Time to Take a Break

So far in my career as a capsuleer I've come across a familiar feeling from time to time. It's a feeling that I've learned to accept as part of my life in space. I sit in my lounge and glance at my waiting pod and just...don't feel like getting inside. This happens without warning and I always try to fight it. I get in the pod, activate a ship and roam around rather uninspired.

As you might have guessed from the title of this post, I am once again fighting with myself. Instead of fighting it, I decided it better to take a little vaycay from space. While I can't give you the details, I can say that there will be a lot of cocktails and hot beaches/bitches. I do enjoy time spent planetside.

Trial by Fire

One thing I love about Min0r Threat is the fresh recruits we take on. These eager young pilots aren't afraid to learn, and learning this trade is done through practice. One of our young bloods, Monnty, landed on grid as I was finishing up a ratter in Hulmate. This was before he joined the Black Sheep and I was soon trying to target him. He escaped, and I left it at that. Soon after I received a mail from him, asking whether Hulmate was a good place to look for fights. That was my queue to invite him to our public channel where Duke convinced him to join our ranks.

The rookie pilot that can!

Even before he contacted me, he managed to kill a Retriever along with its pod. This made him hungry for more, and more he got. By the end of March he scored 21 kills, a lot of them solo, for only 7 losses, giving him an efficiency rating of 86.89%. This guy might look young and innocent, but he'll dish out punishment like the best of them. With his skills still low I can only imagine what this guy will achieve one day when he gets his support skills up high!

Great job Monnty!

Monnty is but one of our fresh recruits in Min0r Threat, and our arms are wide open should more wish to join.

Maller Mauling and a Lucky Escape

I was on my usual roaming route from Maut to Hevrice when I spotted a Maller on dscan towards a medium FW (don't know why I keep defining it as FW plexes anymore) plex. Mmm, I thought, if he went through all the trouble of bringing a Cruiser to a plex, maybe he went through the trouble of fitting it too, instead of just fitting a low stack of stabs. Remembering what I hated about Mallers, their lack of utility highs, I figured that my Tristan was up for the challenge.

A ComPlex Situation

Low sec now belongs to factional warfare.

The transition hasn't been a gentle one either. The influx of fw pilots to low sec is causing a lot of complaints about risk aversion from quite a few pirates. The removal of 2/10 plexes has caused many regions to become silent graveyards, leaving only memories of the great times it once hosted. All the focus has moved to the regions that factions war over so diligently, and with the rewards they give out to those willing to claim territory, it's no wonder capsuleers flock to have a share of the wealth. This wealth comes at minimal risk, ruining the age old saying of high risk for high rewards.

Black Sheep Have You Any Wool?

The elevator music was making me nauseous, or it might have been the way the whole elevator was rocking every so often. The light overhead flickered constantly and the high pitched squeal from metal friction was starting to make my ears hurt. Maybe it's not the elevator music, now that I think about it.

Ding. I arrive on floor 249, the elevator doors open slowly, the one side struggling more than the other. When the doors came to a halt, the one door was only half open. The elevator rocked again, ever so slightly, but enough to inspire me to get the hell out. I mustered all my courage and leaped out of the elevator, I've seen too many movies where elevators become instruments of dismemberment. With a glance back at the deathtrap, a gave a sigh of relief as I started taking in my surroundings, what the hell did I get myself into?

Farewell Old Friend!

I was lounging in my quarters watching some holo-vids of an old-world sea pirate named Guybrush while periodically taking short glances at local and the convo with Creed, should potential targets appear. On the table next to me was the market orders Jax wanted me to look at, but I tried to put it out of my mind as I wasn't in the mood to look over market histories and other boring figures. I knew it's what I needed to do with my wallet growing thinner with every ship I lost, but making money was work, something I try to avoid at all costs.

A loud knock came from the door, probably Jax I thought, and I decided to ignore him. Again a knock destroys the serenity of my quarters. I grabbed my pistol and got up, the head rush almost sending me to the floor. I stumbled towards the door while cocking the pistol, this was the last straw, Jax Spade has to know his damn place! Flinging open the door I aimed the pistol at his face, "I said I'll look at it when I get to it!" I screamed, but looking over the iron sights of my pistol, I noticed that it wasn't Jax Spade, but instead the beautiful Virtouse Grimm. As I lowered the pistol I notice the box she's carrying, marked "Sorn's Stuff." She glared annoyed at me and walked past into my quarters.

February Kill Summary

So February has ended and it's time to tally up the scores. My activity was limited the last half of the month, but still a good month.

February, 2013

Kills - 49 Isk(B) - 1.36
Losses - 19 Isk(B) - 0.28
Efficiency - 82.90%

4000 visits!

Today I breached the 4000 number of visitors to this page. Its a small number to be proud about compared to some of the Eve Blogs out there (I'm looking at you Brutor Bullfighter and The Altruist!) but it's a number I'm proud of nonetheless. It's good to know that I'm not writing these posts for myself.

