I am Brutor and I have ‘shades!

When you’re bored, you get up to shit, and get some shitty ideas. Today was one of those days. I wanted to blog but since all I have been doing in Eve is run missions, I don’t have anything to blog about.

Trawling the forums I looked at some of the portraits, I saw a few Brutor with those cool Ray-Ban’s on, and it suddenly dawned on me.. Where did Ray-Ban sunglasses come from? (As a gift many years ago I was given a pair of Ray-Ban sunglasses but never got to enjoy them, since some asshole stole them a week or two later.)

So, off to Wikipedia to search:

Ray-Bans were created in 1937. Some years earlier, Lieutenant John MacCready returned from a balloon flying adventure and complained that the sun had permanently damaged his eyes. He contacted Bausch & Lomb asking them to create sunglasses that would provide protection and also look elegant. On May 7, 1937, Bausch & Lomb took out the patent^[3]. The prototype, known as Anti-Glare, had an extremely light frame weighing 150 grams. They were made of gold-plated metal with green lenses made of mineral glass to filter outinfrared and ultraviolet rays. Pilots in the United States Army Air Corps immediately adopted the sunglasses^[3]. The Ray-Ban Aviatorbecame a well-known style of sunglasses when General Douglas MacArthur landed on the beach in the Philippines in World War II, and photographers snapped several pictures of him wearing them.^[3]

Aviator sunglasses, also known as Pilot Shades or Stunner Shades, are a style of sunglasses that were developed by Ray-Ban. They are characterized by dark, often reflective lenses having an area two or three times the area of the eye socket, and metal frames with either paddles or wire temples which hook behind the ears. Contemporary models are often polarized (although wearing polarized sunglasses for flying is unwise since they may mask the light glinting off an oncoming aircraft, as well as blocking the information on most modern glass cockpit displays).

Who knew that? The Brutor! They know that space is harsh and that they need protection from the glare of the Amarr lasers and the Amarr armor…(probably polished by Minmatar slaves). If only I knew I could roll such a cool picture when I started my characters but at the time I wanted a Sebiestor soldier and a Vherokior miner and the paths were best suited. I know you can pay to re-roll your portrait but I don’t think you can change your bloodline much less race, plus because of the lag issues since Dominion I’ve stopped really paying for anything Eve related with real cash. It’s now Plex and isk until I run out or until I can have a big fight and not have to manually cycle guns again…that’s if I don’t black screen.

Looking back at lvl4 missions

There was a time I thought level 4 missions were the pinnacle of all ‘uberness’ in Eve. This was a long time ago when I just started in the game. I used to run along on lvl4 mission with some of my first corp members (most who turned out to be dicks in the end) and run around killing off frigates etc in the Thrasher I so loved.

I remember buying a Rokh with minimal skill and after fitting some expensive Prototype 350mm railguns, wondering why I couldn’t hit the NPC’s for shit. I remember when I bought my first Caldari Navy Invulnerability field. It was such a lot of isk to spend on one module! Certainly it would make running these missions so much easier I thought.

I remember buying my first Caldari Navy Raven. It was a big spend and I hoped that it would pay for itself. I remember warping out in missions with this ship and the fancy equipment, purely because my skills were just not up to standard yet. Missions like Blockade or Angel Extravaganza took forever and seemed so hard.

This past week I revisited some lvl4′s, needing LP’s for implants (I have a feeling I’m heading for a podding soon) and needing some safe way of making isk. Having given up on my dreams of flying a Nyx, I decided that I can splurge a little and hence went to a quick trip to Jita and bought a PithX-type  X-Large shield booster for my Golem. Seems they have come down in price a bit since I paid only 500m for it, and I remember them being over 700m isk a while ago. I also spent a few days training some better social skills to increase the isk and LP I get per mission. I’ve just forgotten that once you hit a certain skill level or proficiency, level 4 missions become so easy! That said, I must admit that I am using a near max skilled char with a marauder and the fittings on it isn’t exactly chump change.

The isk isn’t as great as I remember it, but then I am using a agent in a 0.8 security system. The system is 3 jumps from Jita though so selling the modules and salvage is much easier. That said, I have just been hoarding the salvage and hope that I can make a nice dent towards some 30 Day PLEX when I eventually go sell it all. I’m over paying for Eve with my credit card until they fix the lag and I can enjoy a proper big fleet fight again without having to cycle guns manually and dying without even knowing it.

War targets and ‘Good fights’!

