Guest Post: The Midnight Sun

Best Gate Camp Ever (But me on the wrong end of it...)

So yesterday was a pretty poor day for me.

I came out of the wormhole (appropriately destabilized) in Gesh, to help a corpmate move some ships. Flying along through low-sec in a Cheetah with cov-ops cloak is rarely stressful, so I wasn't paying as much attention as I should.

Turns out I paid WAY less attention than I should, and got popped on a gate that I was just sitting at like a moron while reading my blogs. *blush*

Suffice to say, I'm annoyed with myself, not with the pirates. I know better.

So I travel on, pick up a shuttle and keep moving. I help my friend (albeit after like 40 jumps because the target wormhole closed and he had to reroute me...) and head back to base in my handy-dandy shuttle. Not as awesome as a Cheetah, but seriously, it's a pretty safe way to fly.

I drop into Udianoor in my shuttle and see a rather healthy gate camp, complete with a half-dozen wrecks. "Woah... that's not so good.." I think to myself as I take a breath and hit the warp button. My ship hurtles forward, cutting a tight corner to align and zips into warp. I let the breath out, knowing that there's almost no chance of being locked, destroyed, locked again, and podded, before I could get through the stargate and be on my way.

I drop out of warp, and there goes my shields, and armor, and structure. I'm in my pod.. Holy cow, spam the jump button! There goes my shields, armor, structure. I'm waking up in a new clone.

I'm up on my feet, staring at the screen, opening up my combat log to try and work out what the heck just happened.

Smartbomb gate-camp.

The lack of locking suddenly makes sense, my poor shuttle and implant-laden (just +3's, nothing to cry about) pod fell victim to a well laid trap involving several smartbombing ships arrayed around both entrance and exit of the system.

My hat, were I wearing one, would be off to MasterMental over at Cosmic Encounter, a well laid trap indeed. Interestingly, Dotlan shows just how successful they were, as Udianoor peaked at over 120 kills within a 6 hour span.

Suffice to say a bad day. Fortunately, I wasn't making my "Loot Run", which I performed today without incident. I can safely say I'm ok with losing some +3's, a Cheetah and Minmatar Shuttle, when comparing it to the over 1Billion ISK in assets I moved and sold today.

Fly straight, unless there's a smartbomb!

Away!

Man I hope this posts, cause if it doesn't, there's pretty much nothing I can do about it. This Wednesday you'll see the first of my two guest posts. The comment contest is still running, and by the time you're reading this, I could be back any time. I should be away anywhere between a day and a couple of weeks(assuming nothing goes wrong).

Be safe.

Believe it or not...

I've only gotten one submission for the help I requested. Hey, if you're a friend of mine, or if you want some traffic, send me a post from your blog that you've already posted. I'll post it here, and you'll get some extra traffic.

Good Day.

Happy Pirate Giveaway

Another update this week, just to participate in Spectre's giveaway.

Lets cover the bases.

Spectre said: Create anything that publicly expresses something about me. Anything. I don't care if it is a billboard in San Diego that calls me a fucking jackass.

Spectre said:I don't care if it's an essay about how I have saved your marriage.

My wife used to let her mind wander in bed. We'd be making love, and suddenly she'd just stop paying attention. It got pretty bad for a while, and I was sure she was having an affair. Turned out she was just not attracted to me anymore. So I showed her a picture of Spectre, and BAM. Apparently in comparison, I'm not so bad. Thanks Spectre.

Spectre said: I don't care if you draw a picture on a napkin and upload it to Flickr.
I uploaded this to Flickr.

Spectre said: Hell, you can even just write a haiku

I have to tell you.
Spectre screwed your mom last night.
That's right. I said it.

Spectre said: or a badass death metal song.

Spectre.

Repeated over guitar that is way to loud seventy-three times.

Done. That was fast.

I've Got a Need

You're my soul and my heart's inspiration
You're all I got to get me by
You're my soul and my heart's inspiration
Without you baby what good am I
The Righteous Brothers - (You're My) Soul and Inspiration

So we've got a few things to discuss, you and I.

First off, I'm working a lot of overtime these days, and it's really curtailing my playtime. That said, I'll be back in the swing of things soon. That means though, that I'm cutting back to one post a week(just for now). Following this week, watch for one update on Wednesday. This post will have to do for this week.

Of course, that pales in comparison to the fact that I'm moving at the end of this week to a place that won't have internet. I won't might not get it hooked up for a month(though hopefully, closer to a week).

