Wench with a Wrench

The New Home

2011-10-18T11:23:00.000-07:00

Maeve stared nervously at her directional scan reports, spamming refresh every 10 seconds.

Despite the fact that every connecting hole had eyes, and there was an active wing of the fleet quite literally looking for a fight, Maeve was reminded by looking at her records, that the majority of her losses were in industrial ships, in situations quite like these. Ships where she could not defend herself, or back-up wasn't quick enough to get to her.

This combined with the fact that she was commander of her little mining wing, her finger hovered nervously over the "warp fleet" button, just in case someone decided they'd make a sneak in and make quick work of them. Because, that is just how it happens out in the nothing.

There were many observances Maeve had made since they'd moved in their new class of wormhole. A bigger, larger, and richer wormhole.

ADHCs vacation had taught them that they could indeed live in a wormhole without having to choose between being gleefully poor pvp crazed animals, or rich bored site runners.

The first, and obvious observation is there are many sites to be had, and in that is much more profit, not to mention a constant feed of things to do.

Second observation, despite that it seems less frequent, pvp has become much larger and intense than the small gangs we had become accustomed to in our lower class WH.

Fleets of 30+ aren't such a shock now, back when we thought we were high rollin with a fleet of 7.

I will confess the carebear in me is glad to have so many more rich sites to attend to..... but it is equally fun to engage in some larger scale skirmishes mixed in with your traditional smaller roaming WH gangs.

Adrielle Firewalker

2011-10-17T17:53:00.001-07:00

Another custom traditional EVE portrait.

If you're interested in a custom portrait such as this please contact Maeve Trinity in-game.

For 800m I will doodle your portrait onto illustration board, and if it pleases you, mail you (yes.. like the physical piece) the original for an additional 500m.

Roc Wieler's YC113

2011-10-14T06:04:00.000-07:00

Love him or hate him, Roc Wieler is a force not to be ignored. And as we find again, a damned talented musician.

Personally I was ecstatic to learn he had released another symphonic style album, similar to my all time favorite Bio .

As always, what Roc presents to us is more than just fan music. His music tells a story. And with YC113 this holds true more than ever.

From the Prologue which tells us the adventure and excitement that is EVE. Quickly followed by the track New Eden, lest we forget the beautiful, and often overlooked beauty that is New Eden. This point is driven home with a sweeping and emotional score that would make even the most battle-hardened pilot stop for a moment and admire the vast space of New Eden, the place we all call home.

Roc's knock for capturing New Edens varied races and cultures in unrivaled and well captured. From the sexiness of the Gallente (cause you know, we are sexy thangs)... to the power through religion of the Amarr.

You can close your eyes and imagine each of the peoples of New Eden whom Roc has lovingly described to us through music.

The of course, there is even a track (or 2) for the on-going mystery of the relationship between Roc and Mynxee.

Maybe one day Maeve will be lucky enough to get her own theme song. ;)

Issue #025 - Published 7th October 2011

2011-10-11T17:16:00.000-07:00

I don't know about you, but I am always looking forward to finding my shiny new issue of EON in my mailbox. Its like a mini-Christmas.
And for this issue, I am especially excited to read about our beloved CraxyKinux, whom I've had the honor to work with briefly in a few fleeting podcast adventures.
Take a look, order a copy... or even a subscription, its worth every penny

SHATTERED HORIZONS
Dominion was the last time the foundations of null-sec were reformed and, while intentions were good, two years on things haven't turned out quite as hoped. Now CCP is preparing to set things right again, only this time with long-term vision that could impact not just 0.0 space, but every part of EVE Online. Massively.com <>> 's Brendan Drain explores the potential for EVE's long-term future and sees reason to be quietly optimistic.

EVE'S GREATEST SCAMS - PART 1
If you weren't tempted into EVE by the boasts of an impending expansion, it may have been due to the exploits of the players - those that have stolen and scammed their way to become New Eden's most notorious characters. From Nightfreeze to Cally and from Remedial to Istvaan Shogaatsu, we look at the 10 biggest thefts and most notorious scams that dominated EVE's early years.

NOBLE INTENTIONS
The Noble Exchange has probably been the most contentious addition to EVE since the game first went live, providing a means for characters to dress themselves up in specialist virtual clothing at a premium non-game-breaking price. We fired off a load of questions to CCP to see how business has been going and ask what's in store for the next iteration of NeX as a new expansion nears.

UNDERSTANDING INCURSIONS
Six months on since they were introduced to New Eden, we evaluate and explore EVE's most recent gameplay addition, with a guide to joining and emerging victorious against the Sansha hordes. Also in our expanded 15-page Knowledge Base Guide section we dig behind the back story to bring you the definitive history of CONCORD.

PLUS
In Crowd with CCP Zulu & CCP Tallest
0utbreak, Vuk Lau and Colossus Technologies profiled
The latest CSM and 0.0 Report
The CrazyKinux Story
All you need to know about hiring mercenaries
Alliance Tournament Testflight
The Rise & Fall of ATLAS
Apocalypse under the spotlight
Who's top of the BattleClinic Rankings?