It’s been an interesting few days, with me losing my Rapier in 0.0 to two Vagabonds. The Rapier was faction fit as well, with 28km scram and two 13km webs.. Reflecting on the fight I realised I fscked up badly. With Recon V, I could have possible escaped. I managed to get my pod out of the bubble. What I should have done is used the 52km web range, put a web on each Vagabond and possibly slowed them down enough to get out of the 24km range of the scram and then warped off and cloak. But I didn’t and I fscked up and I lost my ship. Live and learn.

Eventually it took about 6hrs to get through the chokepoint to low-sec and eventually to empire. Now I only have my carrier with a few ships still stuck in 0.0, and I need to make a plan to get it out. That’s a task for another day or a long weekend when I can play properly. Log in my alt in Hek and I see it’s clear, so I clone jumped my main to Hek and spotted in local someone wanted a 1v1. The character looked quite old…2003 so I thought it would be a tough call, but decided to go for it. I had no idea what he would field so I took out the old max-tank 425MM II AC’ armed Prophecy and fitted a tracking disruptor for good measure. He came in a Drake. *bugger*… I agreed on a 1v1 and wasn’t going to back off, so I went for it and eventually made a noob mistake, burned out my guns and popped to his HAM fitted Drake.

Still chatting to the bloke (who seemed very happy just to get a fight), I noticed a War Target in local. He offered to check the gates for me and reported a Hurricane off the Eystur gate. I decided to forgo the overkill Armageddon and fitted a Harbinger. My usual fit required a KMB-50 (3% CPU) implant, but being in my low-grade slave set clone I didn’t have the option. No web…Oh well, I shoe-horned a ECCM in the mid with a MWD, 2pt Scram and Medium Injector. A quick Battleclinic search showed my opponent favours heavily armored Hurricane fits. Disable his mwd, get in close and facemelt was going to be the strategy.

My previous opponent, now a ally in the fight, offered a warp-in, but I was already in warp and landed about 30km off the Hurricane war target. Locked and mwd’d to him and let rip. My opponent obliged and 24km scrammed me, and started orbiting, and I struggled to get under 9km from him. Hit the overload on the MWD, get in range, disable his MWD and we were set. No more running away mr. Hurricane. My EC-600 drones jammed him and I was overloading, trying to inflict maximum damage before he could relock. Learning from the previous fight I stopped overloading at about 75% damage and just kept hitting him. Fairly soon the Hurricane popped at half armor on my Harbinger.

Two things that surprised me. 1st, the 0rphanage dude didn’t get remote rep from a neutral person, and 2nd, I didn’t get blobbed by a group of them. It was a exhilarating fight and I’m slowly applying all the lessons I learn from these fights to my next fights. Who says solo pvp is dead

Empire wars and docking games!

Interesting evening pvp’ing. I was in Hek baiting some can flippers, got a Rifter with my bait Bellicose when I spotted a war target about. Undocked in my Maller to see what was up and he was in a Hurricane and opened fire. I docked, and undocked my alt Kumi in her Abaddon. The WT docked and undocked in a Armageddon, probably plated to hell and back. Now ‘The Orphanage’ are known for their shitty empire faggotry. One of the locals I was friends with locked me with a remote rep Dominix (knowing how these pussies work), and as we slugged it out, in true fashion a nuetral Guardian started repping the ‘geddon. The Dominix started repping me and it was a stalemate.

Later I undocked in a max-tank Prophecy with my low-grade slave set and went for the Hurricane again. As soon as he hit hull, another nuetral Guardian started repping him. The locals who had us locked for viewing fun (this was in high-sec after all) was not impressed, and the Dominix locked me up and started repping me again. I decided I had enough of this shit and spent some isk on a Armageddon myself, Fitted it with 3 x 1600mm Rolled Tungstan plates and some trimarks and my low-grade slave set really set it up nicely. Undocked again and this time the Hurricane had aggro’d the Dominix that repped me. Big mistake on his side. He had friends, but I had two accounts in local and a few friends. The Dominix pilot swopped to a Megathron for good measure. He wanted in on this and I was very happy for the help.

I locked the Hurricane, started shooting with the ‘geddon, and then undocked the Abaddon. Either his Guardian friend(s) were asleep or the near 2000dps overloaded broke the rep, but he popped *BOOM*, much to his disgust (and cheers in local while he was smacking). In the meanwhile he had some friends come in with a Absolution and a Falcon. I started working on the Absolution but he docked up and the Falcon pilot cloaked and pissed off. Both my ships being ECCM’d helped

It was a fantastic evening of watching known empire tactics by these war-dec corps, and being able to beat them at their own game. Many lessons learned and a lot of fraps footage gained!

