2009.07.28.1

The life goes on quite predictably. Me losing ships, wandering around and not gaining anything. At peak, I had quite nice armada of ships and 120M ISK. Now I'm down to 50M with little to no progress.

I'm on the move. I am applying to a corp which has some plans for the next two months which require some actions from me. I have been spending my time mining and preparing the needed equipment through manufacturing. I haven't felt like mining for profit, as the mineral market is down. Propably the usual summer slump which can be observed from the market trends thorough the years.

I have been exploring and trying to utilize my findings. I haven't quite got the grasp of it yet thou. Once I have ound a suitable hole, I try to set up shop to the entry system, but usually it takes me so long time, the WH is already decaying. Yesteday I found a hole with a gas cloud. I also found a gas cloud spot in high sec. This encouraged me to learn three levels of gas cloud harvesting to fit some harvesters on an Osprey. Quick calculations showed that the highsec gas cloud would not be very profitable. GC mining has the advantge of afk mining thou. I decided to try and mine the WH cloud. I succesfully harvested a 1300 unit cloud of fullerite C50, which would have netted me 11M in Jita. No buyers nearby, thou. (Ah yes. I'm now living 25 jumps from Jita). There was another cloud of fullerite C84. While less profitable, there was lots of it. I kept using my directional scanner to keep an eye on any traffic in the hole. There hadn't been anyone visiting for the whole time. I considered myself rather lucky. While watching some mythbusters, I continued to drag my profits to a jetcan every ten minutes, checking the scanner. Suddenyly something rather predictable happened! I saw from the corner of my eye that something was up. While I set my other laptop down and reached for the mouse of the gaming laptop I was already in hull! Crap! Someone called OnoSendai had jumped on me with a Drake and pummeled my Osprey to bits in mere seconds! Ohwell, I quickly escaped in my pod and decided to leave the system for good. I fitted another Osprey and proceeded to harvest the highsec cloud. After couple of hours, I went to check the WH again. Yup, Onosendai was there with someone else. Bugger, they propably had been harvesting the goods of the system for the whole night. I wish I had some muscle to guard my mining operations! Soon, soon...

I just finished fitting a cleaner cormorant. One with tractor beams and salvagers. I'll give ratting a try. The scannable sansha places in highsec seem potentially quite profitable! So, now to pummel some drones with my trusty Caracal missile boat. I'll report in later...

Exploration

After I mined in WH space with Sab, I decided to learn a bit of Astrometrics myself, to see how it all worked. When I ran into trouble with my new fan, Sara, I had Astrometrics at level 3. After doing some missions, I decided -- as usual -- against common wisdom to try probing with only lvl 3 skill.

I bolted a probe launcher onto a heron and off I went, happlessly launching probes and trying to follow instrutions I found from youtube. I spent an hour, trying to scan down my first signature I found. I could not get the accuracy closer than 50%. Finally my probes expired and I was sure my skills just werent enough. I headed back to my base. On the way I decided to give it one more go. I got another signature, and to my surprise, I scanned it down in just few minutes! And t was a wormhole! I wasn't expecting that! You can sense my excitement:

I brawely entered the WH. Long story short: I probed around gleefully for the next several hours, running into new WH's headfast. Finally I found what I was looking for; a mining site. Luckiy I had got some advice how the mining sites work. Initially the belt is populated with rocks only. Then after 20 minutes, there will be a spawn of severa sleepers. After these are killed, the belt wil be safe. So, I visited the site and started fitting a fighting machine to put fear into the hearts of the sleepers! I bought a Ferox! Supposedly the best type of fighting ship I could fly. Soon I discovered I lacked the skills to use medium hybrid turrets, which would get bonus from the ship. So I fitted it with missile launchers. Heavy ones!

I headed back to the mining site to face the sleepers. Sure enough, there was spawn of 5 sleepers. Sooner than a bus arrives to the stop after you have lit a cigarette, I got my ass handed to me. Surprisingly my enemies were too small to really get any damage from heavy missiles. I told about my woes to the public channel of the corporation I am applying to. My mentor from the corp, whom we will call Jag from now on, replied with a quick

and told me several things that were wrong with my fitting. He was a bit sceptical about my ability to solo the sleepers. Being the stubborn ass I am, I decided to try again. This time with a Caracal, fitted with assault launchers and passive shield tank.

To everyones surprise, I managed to kill two of the sleepers on the first run and could have killed more but they magically warped 150km away from me in middle of the fight. I returned soon and dispatched the rest of the spawn.

At this point I weighted the risks of mining here. There were several unknows, but my scanner didn't show much of activity in the system. I decided to take my Rokh here. I know; you, my dear reader, are already cringing and expecting the worst...