So that means it's possible I won't have posts for you at all.

I've thought about what that means to me and you guys. I had a bit of an epiphany. There's a few of you folks out there that've got blogs. I'm gonna spread some traffic around and you can help me fill this gap. Email a blog post you'd like to see in this space, complete with a link to your blog to amerrylifeandashortone at yahoo.com(For those that don't know, just replace the "at" with @ and remove the spaces). I'll stick in it the scheduler before I move next weekend. That means if you'd like to participate then I'd like to see them in my inbox by Friday at the latest.

Finally, I'm going to have a bit of fun here. The last person to comment on this blog post when I've returned will win 50 million(I'll simply check here when I return, and name a winner). You may not post a comment more than twice in a row or you will be disqualified.

Off Topic

I'm sure you've all heard about the earthquake in Haiti. Please, if you can, donate now.

EVE Blog Banter #14: What's Next?

When I ask what's next, it means I'm ready to move on to other things.

So, what's next?

Josiah Bartlet- The West Wing

Welcome to the fourteenth installment of the EVE Blog Banter, the monthly EVE Online blogging extravaganza created by CrazyKinux. The EVE Blog Banter involves an enthusiastic group of gaming bloggers, a common topic within the realm of EVE Online, and a week to post articles pertaining to the said topic. The resulting articles can either be short or quite extensive, either funny or dead serious, but are always a great fun to read! Any questions about the EVE Blog Banter should be directed to crazykinux@gmail.com. Check out other EVE Blog Banter articles at the bottom of this post!

The first banter of 2010 comes to us from the EVE Blog Father, CrazyKinux himself, who asks the following: As we begin another year in New Eden, ask yourselves "What Now?" What will I attempt next? What haven't I done so far in EVE? Was it out fear, funds, or knowledge? Have I always wanted to start my own corporation, but have never dared doing so? Is there a fledging mercenary waiting to come out of its shell? Or maybe an Industrialist? What steps and objectives will I set myself to accomplish in order to reach my ultimate goal for this year? EVE is what you make of it. So, what is it going to be for you?

I've always wanted to travel.

Never mind.

Ok, well I've always wanted to be a pirate. Never mind.

Ok, I've always wanted to run missions. Never mind.

I've definitely wanted to try to take a POS down. Never mind.

Ratting in 0.0 sounds like it might be fun. Or not.

Maybe living in a 0.0 alliance could be productive. If I'm someone else.

Faction Warfare MUST be interesting. If you can be up right after downtime.

I've always wanted to try my hand at Mercenary work. OK, this is getting boring.

Truth is, I've done a little bit of anything you can do ingame. I've traded, mined, and ninja salvaged. The only thing left is to lead a Corp, and lead an Alliance.

Almost everything I do is just building up experience to do that. It's only a matter of time.

Other Banter:

CrazyKinux's Musing - A beginning is a very delicate time...

The Wandering Druid of Tranquility - Words, words, words…

My God It's Full of Stars - What Now?

The Elitist - Plans for 112yc

Into the unknown with gun and camera - Show me the money

Ecliptic Rift - Enabling the future

Inanity and Doom - New Year's Resolutions, New Eden Style

Break Vol - Blog Banter #14

Guns Ablaze - What Now?

Adventures in Mission Running - The Way Forward

Diary of a Pod Pilot - Things I want to do

Inner Sanctum of the Ninveah - The Year That Will Be

Roc's Ramblings - WordPress ate my blog

Vive Virtual - Frontier Living

A Mule in EVE - Next on the chopping block

Prano's Journey - I Peer Into My Crystal Pod...

Life in Low Sec - Expanding the Franchise

The Light of Stars - Testing the claims of CCP

A Memoir From Space - A New Direction

The Chronofile - Blog Banter 2010

FlashFresh - What now for Flash?

EVE Opportunist - Fyreite in 112

Mike Azariah - Jiorj

Yarrbear Tales - Year in Review

The Independant Analyst - The Year Ahead

The Travels of Black Claw - Where ma I going?

Warp Scrammed - What to do this year

Sered's Lives - Searching for directions in 2010

Finders & Keepers - New Tears, Same Great Taste

Down With the Legion: Part Two of Two

"Ten Frigates, seven Cruisers, five Battlecruisers and a Battleship," Hallan's mind focused as is Drake came out of warp on the Intaki colony, "Piece of cake,"

"Bogey at five o'clock," One of the frigate pilots piped up.

