| Diary of an EvE Capsuleer |
[Oct. 12th, 2007|09:18 am] |
This post is to do with Eve Online a sci-fi MMORPG:
A couple of nights ago the Corporation Ops Director posted a request to put together a Combat Patrol to shake up the locals in our new sector of space. We needed to begin to make an impression if any of the big alliances were to take notice of us and allow us into the very lucrative 'unsecured' space. Eve has a very heavy PvP element... and every ship I describe below is another player somewhere in the world. Players band together to form Corporations (like WoW guilds) and Corporations band together to form Alliances which can hold territory.
Being a trader and hauler I normally shy away from such operations, instead taking care of the logistics of hauling mass quantities of ammunition, weapons and spare parts to the supply stations so that the PvP pilots can concentrate on the killing. It keeps the time consuming drudgery off their backs, and for that I've recieved plenty of thanks. Anyway, I begin to haul ammunition and supplies up to the Bei system, which will be the rally point for this op when I decide that for once I actually want to go on this one...
So I ask the squad leader what ship I should kit out, and after some discussion of skills I kit out a Blackbird class Electronic Warfare Crusier. My role will be to disrupt the target's fire control computers to reduce the return fire and provide some moderate firepower of my own... (in WoW parlance, debuffer).
Wednesday night I practiced on easy NPC mobs to get used to the systems aboard this unfamiliar craft... I get the basics down pat, but basically resign myself to the fact that I'm just likely to get torn up and lose the ship that represents about 25% of my current cash.
Last night we flew... and it was one of the most thrilling, heart pounding experiences of my life. I can now finally see why players rave about Eve.
We set off out of Bei and headed into low-sec space where the only law is that of the gun. (Empire, or hi-sec space, has uber-NPC ships that 'dissuade' non-consentual PvP). After practicing a few basic maneuvers, Nathaniel M (piloting a scout ship) goes looking for targets while Razgor (piloting a Heavy Weapons specced Cruiser) and myself loiter near gates where it is safer.
After a few jumps, and no viable prey, I'm beginning to get a touch bored, when someone in a Caldari Navy Raven (a very rare, very very expensive, Battleship) takes a look at us. If he engages, the three of us would need a prayer to survive... but we would cause him some damage while he shreds us into scrap. He has managed to get the jump on us, and it is too late to try to flee. We turn to face him, hoping a show of defiance will make us seem like we are more trouble that we are worth. My HUD goes off to show that I've been scanned, and I am very glad that I took a last minute decision to fit Caldari specific ECM module, instead of the Gallente one I was packing earlier.
You know that scene in the Firefly pilot episode where they all hold their breaths to see if the Reaver ship will pass them by? It felt just like that.
We stare at each other for a few long seconds before he warps off and jumps into another system. Obviously we weren't worth the hassle of him having to fight through my ECMs. Over Teamspeak there are the sounds of relief that this run hadn't gone horribly horribly wrong.
We decide to continue, and begin to pick our way through more low-sec systems, keeping an eye out for prey and Mr. Raven or any of his buddies. There are giants about in this sector of space tonight it seems.
Another half hour and half dozen systems later and the scout radios in that a Kestrel class Frigate from an opposition aligned Corporation has just warped in close to him at an Asteroid Belt frequented by Miners and NPC killers. The scout is cloaked, so remains invisible to poor unlucky Kestrel who is about to learn a valuable lesson about low-sec space. Sometimes Lady Luck decides it is just not your night.
We are hungry for a kill, any kill, and are ordered in, so we fall upon the lone ship like a pack of wolves. I jump to the belt, lock and jam the Kestrel who barely gets off a shot before his fire control computers give up under the assault of my ECMs. Razgor's heavy railguns, Nathaniel's combat drones, and my missiles make short work of the Frigate. It was over in a second.
YARRRRRRRRRRRRRR!
Once you get a kill in low-sec you become flagged for fifteen minutes. This means that you cannot run and hide in stations, or use jump gates. Getting close to either gets you shredded by their sentry guns. So we hop from planet to moon to planet, keeping on the move. The Kestrel pilot has called in a scout to try to find us, probably so that they can bring in heavy reinforcements to make us pay for our crimes. We were lucky that our scout spotted theirs before it cloaked. A game of hide and go seek follows, with each hiding space we find potentially being a death trap... but fifteen minutes passes quietly, and we sneak our way out of the system.
Over the next few systems it becomes apparent that the word has gone out that we are around. Systems are deserted of miners and large bulk transports, the usual prey... instead there are a couple of Battleships belonging to a rival Corp who seem pissed that we are muscling in their territory. One standard Battleship we can take on and win... two backed up with an Interdictor and a scout is just plain unfair ;). We are chased through two systems, but are quicker than their heavies, and far enough ahead of their Interdictor that we find a bolt-hole before it can pin us and kill our engines. We hole up in a Federal Resources NPC station in the Avegon system, which they proceed to camp... over the next half hour words are exchanged over 'local' chat, and a short discussion of chemistry, physics, and dull topics in an attempt to bore them to death ensues. They continued to camp the station so we called it a night and logged off.
I spent over three hours on the edge of my seat, hunting, running, hiding and killing. I begin to slightly understand how U-Boat crews in WWII felt at times. Hitting targets of opportunity then melting away hoping not to be caught by the big boys, moments of heart pounding action... and long periods of boredom. I could have lost that Cruiser and the investment of time it represents, but we risked it and won a small victory.
Upshot is, we stirred up the locals as we intended, and we got a small kill for the trophy cabinet. It is a start... and damn it I want to do it again soon. |
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