V is for Vendetta

2011-09-08T06:10:00.000-07:00

Maeve Trinity
Jita IV Moon 4
Caldari State
The Forge

Smoke wafted gently through the air, gathering in soft rolling clouds across the ceiling of one of the numerous bars at Jita IV-4, bars that barely passed as hallways with a few haphazardly strewn stools and high bars.

Maeve's life in wormholes had hardened her up a bit compared to her days carelessly mining and trading in K space. Much to her surprise, those pilots she might have once found quite frightening and would go so far as to take another route to reach her destination just to avoid them, now reminded her much of her beloved comrades in ADHC. The Gods know she has partaken in more than her fair share of nefarious activities living in lawless and ever changing wormhole space. So here she found herself, as one of "those" frightening, and dubious folk. Yet somehow, through it all, she liked to think of herself as a nice person.

But this job, this job was for someone all together without remorse, someone who could walk the right walk, and when the time was right, strike.

Their eyes met across the small table they shared, Maeve doing her best to look as intimidating and confident as she could... while the other, well lets call her "V".. with like eyes unflinching, only to casually look away to take in a long drag from whatever the rolled substance was she was enjoying. V did not offer, and Maeve did not ask.

"So..." Maeve leaned back pushing a data pad across and looked into V's piercing eyes, V's expression unchanged, casually sliding the pad to herself looking over the numbers, tapped a few keys in and pushed it back.

"This will do," another drag, ".. and this is going to take time.. and ISK..." Eyes locking again with Maeve's.

"Yes, I understand...." taking back her data pad and glancing down at it, "So we are in agreement then?"

V stood up, "I already entered my info for the initial transaction onto your pad", and as she turned to walk away, flicking her now exhausted bud to the floor, over her shoulder she said "Consider this operation underway. You keep theISK flowing, and we'll keep in touch"

Without looking back, she disappeared into the smoke and shadows.

Maeve was frozen and stared into the space V once stood. Not sure if she should jump up and cheer, or if she should just be happy she gets to keep her current clone.

Either way, this operation has begun.

Maeve walked back to the docking bay and smiled softly as her Proteus hovered gently there waiting for her. For all intents and purposes, this was her home in wormhole space. Inside her heart warmed at the thought of returning to the unknowns warm embrace, and her dear friends that would be waiting for her there.

Traditional Portraits : Asayanami Dei

2011-08-30T15:05:00.001-07:00

Asayanami Dei... ruthless killer, patient teacher, couldn't ask for a better pilot to have my back out there in the unknown!

Traditional Portraits : Kalahari Wayrest

2011-08-22T14:47:00.000-07:00

With the coming of Incarna, and a new look to our avatars, I thought it only appropriate I rethink how I create my EVE custom portraits. With such intense realism in character creation it seemed quite natural to do portraits in a more traditional manner.

I like to imagine that every once in a while our pilots take a break from that chaos that is space, and spend some face to face time in stations. And what if during that time, one pilot with a certain panache for capturing ones likeness on paper sits down to put your pilots image no into a digital format, but into that long lost art of simply drawing?

If you're interested in a custom portrait such as this please contact Maeve Trinity in-game.

For 800m I will doodle your portrait onto illustration board, and if it pleases you, mail you (yes.. like the physical piece) the original for an additional 500m.

On a side note

2011-07-19T06:49:00.001-07:00

Just saw this upon log-in. Are they intentionally being obnoxious?

When Vikings Vacation

2011-07-19T05:17:00.000-07:00

After quite a long hiatus I am finally starting to settle back in to the rhythm that is life in EVE. And I've realized life in EVE is just no fun without my crazies in Adhocracy. So I chose a few of my favorite ships, and head back into the unknown and immediately set to getting up to no good.

We recently set up a POS in a "vacation" hole, bringing a couple carriers and a dread... as you do. Unfortunately I didn't have the foresight to bring anything other than my Proteus, which has left me to beg borrow and steal whatever is in the hangars. It seems I keep ending up with a lone Apoc, and after being used to little nimble ships, I think this ship may be the end of me.

Hopefully this little foray, where we try our hardest to focus on something other than murdering the hapless random explorer, we will make some decent pocket change. And I know exactly what I'm gonna spend mine on!

EON Issue #024

2011-07-08T18:42:00.000-07:00

The latest issue of EON is hot off the press!

I don't know about you but I am really looking forward to reading about wormhole life from another vantage point, as I am only familiar with how we function in Adhocracy. After listening to PodGoo Podcast, I realize that we are quite a different animal from the normal WH corp.

The features of this issue are as follows!

CREW CONTROL
Ship crews have long been on the wish-list for players and developers alike, yet it has taken CCP years just to release the numbers. We look at how ideas for ship crews have been put forward, ask what the issues have been that have stopped crews being a feature of EVE's combat mechanic and ponder how, if ever, New Eden's silent NPC majority might have a say as to how battles are played out in the future.

BACK THROUGH THE WORMHOLE
We go back to the dark days of bank bail-outs to see how impending financial armageddon urged CCP to take a fearless attitude to EVE expansions. The result was fan-favourite Apocrypha, the expansion that opened EVE to wormholes, the persistent mystery and threat of the Sleepers, and the future promise of Tech-III ships.