The Seven Habits of Successful Pirates

I spotted this is someone’s bio and thought I’d put it here. Pretty funny

1) Do unto others.
2) Exploration makes one wiser; Even if the only wisdom gained is to know where not to return.
3) Don’t be afraid to be the first to resort to violence.
4) The enemy of my enemy is my enemy’s enemy. No more. No less.
5) If you’re leaving scorch-marks, you need a bigger gun.
6) There is no “overkill”. There is only “open fire” and “I need to reload.”
7) Give a man a fish, feed him for a day. Take his fish away and tell him he’s lucky just to be alive, and he’ll figure out a way to catch another one for you to take tomorrow.

Rupture vs Maller

After two low sec roams the past week and not finding one fight, I was getting more bored than usual with Eve. I needed a fight and I was going to get one. In Hek I noticed someone doing a Rupture vs Rupture cruiser fight and watched as they slugged it out. Now, the Rupture is a mean little cruiser and it takes quite a beating. The other thing I wanted to check was if it was a proper 1v1 or if it was a bait-and-gank. The pilots honored the 1v1 and eventually one exploded. The winning pilot looked like a well skilled player, so it wasn’t going to be easy to beat him.

I was using Kumi, my Amarr spec pilot as well, which limited my options. Serotta has cruiser V in 3 races with most of the support skills properly done..he is after all nearly 60mill sp. Kumi only has Amarr cruiser IV (remember she is skilled for a Revelation only) and she’s only at about 44mill sp. What to use? The Omen is a piece of shit (as I found out trying to pop a Vexor..but that’s another story…) and I didn’t have tracking disruptor skills nor any good drone skills on Kumi, so that ruled out using the Arbitrator. I slapped together a Maller fit that might work, and EFT said it will do. Note, it was a station fight, so I didn’t put a propulsion mod in, and just incase the Rupture had a Afterburner I fitted dual-webs.

[Maller, Kumi Maller]
1600mm Reinforced Titanium Plates I
Energized Adaptive Nano Membrane II
Energized Adaptive Nano Membrane II
Heat Sink II
Reactive Plating II
Damage Control II

J5b Phased Prototype Warp Scrambler I
X5 Prototype I Engine Enervator
X5 Prototype I Engine Enervator

Focused Medium Pulse Laser II, Imperial Navy Multifrequency M
Focused Medium Pulse Laser II, Imperial Navy Multifrequency M
Focused Medium Pulse Laser II, Imperial Navy Multifrequency M
Focused Medium Pulse Laser II, Imperial Navy Multifrequency M
Focused Medium Pulse Laser II, Imperial Navy Multifrequency M
[empty high slot]

Medium Trimark Armor Pump I
Medium Trimark Armor Pump I
Medium Trimark Armor Pump I

Undocked and grabbed from his tin and we danced. Then I made the critical mistake of trying to overheat and realized I did all the support skills for it, but never the skill itself. *DOH!* (I’m now doing Thermodynamics III as we speak). Oh well, I was punching him pretty hard but he had the added advantage of drone damage as well, and at about 25% armor remaining on the Rupture my Maller went in to hull and soon after exploded.

How did I lose? Mathematics…pure mathematics. Kumi has good support skills, and her fit was solid for the situation. The only problem was that the Maller could not match the DPS of the Rupture. I did some quick EFT “warrioring” and while the Mallers resistance was higher I could only do around 217DPS, while the Rupture with the standard 220MM II 1600mm RT plate fit comes to 385DPS. The simple mathematics is that he wore me down before I could wear him down.

If I had the option of using my other character I probably would have fielded the 500DPS Thorax I so love, or a Rupture myself. It was a great learning experience and I got some good video footage of the fight (and the fail Omen fight). The Omen really needs fixing…

Aarrgh, we’re moving… Again!!!

Well, for some reason the whole NC has taken an interest in Cobalt Edge, and we’re being pounded by 12 other alliances. IRC isn’t holding up well and the corp has been told to start evacuating assets…again.

This is now the third time in six months that we’ve joined an alliance and in less than a month the alliance is attacked by a overwhelmingly superior numbered force. I don’t know if it’s just bad luck or if someone doesn’t like us

Most of my assets are loaded up in my carrier and I’ll have to leave that docked in the outpost for a few weeks until the area gets quiet and I can do the cyno route to get it evacuated. That said, with Jump Drive Calibration V done on my carrier alt, it’s certainly opened up a lot of different options.