"Engage," Came a deep voice, "We take no prisoners,"

Hallan sighed in relief as the enemy pilots broke formation and began to pursue him. The station was already venting atmosphere. He thought his targeting system into activity and waited for the locks to resolve.

A stream of scourge heavy missiles flew out from Hallan's Drake and struck a Merlin just behind it's engines. It punched through shields, armor, and structure, and the Merlin exploded. Hallan's drone bay opened and five Hobgoblin twos flew out to attack the frigate squad.

His own weapons systems were now trained on the Gila that had closed distance with him, and his missiles stripped it of it's shields in moment, and they tore through it's armor as well. The Gila was venting plasma already, but the next volley created a cloud of it where the ship had been.

His drones had already finished the squad of Merlin's and began to work hard on the Cruiser squad.

"Fall back," came the voice from earlier, "We have to finish the station,"

The first ship to turn it's guns on the station was the Rokh class battleship leading the assault. Hallan put his Drake on a collision course and reassigned his drones as they finished with yet another Gila.

His missiles slammed the shields of the Rokh, while his drones made firing passes. It's shields were still holding though, and Hallan began to worry. The Battleship was on a collision course as well, with the station. Hallan's Drake was a few thousand meters away now, and closing fast.

Suddenly the side of the station opened up with fire, and a volley struck the Rokh. The Mordu battleship careened away from the fire, and into Hallan's ship. Both ships avoided a disastrous collision as their shield matrix's interlocked.

Hallan activated his microwarp drive.

The Battleship vibrated as it was pushed away from the station. Hallan's own missle launchers continued to fire into the hull of the Rokh. Before it could manage a new lock, a missle flew through it's command center, crippling the ship. Hallan could've swore he saw the body of the Mordu captain fly into space, before being sucked into Hallan's intake.

"To all Mordu ships in the area," Hallan said over the open comm channel, "Leave now, or face death,"

"This isn't the end of this, Turrek," A voice he didn't recognize growled. Hallan prepared to fire again, but the Legion ships warped away unceremoniously.

"Apparently it is," He quipped into the comms before setting a docking path with the Intaki colony.

____________________

"Ahh, the hero returns," Amarulyn said with a sweeping gesture as Hallan entered his office.

"Shut up," Hallan said, reaching across his desk and grabbing Amarulyn by the collar, "I didn't have time before, but I do now," He dragged the man across his desk, "If you ever do something like that again, the Legion and the Caldari will be the least of your troubles,"

"It worked didn't it?" The Gallente man said, struggling to break free, "A least two or three uprisings inside Caldari space, the Legion's been recalled from this sector. We won. Freedom and democracy lives to fight another day,"

Hallan threw the agent back into his seat and snarled "You're just as bad as they are,"

"I guess so," Amarulyn straightened his jacket as he looked back up, "But do you think anyone cares about that? When this is over, if they win... do you think the universe will be better off? Slavers and Corporations? That'd be even funnier if I didn't know you were serious,"

"That doesn't make it right to risk that many lives,"

"Probably not, but I won't have any trouble sleeping tonight,"

"Why not?"

"Because we won,"

Down With the Legion: Part One of Two

"The stars are so pretty," Phoebe said, nuzzling herself into Hallan's shoulder.

"Yeah," Hallan toyed with her hair as he laid on the open ground. A dark and bright moon quite close to each other provided an odd juxtaposition, "How do those two not hit each other?" He asked, rising himself up on his elbow.

"I don't know. They just don't," She said with a chuckle.

"I gotta leave tonight," He sat up and looked into her eyes.

"Yeah. I know how this goes,"

"What?"

"We're getting too close. So you've gotta go,"

"Phoebe, we picked up a new contract. I told you I'd have to leave when that happened,"

"Yeah you did, but you aren't coming back,"

Hallan's face clouded with anger as he stood up and walked back to the cottage behind them, "I've gotta pick up my stuff Pheeb,"

"Yeah" She said, looking back up at the stars, "I lied,"

"About what?" Hallan said as he stopped to turn.

"They're ugly,"

____________________

"Mordu's legion is in the thick of things," Amarulyn Carnoirese said with a huff.

"Again?" Hallan shook his head.

"They're making a lot of trouble for us, and they're keeping us occupied while those greedy squid bastards start to build up forces for an attack,"

"So what do you want me to do about it?"