BEYOND THE BEYOND
Continuing the wormhole theme this issue, Lex Starwalker brings us a guide to living in w-space, we have the second instalment of Pottsey's exhaustive compendium of Sleeper theories and in our regular Tesflight round-up, Kirith Kodachi gathers together some of New Eden's most successful wormholers, who reveal the ships and fittings they wouldn't leave home without.

THE WRITE STUFF
With a third EVE novel being readied for the autumn, we tackle author Tony Gonzales to talk about his career as an EVE fan and a CCP Developer. We ask how The Empyrean Age came about and how Templar One will hopefully lead us into a universe where EVE capsuleer and DUST mercenary must share the spoils of war.

PLUS
* All you need to know about the Guristas
* In Crowd with CCP Sreegs and CCP Explorer
* Profiles of Red vs Blue, Phoenix Propulsion Labs and Masuat'aa Matari
* The rise and fall of Dusk and Dawn
* How to get your mates playing and loving EVE
* CSM6 - the first weeks in office
* The 0.0 Report…and all the latest news and events

RABBLE RABBLE RABBLE!

2011-06-26T06:16:00.000-07:00

So my timing to return to EVE appears to be impeccable!

After piddling around in a few other games since around February, and none quite hitting that spot EVE always has, I decided with the upcoming Incarna expansion the time was right to jump back in.

Although, to my dismay, I would find all Incarna would be was the Captains Quarters I had only just heard murmerings about when I left at the beginning of the year, I had no idea that would be all we would get with the initial expansion. That being said, with a little bit of pouting I quickly got over it as I really haven't got a clue what I'd be doing in a station anyways other than oohing and aaahing over eachothers avatars. And living in a wormhole means visits to stations are few and far between.

I will say that point is what has me more bothered than any of the other grumblings that seem to be the rage of the moment. I'll be honest and say I am not that bothered by the microtransactions.... due to the simple fact that it has always been possible for someone who just started yesterday to jump on the bazaar, buy some PLEX, cash it out for ISK, and buy a pilot older than my own.

And although the monocle is insanely overpriced (because by CCPs logic, its all "designer", I still dont see anyone paying more for a pair of jeans than their shiny new Lamborghini.)... I will say that the fallout over it has generated some epicly hilarious threads and lead me to finding a Blade Runner Umbrella, which is cheaper and way cooler than said virtual monocle.

In the end the backlash surrounding all of this has just made the game that much more entertaining to me. In what other game can you find pure anarchy and people protesting in this way?

I guess I've been away from the game long enough to feel completely uninvolved with all the politics... and just enjoy the game for what it is.

And yes, I joined in the congo line around the memorial in Jita, just because. ;)

BTW... FREE HELICITY!

EON : ISK Guide 3.0

2011-01-31T13:04:00.000-08:00

You know you want it. I know I want it. I am so ISK impaired its not even funny... any help I can get is more than welcome!

I missed past versions, and my wallet shows it!

It's been a long time coming but it's finally here! The ultimate guide to EVE Online and it's all yours and all mine, for FREE! WEWT!

Whether your a new or old player, there is something useful for everyone.

So for your free download, yes free, please visit www.isktheguide.com starting tomorrow!

And fingers crossed for a print version to come soon!

The Haircut

2011-01-19T16:31:00.000-08:00

::TRANSMISSION INCOMING... ORIGIN, UNKNOWN::

Auryn-

Sorry I've been so off the grid lately, the daily grind (hehe, get it? "grind"... oh never mind) of depleting 'roids of their ores had finally gotten the better of me. As you probably know my home is now in wormhole space. We get a lot of action out here, I never imagined I would find such a liking for the "hunt".

The disadvantage to this is not being able to stretch my legs in Station quarters. Most of my time now is spent inside my ships, my Proteus specifically, that I have set up to be particularly comfortable in unknown space. Of course, I had to sacrifice my drones for a cloaking subsystem, but I keep Rigel inside to keep me company. And true to form I have decorated the inside as tacky as you would expect your sister to.

I've still been up to my usual, crawling around the ships maintenance areas where a pilot of my stature really shouldn't. But there is some satisfaction in not only knowing my ships mind, but also its workings. I should also note I finally cut my mess of hair off. It was one too many times of it getting caught and tangled in wires, and to be honest, I was sick of washing the grease out.

I am sure you will think I am a boy the next time you see me.

Hope to visit with you during my next trip to Empire Space-

Your Sister,

Maeve

::END TRANSMISSION::

Wormholers Rumbling in Low Sec

2011-01-11T12:27:00.000-08:00

So typically, our forays into low-sec dont go so grandly. Speaking for myself, being used to WH tactics, and for the most part not being entirely familiar with jump gate timers and tactics used with them. And then, of course, local pirates always have the upper hand in the situation considering they are probably close to their home station and can quickly reship. Not to mention, they do not have to deal with mass limitations and can bring whatever toys they want.

But the other night we had a streak of good luck.

We chased around a size-able fleet of juicy red Chain of Chaos folks, until we pinned them down to a gate and sent some bait through who was quickly engaged. Us being on the other side of the gate, immediately jumped through and the fun began.