Thank you for everyone that reads my scribblings and thanks to the random pilots who convos me in space to tell me they love my blog (no better feeling). Also thanks to everyone who links my humble little blog on their own, especially Azual Skoll and Miura Bull, your support has boosted my readers considerably!

I'll do my best to try and keep my posts at least somewhat entertaining! (I hope it is!)

Tristan vs Faction Frigs

I've had little luck finding kills the last week, probably due to lack of the time I spent looking for them. I spent my time looking for radar sites, hoping to bag some ISK so I could expand my arsenal. Creed Corbett did manage to find a juicy Raven Navy Issue which I reported to my fellow Tuskers.

Work in Progress

I realized that my blog's banner still proudly sports the R1fta logo and decided it was time for a change. Rather than just opting for a cheap fix by removing the logo and replacing it with the Tusker one, I decided to make a new banner.

I got cracking today and completed making a cartoonish self portrait again, this time with shading. My first crack at it shading so be gentle when criticize :P

Looking nasty...or at least that's what I aimed for.

Embarrassment, Milk & Rum and an Awkward Moment

I got into space on Friday afternoon and roamed around the Essence area when Creed Corbett, my ever faithful scout, reported an unnamed Catalyst running a mission in Hulmate. I headed over to him in my Tristan as Creed Corbett scanned him down. It was only a noob, but the scanning practice Creed got is invaluable. If only I knew the embarrassment that was to follow...

Ignorance is Bliss

I was flying around in Hevrice when I spotted a Venture on d-scan. Not even bothering to fit dual scrams I headed to his location and quickly ended him. He opened a private convo and told me that he was only trying to mine. I explained to him that killing was what I did, and pointed him to Azual's post for new players on how to survive low sec. He responded by putting a 100K ISK bounty on me.

I continued looking for fights and soon met my match against a Tristan. It was late at night and I performed horribly. Pretty soon I received a mail:

It's what I do
Paxton Wilson

Sent: Sun 2013/02/10 01:31:00 AM
To: Yuzuki Katayanagi

Looks like the bounty was taken up. Fly Safe

I couldn't help but laugh, but I let him have his win.

A New Toy to Play With

One thing I realized while cleansing my stockpiles of ships laying in hangers all over New Eden, was my love of Rifters was causing me to close my eyes to the other T1 frigates. I've started experimenting with others, having had lots of fun with the Merlin especially. There was one T1 frigate that I just couldn't best with the Merlin however, the ship that caught my eye since I got into my first pod, the Tristan. I fitted one up and went on a roam, and it wasn't long before I found my first fight.

Being a Pirate is Alright With Me

I've payed my dues for a week, sec repping for hi-sec entry. Almost all the way up to above -2.0 I lost my ratting Hurricane. With the loss came acceptance of the sec status I had at that point, albeit not perfect, and I spent some time doing my part in faction warfare. It wasn't long after when Kaeda Maxwell announced the impending closure of Crimson Reach due to numerous reasons, all of which I understand completely. There were no hard feelings but some disappointment, especially since I spent a week repairing my security status. I had some conversations with my good friend Sorn Nordvind, discussing possibilities we could pursue, but after a while it became apparent that we were going to head into different directions.

The Cleansing: Mission Aborted

For a moment, it seemed like I was worried for nothing. I was warping to my out gate, which Jax Spade already reported as clear, but in Hevrice things change in a heartbeat.

The Tuskers were known to guard their home system with finesse. This was a perfect system to come to if you were looking to fight, but that day I wasn't. I fought to keep my eyes open as it was already quite late in the evening. I just wanted to reach null sec, then I'd sleep.

My warp drive disengaged as I landed at the gate. I yawned, waiting for the Hurricane to stop before jumping through. The yawn abruptly turned into a cough when I saw a small fleet of Tuskers land as well. My half closed eyes were now ajar and my heart was pounding in my throat.

The Cleansing Pt.3

In my quest to destroy every boat I own, I turned my gaze towards my large Rifter supply. I headed over to Hulmate, grabbed one and patrolled around Essence. I was hanging around in Adirain for a while, waiting for Jax Spade to arrive in his Mammoth to carry my loot to Jita when local comms caught my attention. Dark Magni requested a T1 frigate 1v1. I obliged by starting a fleet and inviting him over to a safe spot. I knew he was flying an Incursus so I loaded Barrage, figuring I'd stay out of blaster range if I could, and waited.

The Cleansing Pt.2

Continuing on my mission to blow up every ship I own, I headed out with a Rifter to look for more fights. It's been a while since I've flown a Rifter and I soon remembered how much fun T1 frigates could be. It didn't take long to find a fight.

The Cleansing Pt.1

Looking through my assets I was shocked by the sheer amount of crap I've been hoarding up since joining R1FTA. For all the noise I was making about my money problems I sure had a lot of shit to sell. To add to my disgust I discovered fitted ships that I have long forgotten and were now gathering dust in hangers all over New Eden. It was time for a cleansing, to relieve myself of these unused items and ships. I'll start hauling the items over to Jita soon, but the ships, they've got to get blown to pieces!