to not disappoint or betray that confidence.

Fly safe everyone and Amarr Victor.

Red vs Blue. The Good, the Bad and the Ugly.

So, when shooting asteroids, checking market margins or shooting little red crosses gets to boring, I turn to RvB.  RvB (Red vs Blue), for those who may not know, are two corporations locked in eternal war over a few systems, currently close to Jita.
The premise is that you join up and you will have instant combat all the time, largely concentrated to a small number of systems to keep the intensity high. 
Red and Blue HQ are separated by a few jumps to have some systems were station games are less prevalent and to allow some gatecamping and mobile action.  RvB will probably give you whatever type of combat you desire on a regular basis, with a few exceptions.

There are a few rules to keep drama and chaos down and from what I've seen so far these rules are enforced by both corporations.
NO Podding allowed, you are under no circumstances allowed to pod fellow RvB members, third party war targets are fair game though.  From what I know, podding without having a darn good excuse for it, will get you booted from RvB.
No ECM, all other types of E-War are allowed, but no jammers.  The idea is on fun fights and jammers aren't.

The following is my experience and opinion only, your mileage may vary.

The Good.

Instant fights, all the time, you undock and there are people to fight.  There's a fleet up nearly 23/7 that you can join for PvP, or you can go out solo and look for fights as it suits you.

You WILL get used to loss, which is rather essential in EVE, RvB will teach you to fly things you can afford fast, because you will loose the stuff you undock in.

Feet first PvP lessons.  There's no easing into things in RvB, you go from peaceful carebear to frothing maniac the moment you join.  You will learn things fast or you won't have any fun at all.

Great community, I've met very few idiots in RvB, the people on both sides are fun loving little hellraisers who will gladly share their knowledge with you.  Questions are answered, fits are critiqued and shared, and the FC's are extraordinary patient with people/newbies in fleets.

Regular events that you can take part in, everything from local brawls to low sec/null sec roams.  The people running the whole thing are simply fantastic at creating content for their members and I can't thank them enough for the time and effort they put in.

Very laid back and relaxed community, no API keys required, registrations everywhere, jabber, IRC etc.
You join, signing up for the forum is recommended, but not required as I've understood it, and use EVE voice in fleets.  It can't really get simpler for anyone who wants to PvP without the politics and all the other things that come with it.  Out of Game voice comms are used for some events I believe, but all of these are 100% optional.

The Bad.

Not really a whole lot here, and keep in mind that this is purely my own opinion on the matter.

You can get poor fast unless you have money on the side or fly expensive stuff you can't replace.  Don't fly what you can't afford to loose.  I believe RvB has replacement programs with some conditions, but I've not used them, so my knowledge on the matter is limited.

Some fights are pre arranged and will seem rather "artificial", if I can use that word about blowing up spaceships in a video game.  If you're looking for a totally immersive war experience there are some fights that will disappoint you.  These fights are there to create content and explosions for whoever wants to participate though, so one really can't complain about them.  You are also free to ignore such fights as you please.

I don't really have any bad experiences from RvB myself, it's mostly what you make of it yourself, and not joining up with the wrong expectations.

The Ugly.

Nothing to really say here.
One would expect a community such as RvB to be full of trolling idiots, and I'm sure there are some, but I've not really met any of them.  The people are great, the organizers are fantastic and there's action all the time.
The quality of the community is probably down to leadership actually doing their job to provide quality content for everyone, and again, I can't thank them enough for it.

So, you want to be a 1337 PvP'er, tired of being the constant carebear, maybe you just wanna learn how to bite back in case of wardecs, Join RvB.  Stick an alt in there like I've done, I can almost guarantee you'll have fun and after a few days it's not so threatening to have people chasing you all the time.
Fly cheap frigates and get a feel for things, be the aggressor on a killboard for a change and have some good times with the rest.

There's not point, no endgame, no lines on the map, no motivation to fight other then the fight itself.
In RvB, we just wanna watch the universe burn.
And kill smurfs.
The more smurfs, the better.

Fly like you stole it.

Back, Again.

Back yet again, after a long time of inactivity now.  New Eden seems to be a place I can't keep away from, it always feels like coming home when you log back in to space.

There's been more then a few changes since I was here last, I was rather confused about all the green and red squares in space first time I saw them, turns out they were part of the new scanning system.  I haven't quite made up my mind about the new scanning system and anomalies yet, seems like a pretty big plus in high sec, but it leaves you less time to bug out of sites in low sec.  Great stuff for people looking to kill folk, but since I'm usually the "getting killed folk" it could get ugly, adaptation required I suppose.