Their fleet was much larger than the kills we did manage to snag, as many got away, but it was a good time regardless, and there were many "GF" in local. *hats off* to Chain of Chaos from me. :) I am pretty positive they would have come back for more -I wouldn't blame them, but we quickly scurried back to our wormhole to bask in the warm glow of a low sec romp that finally went right.

Also..... special moment for me as it was my Proteus's first real actual engagement excluding the time I managed to just land in a fight in time for a pod-kill lol!

Unfortunately, I didn't get any screen shots of the low-sec action... so I have supplied just a generic shot of my Proteus, "Bed Intruder". ;)

Local lols

2010-12-05T07:03:00.001-08:00

It isn't often that there is banter in WH local. Because by default, until someone speaks, the local list is always empty, such behavior can give away vital information about an operation. Only one person needs to speak and from that can be gleaned your corporation and how many people are in it, which in turn can give a potential fleet size, as well as kill-boards which in itself is a wealth of information.

So in the event we do engage in local chatter, it can get quite hilarious. As of late, just jumping into our neighboring systems to break things and ships hasn't been enough. Now we'll make entertainment out of it... sending one person in (and possibly cloakies) to pretend they are a lost newb, baiting residents to either think they have an easy kill, or think they are guiding someone out, while our fleet lays in wait.

One such operation happend just the other night, and the local chat had me in stitches.

Please note m oebius is our guy. Enjoy!

m oebius > Hi Kal, I'm just looking for a good site, came in from K
m oebius > I have to uncloak to drop my probes
Kal Zek > Ahh, well your buddy in the Pilgram needs his checked too
Kal Zek > Safe travels friend =)
m oebius > hmm, your confusing me but ok
Kal Zek > OH, The Pilgram isnt with you? Well then becareful, tehres a Pilgram on teh lose.
m oebius > Those are not very dangerous right
Kal Zek > Naw
m oebius > Ok, cool
Kal Zek > Pilgrams have just shoot blunderbusses
Kal Zek > very short range wep
m oebius > Ah
m oebius > You cleared all the anoms, makes it harder
Kal Zek > What cha looking for?
Kal Zek > maybe I can help
m oebius > some kinda combat site
Kal Zek > Well, there are a few next door, through teh null sec wh there
m oebius > Gotta find that hole
Kal Zek > Becareful, bad things happen there /shudders
Chakotae > invite me to fleet, ill give ya a warp to for that wormhole
Kal Zek > NOw why didnt I think of that
Kal Zek > You shame me Chakote =/
m oebius > no way, you guys will gank me
Chakotae > i swear i wont
Chakotae > im in a badger anyways
Kal Zek > Its true
Kal Zek > He's in a badger
m oebius > Oh cool, I found a combat site
Kal Zek > Yay
Kal Zek > Ya know, when you get those refunded SP's ina couple weeks. You might want to put some on scanning. it will help you find stuff faster. So im told
Kal Zek > I cant scan myself
Kal Zek > but i hear roumors
m oebius > Heh crazy.. refunds!?
m oebius > Why would they do that?
Kal Zek > I KNOW!
m oebius > These guys take awhile to kill
Kal Zek > Yeah, and thers no bounty, wtf is up with that?
m oebius > They have sweet loots
m oebius > I made about 100M last night
Kal Zek > cool
Kal Zek > Maybe that guy in teh Pilgram would makea truce with you, adn help ya out. Go faster then.
m oebius > I thought you said those were no good?
Kal Zek > short range
Kal Zek > You said tehy were no good
Kal Zek > lets see...
Kal Zek > Yeah, it was you...[07:24:18] m oebius Those are not very dangerous right
m oebius > omg you are like my girlfriend
Chakotae > lol
Kal Zek > She doesnt give you any either?
m oebius > now your being mean
Kal Zek > cause you aint getting any of this ass till I get a ring!
m oebius > cause now your like my mom
m oebius > you got pictures?
Kal Zek > sec, let me find it
m oebius > none of those virus pictures
Kal Zek > well, its cured now
Kal Zek > mostly...
Kal Zek > **link to a super gross pic**
m oebius > I've gotta alt-tab to see that one
Kal Zek > I'm gonna do you a favor
Kal Zek > Save you a nights sleep
Kal Zek > dont open that link =)
m oebius > I kinda figured
Kal Zek > Now see what a nice guy I am?
m oebius > Of course
m oebius > These battleships are taking me forever
Kal Zek > yeha, lil bitches, think they gonna live forever
m oebius > Did you buy a notcis yet?
Kal Zek > Naw
Kal Zek > they have a fat ass and move like my ex
m oebius > now I see why she is your ex
Kal Zek > it really was a fat ass, it wasnt the pants.
m oebius > sometimes I like that kinda thing
m oebius > I mean if we are being honest here
Kal Zek > well, if thats how ya roll
Kal Zek > haha, I said roll.....
m oebius > haha.. roll get it!
Kal Zek > hahahaha
Kal Zek > You better salvage those. Nyx gets pissed when people dont salvage.
m oebius > Why is Nyx?
m oebius > or who..
Kal Zek > Shes about 6'2", 275lbs
Kal Zek > face only a drunk could love
m oebius > thats your ex?
Kal Zek > no, she was 2'6"
m oebius > a midget! no way!
Kal Zek > way
m oebius > holy shit..
m oebius > I can't believe you gave that up
Kal Zek > I told her to wear vertical stripes. it made her ass look smaller, and she left me
m oebius > the ladies are sensitive, even the short ones
Kal Zek > Wouldnt even get me a sandwich on the way out.
Kal Zek > i was like WTF, fine, i'll make it myself
m oebius > what kind?
Kal Zek > egg salad
m oebius > ick
Kal Zek > oh, thats good stuff
m oebius > the egg salad is the most horrible sand. in the world
m oebius > you know what happens if you leave that out for an hour
Kal Zek > it hatches?
m oebius > for sure
m oebius > AFK for a bit, gotta bring in my salvager
Kal Zek > oky doky
m oebius > hard to chat and fly
Kal Zek > aint it
Kal Zek > they say talking on cellphone while driving is actually worse than driving after two beers.
m oebius > I've done both..
m oebius > at the same time
Kal Zek > Thats not good
m oebius > naw it was cool, I do it all the time