I took the Rokh to the mining site and mined three full cans of crokite. Surprisingly, nothing interesting happened! I left the system and retuned with my hauler. Oops! There was a drake right next to the WH inside the system. I pondered my options while still cloaked after the jump. I "quickly" aligned to the WH and jumped out. I visited close-by Jita and replaced my cargo expanders with warp core stabilizers. I briefly entertained the idea of fitting a probe launcher to the hauler, but abandoned it. After jumping back into the WH I got greeted with a rather worrying message, telling me something about hauling masses through the hole and collapsing something -- trapping -- hmm.

SHIT! I was trapped. The 20k investement on the probe launcher would be invaluable now... I cautiously asked on the local if someone could show me the door, hoping the drake flying pilot could be persuaded with some cash. No answer. Bugger. I checked my scanner and saw the drake was gone. Double bugger. I had probably ruined his day too. The drake was there the whole time I was mining. This was probably his home system. I weighted my options briefly. Thinking about the 30M worth of crokite made my heart sink. But as you may already know, patience is not one of my virtues. I made a heroic decision I never had to do before: Suicide!

I would be an hero.

So, as a memento of my first solo expedition of WH space, there will be a Badger MKII full or crokite parked next to the sun J115347 I, accompanied by the frozen corpse of me and myself.

And what did I learn today?

• You can scan most anything with lvl 3 Astrometrics and cheap equipment.
• With low skills, it is slow, but the biggest factor is your own skill in using the scanner
• It is possibe to solo the mining site sleepers of Class 2 WH with Caracal missile boat
• Class 2 holes can't support battleships going in and out
• Always carry a probe launcher in WH space

I have a fan!

Yesterday evening wasn't very productive. First I got a pirate named Sara Letha flip a can. I went to get my hauler and fitted WCS. Apparently she had multiple scramblers as I was going nowhere after looting the can.

She didn't buy my puny bluff and effectively my pretty Badger was no more.

I continued mining after some time. I was actually testing how much I can mine before a can goes *poof* because it has been sitting there too long. My test was foiled miserably by another pirate chick called karasusa. What is with me and the female pirates? Must be my ruggedly handsome looks. At any rate, I decided to fight! I fetched my Blackbird and bravely charged the privateer! I was surprised by the damage which she dealed with her rifter! Ouch, I went to half shield before I could get a lock and ECM her. I kept her lock-locked, disrupted and webbed for a while and it looked like I was going to win. However, I ran out of cap and soon enough my Blackbird was humiliatingly destroyed by a rifter. After having a smoke and calming down, I decided to convo the lady and ask for pointers. I thought my loadout would be invincible against any frigate! Surprisingly she accepted my convo and gave me some very usefull pointers. I fine tuned my next Blackbird, parked it to my mining station and logged off.

Today, I was mining again in peace, when Sara convoed me and asked where the wardec was. I told her I was a coward, and besides I hadn't visited the CEO alt. Which reminded me, that my role-wiping from CUX was probably done and I could remove myself from the corp. Only maybe two minutes after I had left the corp, Sara convoed me again and asked if I had left the corp because of impending wardec. I told her no, but she 'mmhm'ed at me in a way that is typical to young females of homo sapiens species, when they think they have proven their point or won an argument. I left it at that. Perhaps there was a 10% possibility that I had chosen to leave the corp right now because of possibility of war, but you didn't hear me say that, ok?

Anyway, she came around and fipped my can. I fetched my Blackbird, flipped the can back and waited for a while. She was not in the system anymore. Curious... I kept my eye on the local for a minute or two and then just switched to a hauler and got the stuff home.

She repeated the annoying act again in haf an hour or so. This time I got my Blackbird, jumped to a gate and told her to meet me there. As a newbie combatant I didn't realize I would actually give her the oportunity to escape and denying me the same, because I would need to shoot first. Anyway, she came in some cruiser, which's type escapes me. She started with an impressive volley of missiles which took a third of my shield. She got another volley in before I managed to ECM her. With my secret new fine tuning, I was cap stable by finely managing the modules I needed to run. I was slowly chipping away at her shield and perhaps at 50% shield she jumped. I didn't feel like pursuing her, (and i'm not sure if I could have?) so I just made a few warps and created a safe spot. While making the spot I visited our fight gate again and she jumped immediately at my sight. Ahhh... I was so content. After all this fumbling I finaly made someone run! I sat on the safespot and waited for the timer to run out.

I decided that this lady might be persistent after such a failure. No wrath like woman scorn and all that... I decided to move my mining business to another place to avoid her daily griefing route. I moved the BB first and started to make my way back in a pod. WHAT!? Sara was there on the exit gate from the new system I had just decided to settle in. She continued to follow me as long as she could and refused a convo. Wow...

I have a fan! Whoo!

I set a new route -- to my mission hub. Activated the autopilot and started to write this tripe :)

Fly safe!

EDIT: I forgot to tell you how I almost lost my Rokh because I went to mine with the aggression timer on. I'll leave that to another time....