Since I’m tired of Eve to a large degree anyway, I’ve decided that I’ll use my small amount of isk gathered over 3 years (about 16bn) to fund my game play with PLEX and then just go roaming low-sec looking for some pvp. I suspect I’m going to be losing a fair amount of ships to large blobs, but luckily BC’s aren’t horribly expensive and I want some pvp. Low sec small scale pvp until the game is in a state of supporting large scale warfare again…which should be around the time my isk runs out and I’m broke again. Either that, or go live in a wormhole for a bit..

A bittervet post (in pictures)

I was reading various forums this morning, including Kugu and Scrap-Heap and after countless chuckles and nods I came up with the bright idea of putting the way a lot of the players feel in to perspective using their various pictures and signatures. It might not represent the majority of the PI loving mission running empire dwelling masses, but hopefully someone will agree with me. Call it my ‘bittervet’ post of the day / week. Also, copyright remains with whoever owns and created the different pictures (Soc, Helicity etc)

A long long time ago, in a galaxy far far away, Eve was a wonderful place with lots of activities. Carebears could run missions, macro’s could mine, pirates could…well pirate, and 0.0 entities could throw entire armies at each other and with a bit of module lag, still beat the shit out of each other.

Then came the Dominion expansion and it pretty much broke shit. A lot of shit! It introduced a new feature in Eve: Getting killed without your ship showing up…also known as ‘black screen of death’.. 0.0 alliance stopped invading each other, or just occupied systems without their foe’s trying to fight back, since fighting back would be useless. Can’t play a game where the screen is black right? A new ways of conquering your foe came to the fore. Hi-jack and disband from the inside. Its much safer and easier than trying to invade..

The players weren’t happy and the Council of Stellar Management said “vote for us! We’ll make CCP fix it!” They flew off to Iceland, had long meetings, had even longer meetings and then came back to ‘the game’. The minutes of the meetings were eventually published and the general response was one of wtf??

CCP then published how the resources were allocated, and the player base again went WTF????

CCP then asked the player base to vote them for best game in some shitty category in some competition no-one ever heard of, and the player base thought it well to react, but not the way CCP hoped.

*(by the way, using these signatures on the Eve-O forum will apparently get you in trouble…or so I hear)

CCP’s response seems to be one of

The player base response seems to be one of “lets sign up for World of Tanks!”

To quote someone on Scrapheap:

too late we are all playing tanks now!

Himmelsdorf is the new delve now!

* Entire post to be taken quite light-hearted I hope… My account’s expire mid-October.. Hopefully by then I might have made a decision if I’m going to keep playing or quit. Light hearted as it is meant, I really do hope that CCP start taking notice of this and doesn’t pretend to be “fixing” the lag problem with a ‘mass test’ every three weeks and then some PR spinning telling us that they’ve done “improvements” and then give us some graphs and statistics.

After all, we all know the joke about statistics..

The players weren’t happy and the Council of Stellar Management said “vote for us! we’ll make CCP fix it!” They flew off to Iceland, had long meetings, had even longer meetings and then came back to ‘the game’. The minutes of the meetings were eventually published and the general response was one of:

I made a BF:BC2 signature ;)

Since I’ve been playing a lot of BF:BC2, I thought I would join all the cool kids and get a signature. I’m slowly getting better, and one day I will have a better K/D ratio *lol*

At an impass again…

I’m at an impass again… I just spent over 900mill isk on 3 x 30day PLEX to top up my accounts (I have 3 characters) and don’t know where to go from here. The move from Insmother to Cobalt Edge was not easy and in the drone lands it sucks. To add insult to injury, Voltron and Morsus Mihi have decided to invade the ass end of fscking drone space. I’m now fucking tired of this shit. First it was Geminate, then Insmother and now Cobalt Edge. Someone dislikes my corp or me, or it’s seriously random bad luck. Every time we find a new home we’re barely settled and some arsehole invades us!

The accounts are now good to go until about the first week in October. From there I have to decide what I’m going to do. I can’t go on like this. I love my 0.0 sov warfare but I don’t bother even logging in for the CTA’s because I know I’ll just lag out and die because CCP has 3 devs working on the ‘lag’ and 300 devs working on some stupid walking in stations shit that has nothing to do with Eve (if I wanted to fight in stations I would play Mass Effect 2 again).

Of course the other problem is I’m really enjoying Battlefield: Bad Company 2 multiplayer at the moment and hence I don’t really have the urge to log in to Eve a lot to play either. It’s a evil cycle and not sure how I’m going to break it.