Speaking of low sec, Ventures are my new best friend.  Yes, I'm aware that ISK pr hour is horrible mining in low sec, I'm also aware that mining for your own production etc, is a terrible waste of money, but you can't beat the fun factor.  I've been taking Ventures into low sec for some ninja mining here and there since I came back, and it's fun as hell, it's nimble, fast and the warp strength helps a lot on the safety factor.  I'm looking to get me a prospector next, maybe take it into null sec or some wormholes, the Cov Op's cloak should be ideal for that kind of nosing around.

Evoran's been spending most of his time getting set up again, moved home system, picked the trading back up and been researching some BPO's.  I've been getting to know the market again and trading is currently netting some nice profits all around.  The new Crius industry system seems great so for, I've heard/read all the doomsday prophecies regarding it, but I've got few complaints so far.  EVE is about adapting after all.

I was also pleasantly surprised to see my RvB alt still in Red Federation, I was expecting her to have been removed due to inactivity, but I was able to jump straight in again.  Well, straight in after I'd researched new fittings and tactics.  There's seems to have been quite a few changes in the PvP front aswell.  Frigates, destroyers and cruisers have been reworked, not sure if it applies to more ships, those are the ones I fly, new roles, slot layouts and bonuses, great stuff.  I've mostly been tearing around in cheap frigs, as per usual, sneaking in on KM's and getting back into it. 
The relaxed RvB atmosphere is fantastic though and they do produce great fights, I encourage anyone to stick an alt in there just to try it out.  You can keep it as cheap as you like and still get great fights, there's always a fleet running so you never feel alone or abandoned and there's a lot of helpful people to answer all the stupid questions one might have.

Anyways, Fly safe.

Tech Cartels and Navy Ships

Escalation is upon us and the market is in uproar, the removal of drone alloys and meta 0 drops from rats are pushing prices up across the board.  Pick a random ship or some mineral and check the price development since december/january and you'll see what I mean.  This is probably just the beginning tough, as Goonswarm has more or less decided to corner the economy on as much as they can, the Tech Cartel (OTEC) is gonna run T2 prices through the roof.  The burning of Jita, Hulkageddon and the alleged promise to gank industrialists all over the universe, fear alone will push the market right into Goon hands.  You can say what you will about The Mittani, but the man knows what he's doing and deserves his due of credit for the way he pulls strings and affects the entirety of New Eden.
If all of the above mentioned events goes according to Goon plans, we're going to have some expensive months ahead of us, or good profits depending on what/if you invested in certain things when rumors of this whole thing started circulating.  One things for sure though, stay out of Jita on the 28th and throughout that weekend.

I've spent some of my own hard earned ISK on a new toy, Evv has bought himself a Navy Scorpion.  I wanted a shield/missile Battleship after flying only armor gunboats since the start now.  Yes, I know that the CNR is the shizz and all that, but it's also ugly as all hell, where as the Navy Scorp is one sexy beast.  Great tank, but I'll admit it's a little on the weak side on the damage, probably why everyone prefers to suffer the awful sight of the CNR.

There's even a spinny thing on the top.

Had a few more fights in RvB, nothing spectacular, lost a few Rifters and scored some more kills.  I also took out a Thrasher to a fight and while it does impressive damage it also seems to be auto primary.  I'm trying to keep this as "cheap" or cost effective as possible, get some good fights and good fun for a minimum of ISK, I'll probably start taking more Thrashers out.  They tank less, and gets primaried a lot faster then a Rifter, but they're also good fun and they rain death on anything around them.  The whole Destroyer thing is pretty much like flying a huge bullseye made of wet paper tissue towards a fight, but then again, that has it's own charm.  The thing I need to get a little better at is anticipating the fight and trying to get out before it's to late.  I usually get stuck in there and by the time the warning bells and klaxons and big red "BUG OUT" letters go off in my head, I'm scrammed down by way to many frigs.  The worst part is, every time it happens, I can identify the exact time that I SHOULD have gotten out, but I always stick around for that extra kill.  This is fine as long as I'm throwing away Rifters, but if I plan on upshipping, and I'll have to do that eventually, it's gonna get expensive fast.

Anyways, 'til next time, Fly safe.

Moving house and RvB.

It's been a while since the last post, summer of Rage and some other minor things ended in my accounts going inactive.  I've returned now, once again, brought in by the promise of the new patch and a longing for the open reaches of New Eden space lanes.  I'll be honest, Eve is a game that is hard to kick.  I can turn my back, but I still find myself drawn back to it given time.

Going to keep this one short and sweet.  I've moved, from my previous home around Villore, I've moved to the neighbouring region of Sinq Laison.  The lure of the trade hub (Dodixie) won out in the end, it's easier to conduct regular trades in large volumes from my new home.