2009.07.22.2

Hooray! Finally! Congratulatory undocking of my Rokh from Jita 4-4!

2009.07.22.1

Yesterday was something special!

My day started with some menial tasks, such as scrubbing the hangar floor and organizing my cargo containers. Inventory management is such a chore!

After this I mined a couple of cans of Veldspar in Muvoailen. After this I did some lvl 1 missions in a system which's name escapes me. Nothing interesting happened really. I was considering getting myself into some kind of trouble just to have something to write about!

I asked around in the recruitment channel if some random corp was willing to employ me. Flying alone is getting the better of me. I sometimes realize I'm arguing about ship loadouts with myself on the fleet channel! No sooner than soon, I have contact from Kal Jace, offering me a position in GoonFleet! I figured he must have thought I was an experienced player because of my character age. After clearing that up we had very productive chat! (btw, sarcasm mode on)

[ 2009.07.21 08:57:15 ] Kal Jace > ahhh I see

[ 2009.07.21 08:57:30 ] Kal Jace > The old character confused me somewhat :)

[ 2009.07.21 08:57:55 ] Fizzl > yep, it tends to do that ;)

[ 2009.07.21 08:58:25 ] Fizzl > i tried starting a corp myself, but everyone and their cousing wanted to wardec a 2004 newb corp =)

[ 2009.07.21 08:58:32 ] Kal Jace > lol

[ 2009.07.21 08:59:57 ] Kal Jace > GF don't actually have recruitment requirements - but we do have a small ISK security deposit that needs made pending a background check, which you might not be able to cover if you're only 2.5m sp :)

[ 2009.07.21 09:01:17 ] Fizzl > I see... The good old GF recry scam, hehe. I haven't been living under a rock :)

[ 2009.07.21 09:01:39 ] Kal Jace > Aint a scam

[ 2009.07.21 09:02:23 ] Fizzl > Oh, was it BoB then?

[ 2009.07.21 09:03:18 ] Kal Jace > Must have been, its always been goon policy

[ 2009.07.21 09:04:48 ] Fizzl > how much is this security?

[ 2009.07.21 09:05:25 ] Kal Jace > Its unique to everyone, lemme just check how much yours would be

[ 2009.07.21 09:05:51 ] Fizzl > hehe, ofcourse it's based on char age? /facepalm :P

[ 2009.07.21 09:06:17 ] Kal Jace > nah its based off SP/employmeny history

[ 2009.07.21 09:06:55 ] Kal Jace > yours would be 254,765,976 ISK, slightly above min due to how old yer char is

[ 2009.07.21 09:08:17 ] Fizzl > ouch. yeah, too much for me right now. Perhaps i'll contact you later?

[ 2009.07.21 09:09:14 ] Kal Jace > Sure thing :)

[ 2009.07.21 09:09:27 ] Kal Jace > Ill bookmark the amount so it remains tied to you

[ 2009.07.21 09:09:50 ] Fizzl > ok, thanks.

[ 2009.07.21 09:10:15 ] Kal Jace > Just convo me if you need anything

[ 2009.07.21 09:10:21 ] Fizzl > sure

What a glorious oportunity! I can't wait to collect 250M ISK and hand it to this gentleman! Then I will be a bee too!

Now, actually information about GoonFleet recruitment is kinda obfuscated if you just try to google about it. However, everyone should know that GF only hires from their own flock of forum trolls.

And just for emphasis, a verbatim quote from their wiki: If you gave isk to join Goonfleet then you were scammed and you're shit out of luck.

But something positive! I realized I had minerals to get a Rokh! I pondered if I should do some mineral trading and get my friend to build the Rokh for me. Being the impatient bastard I am, I sold my minerals and bought the Rokh and the fittings from Jita.

I'm also thiiiis close to flying it!

In the evening something exciting finally happened. Sab, my former director called and asked if I wanted to join his mining team in worm hole space! Wow! I've never seen WH space, so I aggreed. I packed my Osprey and stuffed it into a badger. I set the course for *beep* for the WH entrance. I haphazardly navigated through some 0.3 space to save 5 jumps, but as my ships are made of unobtainium, I survived. When I got to *beep* I assembled my Osprey and was promptly escorted to the WH entrance.

I was a bit nervous. Being in 0.0 space after all. I just followed Sab, and HOLY CHRIST IS THAT CROKITE? YES IT IS!

I wasn't expecting this! Rocks of valuable ores, the size of a battleship, just floating everywhere! Ooh, I must have died, had a low quality clone and now I was in some kind of clone fuckup-stasis and merely dreaming this. I just picked nearest rock and started excavating. I was expecting something horrible to happen any minute. I voiced my concerns to the fleet, and was told that the place was relatively safe now. No rats, and apparently we had a cloaked spy monitoring the WH entrance like a hawk. After a can I hauled and refined. Whee! I had made my own Zydrine! I huggled the cold mineral warmly and returned to work. This time I picked a crokite rock, twice the size of my Osprey.