**At this point the trap was sprung**

Kal Zek > So, did ya get much isk from that?
m oebius > Looking good..
Kal Zek > Will it split very well with Heizeus, Memoocan, Loch Verus, Admiral Tomahawk, Asuri Kinnes, Lir O'Trog, Kwashi and Rafe Vatta? Nice Pilgram btw Rafe
m oebius > Your just looking at our kill board..
Kal Zek > resourceful fella, aint I? ;p
m oebius > Well, you lost the midget
Kal Zek > Poor Domi pilot, didnt know you was all laying in wait =)
m oebius > Well honestly, your POS defenses are pretty
Kal Zek > bah, she made crappy samiches anyhow =)
Kal Zek > I got a question, honest answer
m oebius > k
Kal Zek > Did you eff up teh landing when you ambushed my Badger, or was that on purpose to try and flush out some dumb brave soul trying to help me,
m oebius > You were already accelerating away from the station when I landed, and warped before I could get a lock
Kal Zek > ahh, was just lucky then
m oebius > Yhea
Kal Zek > thats two times today, lol

Eve Report Drama Llama

2010-11-30T06:38:00.000-08:00

Fuck it. I am taking the troll bait.

The drama llama was unleashed on the Tweetfleet last night here.

Some follow up posts can be seen here, here and here.

For the most part, the responses sum it up very nicely. CK really has nothing to step down *from*, and in my opinion, if for some reason he decided to stop doing his thing all together it would be more damaging to the community than not.

But the huge bull in the room that the few people who agree with mysteryKhaaan miss is that the podcast CCP highlighted is not just CK's. There are four of us equally working on it. Myself, CK, Ardwulf and Memoocan.

Not to mention my name was also listed on that CCP newsletter... you know... the one that only showcases specific people all the time and never shares the love? The one that only showcases CK.... oh wait.

Following Khaaaans logic I should not have been listed, being a virtual unknown. But that point was conveniently forgotten.

And then I also wonder, who is this Khaaan person? Not gutsy enough to post his in-game name, or his blog after pitching a giant nerd-rage basically because he isn't getting enough attention. It makes me wonder if we haven't actually all just been trolled.

Grand Theft Moros

2010-11-24T19:50:00.000-08:00

I logged on the other night to hear much gigglesnorting in voice coms.

"What are they up to?" I thought, as I tried to work out what exactly was the source of such wicked glee.

Apparently they found a wormhole that had a station caught quite literally with its pants down. No shields, a handful of ships... and a moros... just sitting there. All part of a system shared by a small alliance with a handful of other stations, also in similar states of disarray.

In short we took everything, but being as it was that the moros could not be removed from the hole, we decided to put it to use, against the alliance who conveniently left it floating there for us. So we all zoomed over to the closest station and began breaking stuff for giggles.

Only two residents were logged in at the station.. both of whom were less than 6 months old and showed no signs of being alts. Hilarity ensued when they started asking in local if we were recruiting, followed shortly by bursts of rage and tears, then randomly switching to Space Balls quotes. At one point after all guns were incapped, one of them began on-lining a medium refining array.

Our corp mate Kwashi summed it up best when he said,

"Those guys we found in the pos reminded me of one of those post-apocalyptic movies where there are clueless vagrants living in the ruins of cities who have no idea how the cities once ran."

A sample of the local banter:

Vagrant Resident > well he left that dread here because get it out of the hole
Vagrant Resident > just like yall cant
Vagrant Resident > he couldnt
Us > Well, yes, it can't leave, so we had to take it to the nearest tower
Us > But I imagine you're aware of that
Vagrant Resident > yea we see it
Vagrant Resident > but soon yall will be out of ammo or the hole will close
Vagrant Resident > then yall will be stuck here with no ammo just drone
Vagrant Resident > drones*
Us > Lasers don't run out of ammo, and probes are reusable
Us> Really, you wouldn't be the first tower
Vagrant Resident > lasers have crystals and they burn out
Vagrant Resident > oh u talking the other tower in here?
Vagrant Resident > the one u took out that really didnt have anything there worth anything but the moros

We continued our bashing, with a small sliver of hope that perhaps the station was not stronted considering the state of the other station in system, but no such luck. After a brief discussion of whether or not we wanted to finish it off when it came out of reinforced we decided to call it a wrap -freshly exhausted from a POS destruction just two days before- we all just wanted to go home and count our profits.