"We've gotten word through intelligence channels that some Intaki inside the Caldari state are getting a bit restless. Now locally we've got a colony of Intaki that's being harassed constantly by the Legion,"

"So you want me to go out there and take care of them?"

"More than that. We leaked a bit of misinformation to the Legion. They think a few Federation senators are going to be touring the facilities,"

"Are you out of your goddamned mind? The Legion's going to burn that place to the ground,"

"Not if you get there first,"

"How many people live in that colony?"

"Ten thousand or so. We've got camera's in position to broadcast your valiant stand across the comnet,"

"And if I fail?"

"Don't,"

You're Possibly an Idiot

Two things are infinite: the universe and human stupidity; and I'm not sure about the the universe.
Albert Einstein

Ok, maybe not you specifically. There are, however, a bunch of really stupid people in eve. Given that, there are a number of fallacies that should be pointed out to new players(and a few old ones).

1: "I didn't lose anything because that ship was insured,"

Insurance does not absolve you of your loss. It softens the blow, but unless you got really lucky when buying it, you lost out on the cost of the insurance itself and the mods onboard. Stop saying stuff like "I didn't lose anything because it was insured," you're wrong almost every time. The higher the cost of the ship, the more you're losing in the initial insuring.

2: "I mine in lowsec because it's more profitable than highsec,"

Mining is lowsec is less profitable than mining in highsec. I'm not even counting the fact that you're going to lose your ship if you do it. It is less profitable even if you lose no ships. Seriously, outside of 0.0 mining, there is nothing more profitable in empire than veldspar.

3: "I rat in lowsec because it's more profitable than highsec," Or "I rat in lowsec because it's safer than nullsec,"

Ratting in lowsec is actually more profitable than doing it in highsec. It's also a lot more dangerous. That danger translates into lost profits unless you have a number of alt accounts and plan to pay attention constantly. This is not an activity that new players should ever partake in. The safest and most profitable(combined anyhow) moneymaking method in eve is running missions in highsec.

But ratting in lowsec is actually MORE dangerous than a small isolated part of nullsec. You can go days without seeing a enemy in some parts of nullsec, while other parts have hundreds of pilots online all day. You have to be smart here too, but if you are it's safer and more profitable than ratting lowsec.

I'm just sayin's all. Expect more of these as I think of them, I don't need this to turn into a postnaught.

C&P's Good Deed For the Year.

And the man at the back said everyone attack

And it turned into a ballroom blitz
And the girl in the corner said
Boy, I wanna warn ya,
It'll turn into a ballroom blitz
Sweet - Ballroom Blitz

An old alliance mate of mine decided to do something a bit unintelligent this week. He decided to war-dec Chribba. In an attempt to extort him. Seriously.

This led to quite an interesting thread on C&P where Chribba asked for help. I have never seen a collection of ner-do-wells rally behind someone quite like they did for Chribba.

Epimithius09 is the guy in charge of the corp that decced Chribba. Prometheus09 is his main. He's also a member of I.M.M, which is a member of Systemic Chaos. The shit's already hit the fan for my friend Prom though, as he was told clearly he is no longer welcome in Systemic Chaos, and apparently I.M.M isn't welcome there either. It seems a fair reaction though. If I ran an alliance and someone led this kind of trouble to my doorstep, I'd likely do the same thing.

The actual pos defense was pitifully easy. Our logistics blotted out the sun. When they finally deigned to poke a few of our ships(and honestly, with everyone there, they decided the Noir guys were a good target?) we came back and murdered them. That kinda ended their op. I got on a bit after it'd settled and contributed to the presence we were keeping on his PoSes. I put my Osprey out there, activated the reppers, and then waited patiently for them to try again.

Zedrik Cayne did a post on some of the chatting that went on while we waited. Nothing interesting really, but I did some talking.

So as it stands now, a group called Local Threat has declared war on Chribba as well. They've got about ten times as many members as CPR did(with a 1:7 K:D ratio... heh). Noir is a bit busy doing other stuff. Oh and CPR joined Privateers alliance, giving them a bunch of free war decs. Privateers has announced it's plans to dec Systemic Chaos. Fun times for Prometheus.

Chribba also paid for us all to have medals. Here's what mine looks like:

Something New, Something Old

It's been a great year, and I hope you have a great one going forward.

Happy New Year!