At some point Sab and hes friend went to haul their lewts to some apparently very far away system. Sab had his characteristic luck with his hauler thou: I heard screams of agony from the fleet channel. They had been podded somewhere along the route. Bubble and all. Apparenty they lost both their haulers and the goods they were hauling. Bugger...

My evening was slightly more productive thou. I mined and succesfully banked minerals worth of 20M!

This is a new one

2009.07.16 21:53

CONCORD has declared this war invalid as it breaches one or more articles in the Yulai Convention.
The war will be declared as being over after approximately 24 hours.

I have no idea what that means. Apparently the war with Zodiac Cartel, aka. Po, went sour.

Anyway, sorry about the lack of updates. My IRL work started again after vacation and I have been rather busy. Today I was mining and hauling stuff. Something interesting thou. I saw several people red to me in 0.5+ space without their corp being in war with me.

Could someone in comments explain to me what the cited CONCORD mail means, and why could I be seeing lots of red people on my overview all of the sudden? And yes, It is not just a tiny red skull indicating I have shitlisted them, but a whole red background as if I was in fight with them.

Po came!

I was again mining in yet another pigeonhole. Po Plug actually came around. Unfortunately I didn't anything to fight with. Only my mining Osprey and an Indy in the hangar. He was very impatient and left the system within five minutes. I checked the local market, bought a *beep* and headed for Jita to buy *beep* *beep* four *beeps* and two *beeps*.

I saw Po camping my exit gate, outside, but he missed me in my pod. I told him that he missed me and he responded by loggin out. I only asked for an hour to setup!

Anyway. Now I have been mining in Muvo again, waiting for war targets to come buzzing around. Ocassionally checked Jita, but seen no reds. I heard that Sam actually managed to blow up Po's muscle mans 200M battleship with *cough* some help *cough*. Anyway, that made my day. I have now lost perhaps 16M worth of items in the war, Sab lost a 7M retriever. I'm happy to lose a couple of more ospreys and *beep*s,

While starting in Muvo, I found out that most of the GSC:s were full already. Sab 'fessed up that he forgot some ore floating around. I sternly told him that unfortunately they were left too close to a fire hydrant and the ore would be towed to the nearest CUX office for misappropiation.

War is getting stale again

With the McKennan clan withdrawing from the war and Po's muscle man, Caldrin jumping corp, I don't see any potential threats at the moment. I'm sure I will be proven wrong right after posting this, but we'll see =)

CEO-hood is already transferred to my alt and I'm ready to jump the ship. However, with this threat level and two free wars on me, I think I'll wait patiently untill I find a suitable one.

I'd like to find a Finnish corp who is allied with people who have some sov in nullsec. Is that much to ask from a 2M pilot? Perhaps... But offers are welcome =)

Right... The locator agents

I forgot this nice feature. The locator agents. I thought I would be safe just by getting the hell out of the way, into some quiet system.

No such luck. The Mutt followed me in under an hour and podded me. Bugger. I guess I wont be doing anything untill the wardec is over or I have left the corp.

I'm a failure and quitter

2009.07.12 18:41
Fizzl has resigned from the position of CEO with Contractors United. 

As their last move they appointed Peloton as CEO.

Well then. That experiment didn't last long. I guess the corporate assets will be auctioned off, proceeds shared with the remaining members and the corporation shall remain a shell of its former glory. That was an educational few days.

What did I learn?

Recruiting for a new corporation is bloody hard. It takes a lot of talking to convince a day old character to join your corporation. It's a lot of fun to do stuff together. If you actually try to do it, do it in secluded area and grow your might before trying to settle in to the heat of Jita. There are lot of people trying to tear you down if you try to be clever. Being clever does not get you far. Shutting up and walking away is more efficient. Do not get stuck in one system. Spread you assets around immediately, so you have an alternative place to move if you get waredec'd.

But one thing I still stand for: Do not fucking pay ransom money to pirates! Not even if the demands are reasonable. Give them an inch, and you may aswell give your arm!

The reason for my resignation is not all because of the wardec. I only got into fights twice. It's mostly because I realized running a corp requires a lot of time, coordination and systematical thinking. I have little of the first, none of the second and the third will be focused on my RL job starting tomorrow, now that my vacation ends. It was great to have a taste of what it takes to try and run a corp. It was fun, but demanding. I can only imagine the burden on the shoulders of those who run corporations with hundreds of members and some kind of reputation to hang on to.

Low quality canine

I guess The Mutt didn't get the memo, that his CEO withdrew the wardec. Got shot down at my pigeon hole in Jesoyeh. I guess I should have selected some place which I haven't spoken off in the blog.