And moros pay out juicy insurance.

New Eden Chronicles

2010-11-10T09:15:00.000-08:00

As announced on CrazyKinux's Musings!

After a couple of weeks and some incredible submissions, CK and I have finally reached our final two to be cohosts with us on New Eden Chronicles! That's right! TWO! It's gonna be a partay up in here!!! There were so many awesome submissions, there was no way we could narrow it down to just one! And boy let me tell you, I was star struck by some of the people submitting auditions!

So without further ado, congratulations to

Ardwulf & Memoocan!!!

\o/

Can't wait to get this started, we've got lots of ideas just between CK and I! I can only imagine what our new partners in crime will bring to the table!

Stay tuned folks!

Adrielle Firewalker: Illustration

2010-11-01T19:55:00.000-07:00

My first commissioned EVE portrait. Adrielle Firewalker for Kalahari Wayrest, I hope she likes.

I am taking additional commissions if you're interested, $100 or 1.5 B ISK. Includes a high quality poster print of your portrait. :)

EDIT: Changed some colors. "Superpants" was annoying.

More ISK than Brains?

2010-10-25T07:51:00.000-07:00

Or really really smart?

2x Absolution
1x Anathema
2x Apocalypse
1x Apocalypse Navy Issue
2x Arazu
3x Armageddon
1x Astarte
2x Basilisk
2x Bestower
1x Bhaalgorn
1x Buzzard
7x Cerberus
3x Cheetah
4x Curse
1x Deimos
2x Drake
4x Falcon
1x Flycatcher
1x Heretic
2x Hound
1x Huginn
2x Hulk
1x Malediction
3x Manticore
2x Nighthawk
1x Occator
2x Pilgrim
5x Rapier
1x Raven
1x Retriever
4x Revelation
3x Rook
1x Sabre
2x Scimitar
1x Scorpion
1x Skiff
6x Sleipnir
1x Stiletto
1x Thanatos
6x Vagabond
1x Viator
1x Wolf
2x Zealot
1x Zephyr

These were all ships self destructed by our target last night.

After our hole briefly opened to a C6 hole we scanned down and eyeballed the local POS as we do, several tasty tempting things stood out to us. Juicy ships. Juicy ships and a big challenge. The potential for one hell of a pinata fest and one uber fight.

Much discussion was held before the decision was made that we were up for the challenge of taking on a corp with the potential fleet these guys had, and possibly winning and taking home some most epic toys. I mean if they had FIVE dreads and a carrier just floating in their bubble, we could only imagine what was in the hangars.

So we left our man in to gather intel, and carefully planned and plotted, and made our move. Like clockwork up went our POS, defensive wings assigned to locations, and a beefy fleet of bashers and reppers went to do its thang. Not a sign from the residents, but this didnt surprise us, their POS had gone into reinforced and they had time.

As we expected, they started logging on within 8 hours of the POS coming out of reinforcement.... we sent out an alert and our numbers spiked as well. We fully expected the fight of our lives. Bubbles up, tacklers in positions, someone positioned everywhere we could think to prevent them making a break to scan the hole out. You could taste the tension in the air as we watched more and more pilots appear, and maneuver to and launch some very intimidating ships.

There is no doubt in my mind if they had put those toys to use, they would have steamrolled us.

Then to our surprise, self destruct notifications started going off left and right. Were they bluffing? Was this some sort of insane wormhole life reverse psychology mind trick to distract us!?!?! ZOMG! But it didnt stop. Down to the last dread. With the exception of what they could load on to an orca and a carrier (and still blew up one carrier wtf?) and logged.

In the end we did get to pinata their hangar arrays and made off with some sweet rides, including two fully fitted Redeemers.

We figure their losses could have been as high as 50 billion isk worth of space stuff.

Knee jerk reaction is to think it was a cowardly move, to self destruct to either avoid the ego blow of having a kill loss.. or just deny us their toys.

But a deeper look is what is a very glaring flaw in EVE insurance payout system. Self destruction ensures they get insurance payouts for every single ship they themselves blow up. However, in a fight -and thats what this game is about, amiright??- if a pilot is podded in a wormhole with no way back in to reship, there is zero insurance payout for the ships we would have taken. So, technically they made quite a logical decision, as ass backwards as it is.

And now, I leave you with this moment of zen. Me and Embalizym with some hot ship on ship action.

Maeve Trinity : Illustration

2010-10-22T11:02:00.000-07:00

So I've finally finished my illustration of Maeve. Figured I should finish it before the new avatars are implemented, and she deserved an homage of how she was. :)

She was done in pencil on illustration board, scanned, and painted/finished in Photoshop. I hope you all enjoy. And if there is interest, might consider commissions. :)

Oh... you can buy prints of this at deviantart here.