I've also dived in feet first with PvP, I've placed an alt in Red V Blue.  RvB for those who don't know is two corporations in a perpetual state of war.  Sign up, undock and fight, it's sort of like an arena brawl thing without the politics and hassle of War.  I've joined Red myself, the character I have there isn't the best in terms of skill points, but I've trained her in between skills here to make her an acceptable cruiser pilot.  I do mostly fly frigates though, it's cheaper that way and they're always useful for tackling anyway.  I'm close to a hundred kills now and 12 Rifters lost.

I'll probably throw in quite a few RvB updates here in the future, it's damn good fun.

Fly safe all.

Hulkageddon starts and the ISK 3.0.

And so the Hulkageddon is upon us yet again.  It's been some time now since I've actually worried about the Hulkageddon, I don't mine that much anymore, it mostly comes through the market for me these days.  I do try to avoid flying freighters/Orcas or other "easy to hit" industrial during this time though, rather opting for my blockade runner to move stuff if need be.  Hulkageddon is really not that much of a problem if you take some precautions and use your head, should you get your Hulk/other highly expensive industrial ship ganked during this time, it's pretty much your own fault.  Saying that, I'll probably loose something shiny myself this time around, should that happen I swear not to whine about it.

I know several "carebears" and industrialists whinge and complain about Hulkageddon and I don't really understand this, as I stated above, staying safe isn't really all to hard if you stay smart.  I understand that you have to switch the "autopilot" mentality off, but in my opinion we're playing a multi player game, Playing being the operative word here.  If your need to play AFK is that high and you find yourself auto piloting a wreck when you return to the keyboard, tough.

Hulkageddon also presents a great way of making lots of money.  There are several new market opportunities during Hulkageddon, and they're also rather obvious if you know where to look.

In other news, EON has released the new ISK 3.0 guide, it's a 80 mb PDF download and it's worth every bit.  It's also FREE and although aimed at the newer player everyone can probably learn something from it, it nothing else it's a great little reference manual.  According to several other blogs around, it's the manual that CCP should have written to accompany EVE and I can agree with that.

http://www.isktheguide.com/

Fly safe.

Overheating racks and new portraits.

And so, the Sansha have descended upon us.

They brought with them an amazing new character editor.  I know some people have lamented the fact that the new ones aren't as good as the old ones.  That they liked the cartoon style, that the new editor lacks diverse and unique characters.  I for one, like it.

The new pictures look great, the options are plentiful and the expressions many.  The few things I don't like, it's hard to see the small, tiny, little photo thumbnail.  Some more clothing options might be nice and some more normal haircuts all around, other then that I'm very happy.

I'm gonna be lazy though, since I've already misplaced the pictures I was gonna link twice, I'll settle for the banner art.  I have created a new banner, my skills at photo editing are somewhat lacking, but it's my own and I'm rather happy with it.  The new banner has the new pictures, it's Evoran by the Iteron and Evv by the Mega.  The old ones are in the right sidebar for now. 

I went for a civilized, office sorta look for Evoran, seeing as he's the official guy with the trading and the building.

For Evv I wanted a "rougher" look, ex Navy, don't want his picture taken sort of thing.

I'm pretty darn happy with how they both turned out.

Now on a different note.  The patch brought with it some nice shortcuts, and in doing so it overwrote all the old shortcuts.  I undocked my Abaddon, warped into a mission, The Assault, yes, the same one that cost me my Apoc a while back.  I'm sitting there shooting away at the serpentis ships waiting for aggro from the last bunch to unleash my drones.  Aggro gained, drones out, ctrl-1 to sent drones to attack.  I hear this "plink" sound and think "hmmmmm".  Then the lower rack overheats.  I quickly turn the heat off and and head for the options, while getting shot at in the mission.  I go to drones, find the shortcut and assign ctrl-1 to attack.  I'm told it's already taken so I go to the appropriate page and turn it off, then back to drones to turn it on again.  Thing is, every time you click it, doesn't matter that you're in a menu apparently, it activates.  Sooooooo, by the time I'm done, I esc out of the menu and intend to finish the mission.  I was just in time to see my hardeners burn out, I check overview and see there's a warp scrambling frig on me, then my armor rep'erapparently activating things through menus. gives out.  I was fortunate enough to get out in low armor this time, repaired in station and finished the mission.  Thank you for overwriting my old shortcuts CCP and thank you for

All said and done though, good patch, I like it so far and now, all that's left is to rally some corp mates and try the Sansha for real.  I still have fresh memories of how that went on SiSi.

Fly safe.