Surely he was fair to tell me he just didn't see it and told me I'm free to pick up my stuff. I smelled a rat and warped near my stuff, but far enough. Ofcourse he was there, waiting for me. Durn, a fast handbreak turn and back to station. Guess it's time to move, again.

My "dickheads" folder in the buddies tab is getting larger than the "friends" folder. A sign of bad times.

It seems to me EVE is much more brutal these days. Everyone wants to be a bad ass griefer/pirate. Back in 2004 I don't recall anyone causing any trouble. Everyone was eager to help each other out and griefing was frowned upon. Well, gotta move with the times, I guess.

Slow day

Today I have been pigeon holing in my secret hideout and mining. Half of the materials for my battleship collected.

Sab left us to join his IRL friends corp. Sam left for greener pastures, perhaps tired of being the only one brave enough to stay and defend our HQ in Muvo. Mark was perhaps intimidated because of the war. He didn't leave yet but I assume he files his resignation soon.

Ohmy, my glorious corporation is falling into pieces around me! Hmm, no matter. I guess I'll transfer it to my alt when everyones gone and find myself a nice corp of my own.

I haven't seen Po online. I would have loved to try out my ECM/Neut blackbird setup on him. I guess this war is going stale with no-one from CUX buzzing Jita/Muvo.

Well, it was a fun experiment. I made acouple of friends and couple of enemies.

Had a day off

Yesterday, I barel visited EVE. Too tirred for that.

I logged in today to find something interesting in my inbox:

2009.07.11 22:02
The war between McKennan Clan and Contractors United is coming to an end. McKennan Clan has retracted the war against Contractors United. The war will be declared as being over after approximately 24 hours.

Yet another!

Someone from Zodiac Cartel actually showed up. A guy in a battleship. Wasn't really fair to attack my Osprey miner while I was watching Hell's Kitchen. Just got a scream on TeamSpeak that something was up. While I was fumbling for my headset, I got blown up and docked in a pod.

We had some "pew pew" with Calbrin, but in the end I decided to cowardly flee. Ohwell, better than to wreck my ship. While we were fighting, I got another mail -- initiated by another local pest:

2009.07.11 02:01
Universal Peace Operation has declared war on Contractors United.
Within 24 hours fighting can legally occur between those involved.

Universal peace operation? Shit... Everybody. I mean EVERYBODY, I mean EVERY-FUCKING-BODY hates us! Even the universal peace operation declares war on us?

Well, on the plus side, a combat training corp was curious about our wardecs and asked for the info so they could use them as target practise. We'll see how that pans out.

We are officially at war

Well then. 21:32, EVE time, we are now officially at war.

I was excitedly camped in the HQ station, waiting for our nemesis to roll their monstrous war machine at our gates.

21 minutes...

3 minutes...

10 seconds

3...

2...

1..

.

I feel like a teenage girl after losing her virginity: "Uh? That was it then, huh?"

Local did not light up red. Our enemies did not arrange a well organized fleet to challenge us. Intead, I haven't seen Po Plug for the whole day. What a shame.

I guess I'll go back to mining. I'm sure Po has some good excuse for standing us up like that. How Rude!

What I am most worried about, is my Minmatar Minister of Defence. Sam already got all pumped up for war! What the hell am I going to do now!? You know how minmatar get when they have been denied their fun? Now I have to find something for him to chew on, lest he bites my hand off...

Another wardec!

Wow! We are obviously a menace to the society. How else can you explain TWO wardecs in one day?

2009.07.10 09:23
McKennan Clan has declared war on Contractors United.
Within 24 hours fighting can legally occur between those involved.

Like every man in a war, I have my adrenalie pumped. Anxiously waiting for the battle to start. I have my weapon. I have the courage. I have the capacity! We will not fail! Victory shall be ours!

Follow me my minions. Glorious we shall orbit the wreckage of our fallen enemy, hear the lamentations of their woman and cry of their children! Onwards my brave soldiers! Onwards and into the battle!

Ein volk! Ein reich! Ein Führer!

*cough*

Sorry, I sometimes get carried away like that.

A wardec!

Holy crap!

We have been wardec'd! Po Plug, who has been annoying us for days, today decided to declare a war against us! How rude! Only thing I did was to annoy him by not playing his games. He demanded 50M ransom and I told him to fuck off. Well, actually I sarcastically expressed my believe that these were empty threats. I guess one should not provoke without the muscle to deal with the consequences.

2009.07.09 21:32
Zodiac Cartel has declared war on Contractors United.
Within 24 hours fighting can legally occur between those involved.

Damn.

They have all 5 members, of which I assume 3 atleast are Po's. However, being the cautious one, I decided to move my miner to far, far away to do something while he was online, buzzing Jita.

I have certain plans for this interesting oportunity. I cannot speak of those yet, as I have to assume Po has the capacity to look at my Bio and check this blog.