Cadillac of the Skies

2010-10-12T13:43:00.000-07:00

After god knows how much training, and more ISK than I care to admit spending... I finally got my new shiny ride, the coveted Proteus. Hopefully my spaceship ADD will be satiated for a while after this one.... my wallet can't handle it! And this ship was definitely a critical blow!

Now lets hope she gets some kills before she is killed. ;)

If I were Maeve...

2010-10-09T07:12:00.000-07:00

I would probably look a bit like this!

But really.... I was poking around the new character tool and got a kick out of the fact that my exact do is in the game. I couldn't resist.

For the moment the level of customization seems pretty limited, and depending on the race/bloodline you pick, excluding your hairstyle, you'll pretty much look like everyone else that shares that race/bloodline. I hope they fix that.

I also couldn't find a replacement for Maeve's crazy fro hair, so I'm not sure exactly which way I'll go with that. Ah well... I've got plenty of time to decide!

Maeve Illustration WIP

2010-08-12T07:23:00.000-07:00

Some of you may have noticed I've been a bit MIA in EVE lately, but that doesnt mean I am leaving the game by any means. I've just been very focused on trying to get some work coming in (it is horribly slow at this point), so I've been building a portfolio for illustration and character design. Hence this portrait of Maeve I've been fiddling with. Yea... she details her drones in her quarters, you got a problem with that??
Last night for the most part I finished up the line work, and have brought it into Photoshop (and possibly Paint) to begin the color process. I may or may not watercolor the original for myself, which is currently propped against the wall behind the door in my computer room / studio (lol).

Anyways I thought you all might appreciate seeing her progress! :)

Oh, and yes, that is the beginnings of a Roc Wieler poster over her bed. hehe.

Dread 'Naught for Me

2010-07-20T08:35:00.000-07:00

Thank you Asayanami Dei for the shot,
most epic WH local comment ever.*

It seems the best fun is had while I decide I need to take a bit of an EVE break.

I got clued in from a Facebook post from a corp-mate, that I missed an awesome night, "killed 2 dreadnaughts", she said. I thought I was being tricked into logging back in, but after quickly looking over the killboards and reading the corp forums, it happened, and I was laying on the couch, watching pre-recorded Tour de France. Sigh.

Apparently over the past couple of days, we have been sieging an occupied WH, kidnapping a carrier and some other goodies when one of their POSs went down early in the weekend. At some point yesterday, they decided to go on the offensive and attack the POS we had set up in their system with 2 dreads and a fairly decent fleet. Two dreads. I dont even think I've seen one dread in action never-mind two. Personally I would have shit bricks, but somehow our gopher game won the day. I really wish I had been there. /o\

Asayanami and all his mad skills put together this video for all to see. \o/

*stuff blurred per request.

Kryptonite is bad, mmkay?

2010-07-17T04:51:00.000-07:00

In honor of Hulkageddon going on right now, and in memory of all the beautiful beasts slain, I figured I post this "gem" (heheh, get it?... ok I'm not that funny) of a screen shot that I took a while back.

Nice and big. Use it as a wallpaper to rejoice your Hulk.... or to refresh your memory if you've forgotten what your target looks like. ;)

Irony*

2010-06-19T09:04:00.000-07:00

From left to right
Indy WH corp, NOIR gun, Adhocracy

It all started with a random salvager loss to get the boys foaming at the mouth.

I've only been with Adhocracy for a few short weeks, but in that time the best analogy I can give them is that they remind me of those Mad Max bikers in Weird Science that appear out of nowhere, come crashing through a hole in the wall and start breaking everything.

The best sense I can make of it (besides sheer insanity) is that it is a sort of distraction, call it a preemptive strike, whenever our hub WH opens to another.

As Mad Max bikers are to Adhocracy, so is a WH to Wyatts house. Gary and Wyatt don't care where the bikers came from, they just want them out of their house.

We were perfectly happy to do our routine of breaking things til our link collapsed... but they drew first blood, and to be honest I think we were waiting for an excuse to go apesh*t.

Within a half hour of my logging in, we had a POS launched and anchoring in their system, a large logistics/defense/attack fleet positioned and fancy instructional graphs in the forums (seriously, who made those?).

We continued with our regular scheduled programme until we all started passing out.. dropping off with little resistance until our fleet dwindled down to naught. Most of the fleet logged back in the next night, and of course we had to start POS bashing all over, but that was ok, we entertain ourselves by discussing generation 1 My Little Ponies and arguing whether or not orange is a complimentary color to pepto pink.

Yea, we had the situation in the bag. Vengeance was had. One guy kept randomly launching bombs at us without doing enough damage to take out my drones. People started logging off, with dreams of POS pinata. All was good in Wyatts house.

That was until our scout timidly said into his mic, "Guys, I've got a bunch of NOIR appearing in local...."

"...Mynxee..." I think to myself, clicking my contacts, she is online.

This is where the irony comes into the story.

After my year hiatus I returned to EVE as a born again newb, having only lived in null sec prior, I was perfectly happy to carebear it up for all eternity. But Mynxee.... Mynxee and her "come hithers", tempting me to Hellcats, planted the seed of bloodlust that lead me to this very biker gang. The same person who inadvertently put me in this wormhole, was now coming to lay down the law.