I think we have interesting days ahead of us. Something to write about!

2009.07.07.1

Today was rather quiet. Just some humble toiling with the rocks, and laying down more GSC's.

Our corp now has the whole of Muvo pelted with secure cans. Take that you can flippin' bastards! Muahahaha!

Yesterday, we got yet more members. We mined and chatted for a long while. We made about 15M ISK from the operation. Not bad at all!

Not everything went so smoothly thou. We decided to take on a can flipping rifter again. This time I was very optimistic about it. I had Caracal with full missile setup. I threw in an ECM and WCS. We attacked, the rifter turned to flee, and I was unable to stop him. He was back with a friend shortly. How cowardly! I told the fleet to flee, as someone uncloaked next to us!

Me and stinky managed to warp. I realized we could not dock, so couple of quick warps later, I had set up a safe spot. We camped there with Stinky and heard bad news from one of the miners, Sab. He's Retriever was blewn to smithereens. Bugger, another loss for CUX.

Only thing I could retaliate with, was to reveal to local the rifters loadout, which I had acquired earlier with my miners ship scanner. There was a bit of raging and baawing and "LOL the noob thinks scanner gives a full loadout". I felt a bit kiddy. I had managed to piss him off, even if just a little bit =)

We switched to GSC mining. The rifter buzzed us thorough the night. I guess he's really bored.

2009.07.06.1

Yesterday was busy!

After doing some missions and breaking my Cormorant to a too-bloody-hard-for-a-frig-mission-use-only-frig-mission my mining pal came online. I met him couple of jumps away with my hauler and started hauling his ores to whoever paid the most. After only one full jetcan, my new recruit came online. He seemed so enthusiast to start doing something, I had to leave the hauling for another day and meet the recruit.

I explained how I'd like to have the stuff organized in the corp hangar. After a brief chit chat, we took our ospreys and headed for the belts. We mined two whole jetcans of stuff! I took my Globetrotter out and hauled all the ore to the hangar floor. My new recruit, (We shall call him Vladimir from now on), was quite handy at refining. Better than me! He refined the ore and we browsed the local market for best price. 8 jumps away was suprisingly enticing offer! I set the coordinates and prepared to get on my journey when I noticed an alarming thing: The end point was in lowsec! Damn. I took out my map and relized it very well might be a trap. There were lots of ships destroyed in the target system, even in last 30 minutes.

I expressed my concerns to Vladimir, but the offer seemed too good to pass. He jumped out of his ship and decided to scout ahead in his plane pod! What a crazy person!

Luckily only the end system was losec, so we quickly jumped the first 7 systems and Vladimir jumped ahead into the target.

"Safe!", he announced. I excitedly jumped in and set my coordinates immediately to the station we were headed to.

"N-NNOOOOO!", Vladimir cried.

I realized that the station could be trapped!

And then.... All of the sudden...

.

Nothing!

The station was safe. I docked, sold and split the money. Cool 5.5M from one mining trip. Not bad.

We made our way back to the Corp HQ (Ooh... I love saying that -- Corp HQ. Let's dock to the Corp HQ, The ore is in the Corp HQ Hangar), and pondered what to do next.

Vladimir was going to start producing some ammo. We had just sold all our Tritanium thou, so I decided to go mine some Veldspar. Vladimir soon joined me. It started to be evening in the US I guess. The wankers were crawling from under their rocks. Someone can flipped us very soon. There was considerable gritting of teeth from Vladimir, but I told him to keep his cool. This guy was in a Moa. What he's gunna do with the ore, eh? Put it in the trunk?

I told Vladimir to keep on mining. I went and took out my hauler. Decisively I started oribiting the flipped can, trying to make sure the dickhead in a Moa understood what I was after. I told Vladimir to warp to next belt and start mining. I'll dance with this guy untill he realizes this is going nowhere.

It took perhaps 15 minutes, before the Moa driver gave up and warped away, perhaps to flip Vladimirs new can. I looted the can and headed home. It actually was only perhaps 5000m^3 of ore, but it's a matter of principle damnit!

A New recruit joined us! Let's call her Stinky. After I had waited away my combat cooldown I fitted a caracal (Which I got as a donation from a reader btw, check out the comments of previous post!) with 2 miner II's, some missiles and some drones. I wen't to hower over my minions to scare off any potential offenders. But after only an hour or so, we had a guest again! This wasn't the Moa driver. This was actually the one who blew up my previous Osprey! Arrogantly he flipped the can. God damnit... I knew this guy warp scrambles and lock scrambles, so I wasn't prepared to take on him with 2 drones and 3 missile launchers, without a tank, with no way to escape. I decided to do the same thing I did with the Moa driver. I took out my hauler.

This guy was persistent thou. It took considerable time before he warped out. I took what I could, but the damn confirmation dialog for ninja looting was nagging so that I only got perhaps 70% of the ore before The Drifter of Doom was targetting me. I got safely out. I wanted to try if I could get the rest of the ore back.

I threw out one cargo expander and replaced it with a warp core stabilizer. I warped in and before I could say "damn ham in a can batman!", the rifter got a lock and attempted to warp scramble me. Lucliky he was unsuccesfull. I safely turned around my behemothian Badger and warped home. I told Vladimir and Stinky, that I was going to sleep, split the loot, etc, etc.

Not so fast! I recalled we did one more thing before I went to sleep. I was a bit pissed off at this guy, so I wanted to try and take on him. Vladimir wanted to join! Vladimir fitter his osprey with something. I loaded my Caracal with rockets, warp core stabilizer, inertia dampener, lock scrambler and something else I can't recall. We were after some blood!

We jumped to the first belt, then to the second and to the third. I checked local and saw that, rather anticlimatically, our nemesis had left the system :(

I told Vladimir and Stinky, that I was going to sleep, split the loot, etc, etc.

Wow! That was a long post. Well, I told you I was busy yesterday!

2009.07.05.2

Boot time. Bugger, I had just killing a horde of nefarious drones when the countdown to boot started. I hurriedly scrambled for my tractor beam, trying to gather all the 20-30 wrecks around me, in search for the A.I. my agent so desperately wanted. I wasn't fast enough thou. Unfortunately I was disconnected before I could recover the important piece of drone brain from the wreckage. Atleast I would now know what happens to stuff in boot.

Well, apparently, it goes *poof*, just as i expected. Now I had to return to my agent shamefully without the item she wanted. I was dismayed, but hoped she would understand. After all, no-one can avoid the inevitable reboot!

My agent wasn't quite so forgiving. She gave me a lecture about my incompetence and turned her back to me. She didn't want to offer me a job anymore. I was disraught, but eventually I just let it go and located another agent who would be willing to employ me despite my ineptness.

2009.07.05.1

I managed to lure one member to my corp! Another one is still on the edge. We did some duo mining with the latter and had jolly good time, and fairly decent income.

This morning I picked up my mining Osprey from where I left it, in the old office. I went to do some mining in Muvolailen. I again forgot how much it sucks to mine in a crowded system. Sooner than I had accrued 5000m^3 of veldspar I got can-flipped by a guy in a Rifter. I considered the consequences for a sec and decided to sic my drones on him. They chewed his shield quite fast and I was musing to myself if I'd actually manage to kill him. Well, No.

He was armour tanking. I can imagine his plan coming to perfect fruitition as he warp scrambled me, dispatched my drones to robot heaven and continued to destroy my Osprey.

Ah, well. It was all in a good spirit. I congratulated him for the fair cop and he thanked me for the "pew pew" which he was after.

I'm out of cash again and short of a miner. I checked my assets and recalled I have my "Stinger" -- the mission running Caracal couple of jumps away. I dragged to there in my pod and started doing some missions.

Perhaps in the evening my two new mining friends will come online and we can do some mining together.

2009070.1

I did some mining while setting up web site for my one man corporation: Contractors United [CUX]

I also acquired offices from slightly more desirable location. I'm now setting up shop in Muvolailen. I'll build couple of Bantams and Badgers just incase I manage to lure couple of other newbies to join me in the noble cause of collecting rocks.

Well, that was short. Kinda uneventfull day overall.

Mining Math

While reading the Advanced Mining guide, I came upon something interesting. According to the guide, Veldspar is the most profitable hisec mineral to mine. It must be the best thing to solo mine overall. I had to get to the bottom of this. I found some php code that polls the eve-central data for prices and calculates the most profitable target. Here's the results: BAM!

What the... Veldspar is more profitable than anything else per cubic metre! By 20% no less!

(It doesn't count the more highend stuff, but those are out of my reach anyway so I don't care)

(Now it does, the original code was a bit bugged)

I could have sworn based on my intuition that Kernite would be the most profitable! Well, it is. Per unit that is. But per unit means jack shit because m^3 is what mining lasers extract and indys haul.

Perhaps I should dig deeper and find older trends for mineral prices. I should think that the prices used to be more balanced(1) in good old days, when there were more of us newbies mining 1.0 and less consumption for all those insane humungous ships.

I'm a bit miffed actually. When I finally get my Battleship or Barge it will still be pointless to risk it in lowsec, because I can safely make more money sitting in 1.0. I think I will drop any further endeavours towards more advanced dedicated mining systems. I'll concentrate on manufacturing and more advanced spaceship handling.

(1) By which I mean, rarer stuff being more expensive.

On the move again

I decided to try to penetrate the 0.0 space again later, when I'm a bit more skilled.

I cruised around a bit in my Osprey, looking for Kernite. I want some Isogen. I recalled there was plenty of it, in the Jesoyeh from where I woke up after my five year slumber. I left my piles of crap behind and decided to move my mining operation back there.

As you may see, I spend most of my time doing pointless wandering without actually gaining anything. I'm a bit like that IRL too :)

20090703.2

My plan was as follows:

1. Fly to Caldari space
2. Buy Bantam, Badger and various other BPO's
3. Fly back to 0.0 with said items.
4. Setup shop, start ninja mining
5. ???
6. Profit!!!

H0wever, my genious plan was foiled by a Russian lady who was trying to catch some particular person with a bubble. I was over half-way to my destination, just on the edge of "safe" 0.0 space. I didn't pay attention to the star map enough and thus flew straight into this nefarious trap!

My poor Condor went *poof* in a second after fumbling franctically, trying to warp away. The nice lady apologized profusedly and told me in broken english "go on away" (what I assume ment: You can go, I won't pod you) . Well, I jumped with my pod to the next system. While I was warping to the next gate, I checked the regional market and there was a cheap Condor nearby. How lucky I was! I remotely bought the Condor and reconfigured my route so that I would pick up the condor, head back to loot my stuff and continue my journey to the fast outreaches of the galaxy. But it was not ment to be!

The station was only half way done and besides, it wouldn't let me dock. The curious builders asked me what the hell I was doing there, so far away from home, all alone, in a pod. I pondered this very question myself for a moment and sternly replied: "I'm trying to get podded to save some jumps."

The gentleman in a cruiser aggreed to help me out. He locked his missiles on me and sooner than I could say 'superglarigaficarious cadaver', I was in my clone, at the far outreaches of the galaxy.

My morale was down a bit. I kicked my brand new Ibis. I was too frustrated to try again right away. I bought some other blueprints from the nearby stations and went out to mine Jaspet in my hodgepodge of a ship. Perhaps later, after the restart I would try again.

20090703.1

I fitted a condor for fast travel and headed for some 0.0 space. I did some research and found out a NPC station I wanted to visit.

What a thrill!

As I exited the hisec space, I was greeted with a gate camp and someone trying to warp scramble me. Fortunately I had been wise and bought a Warp Core Stabilizer for this journey. The rest of the way was rather uneventfull and eventualy I docked deep in 0.0 space. I moved my clone here and had a look at the local market.

Damn. No bantams, 1M Badgers, no miner I. Just for the heck of it, I decided to buy the 1M badger and move a miner from my condor to it. Time for some ninja mining in 0.0! I poked around for an hour without finding a suitable mining site. I finally turned to google and eventually found the information I needed. A nearby system with crokite!

Without hesitation I undocked by oddball mining indy and headed for the coveted asteroid fields. Soon enough I had located a suitable place and fired my laser. I was mining Crokite!

While I was writing this, I heard an alarming sound. I was being targetted! Blast! Ah, no worries. It's just some rats. I was unarmed, so I decided to just jump to the next belt. Luck was against me however. I got stuck on an asteroid while aligning for warp, which is quite deadly in this situation. Soon enough I was hammered by rats and found myself in a black egg. Damn.

I warped to nearby moon and logged off. It is 4am IRL and I need some sleep to think clearly.

This experience gave me confidence thou. It wasn't impossible to get to the fabled 0.0 space.

I am hatching a plan...

20090702.1

I refitted my Destroyer and my mining rig. That cost something... I'm not quite sure where did I spend all my money, but now I am forced to do some menial labour to regain some ISK.

Currently running missions in Isenairos. Oh how I wish I would get enough standing already to advance to atleast lvl2 missions.

Assets:

4M ISK

Badger MK II with cargo expanders

Osprey with mining laser 2's, etc

Osprey - Empty

Caracal with missile launchers. I'm about to upgrade to heavy launchers.

Cormorant with hybrid turrets.

Spend, spend, spend!

In a shopaholic spree, I bought all the skills that I could train right now. I now have 48 skills in training queue!

Unfortunately I lost my mining Osprey yesterday. Someone slipped my can and emptied it to another can. Seeing tht the ofender was in quite a crappy ship, I decided to try and fight him. Well, long story short; he blew up my Osprey, but my drones certainly put up a good fight! I coudn't run as of course he warp scrambled me the second I opened fire.

I didn't remember fitting a mining Osprey was this expensive, ouch. It takes about 5M to fit one.

I also rent an office for my corporation which I've had since 2004. I'll see if I can lure some other newbies to join my exciting enterprice!

I'm also contemplating starting to learn some manufacturing. That should be interesting. Perhaps when I'm in a bit better finanial standing.

Current assets:

ISK: 11M

Cormorant fitted for mission running

Caracal fitted for mission running

Badger Mark II fitted for hauling.

Osprey. Unfitted. Will be fitted for mining.