By this time our fleet had dwindled down to a skeleton, I knew this was going to happen fast and holy hell did it ever. In the time it took me to call in my drones, over 20 NOIR pilots appeared in the overview, Mynxee wasn't there, I knew more were coming.

Miraculously most of us managed to escape back to our POS and we discussed our plan of attack.
For the most part we were ready for a suicide finish, and many of us lemmingly followed in a game of POS shield gopher just long enough to take out one NOIR pilot, and realized for every one we killed, another would just log in to replace them. They have shifts, we being the disorganized bikers do not. For most of us it was well past midnight. A few made a mad dash for the WH to known space, despite it being camped and bubbled at this point, and actually freaking made it out.

I was just aligning for the WH when our diplomat said he was in negotiations with NOIR and our frenemies.

What? They will let us take our toys and leave? Just like that? Was this a trap? We argued NOIRs honor in mumble, grumbled about "surrendering", pointing out that NOIR pilots continued pouring into the WH like angry wasps. Eventually those of us left agreed their reputation was too high to go back on a logged agreement, they're mercs, not pirates, and time is money. A withdrawal without any losses would be more logical than suiciding to save our egos.

True to their word, they began repping POS mods so we could offline them and haul them away. At almost 4am EST we hauled out the last bits and pieces, still a bit dazed if not delirious.

In the end I think the operation was a success, despite the fact that we didn't accomplish what we set out to do (take over). But maybe I am just too optimistic. We got in, messed some shit up, and got back out with minimal loss (M Thomas I am truley sorry for your lots) I launched and helped take down a POS for the first time, and eventually did see Mynxee on my overview drunk as she was, and probably grateful she wasn't going to have to POS bash for 3 days. ;)

Lessons of the day;

Never underestimate the deep pockets of an industrial corp.
NOIR is not a fairy tale made up to scare the bad people.

*I do not speak on behalf of Adhocracy Incorporated, these events are described from my own personal viewpoint and may or may not be perfectly accurate. Not everyone in ADHC will agree with my feelings of the outcome.

EON: Postcards from the Edge

2010-06-17T17:39:00.001-07:00

ZOMG!

So I just got the latest issue of EON to find one of my screen shots has been published! I actually have to say I did cheat a bit on this one, the original was very dark and the lightening effects I exaggerated by doing a bit of painting trickery. I also combined 2 different images because the background was more impressive in one, and the angle of the ship was better in the other. Also had to do some contrast and saturation bumping to make the ship pop a bit more than it did in the original.

Curious to see the original shots?

Background Used

Ship Used

To clarify this is the only screen shot I ever took that I manipulated, I just thought the pocket of space was so impressive and the shots that I came back with didn't quite capture the power and wow-factor I felt when I landed in the middle of it. There was lightening in the pocket, I just couldnt manage to actually get my timing right.

Oh, and the shot was taken on my alt Aurynn, I did giggle a little when they called Maeve a rookie... but thats ok. I'd rather her name be in the pages of EON than my alts. ;)

So... where's my 100m isk??

Wormhole Warriors

2010-06-08T09:07:00.000-07:00

Because quite often, other people's stories are way more entertaining than my own, I thought I would share this gem.

So I'm sure you might remember my two old friends I mentioned in my last post who have joined me in Adhocracy; Tippytai and Krrar.

The other day I received a fantastic eve-mail from Tippy about their "preparation for joining a WH corp" shenanigans.

Enjoy, hopefully you got a good laugh like I did. ;)

Krrar and I set out to do some wormhole fighting vrs rats to do something new and to make some ISK right? Well we go in and find a C3 wormhole, with 2 nice hacking sites. We warp there and fight rats, which eventually start owning us and we gotta warp away. Right as I'm warping I hit my ship scanner and notice 5 combat scanner probes on there, apparently looking for us! We make the wise move to get the hell out of that system...

Unfortunately that is where the wise moves stop. After this little escapade I mention to Krrar that we should try out some combat in WH space if we are in fact going to be living in there, just to grow accustomed to it. We both spend 30 minutes or so figuring out fits for stealth bombers and come back into the wormhole to see about getting some combat action under our belt. We scout out the wormhole entrance for 30 minutes or so just to see the traffic. We see a Tengu that keeps warping in and out so I tell Krrar that the next time that gate activates, we are shooting our bombs at it.

5 minutes later it flashes. We both shoot our bombs "at the gate." My bomb overshoots the gate by like 10km high and doesn't come close to hitting the guy. Krrar managed to either hit himself with his bomb or get hit by my bomb. His shields are toast. We both spam our cloaking devices and managed to toggle them on and back off again. In a moment of panic Krrar warps to the hacking site we were at earlier...except he warped in to the 3 BS's we left there and ended up faceplanting into an asteroid so his cloaking device was no good, he was gone.

I warped away to another wormhole I scouted out earlier. With Krrar deceased I decided it wouldn't hurt to do a little scouting and see if there's more action in that wormhole. I go through it and head to the nearest planet to do some ship scanning. Then I realized that I just gave myself a thorough owning, as I didn't bookmark the way out and was not in my probing ship. Krrar doesn't even have astrometrics and the wormhole would be closed in a few hours and I have absolutely no way to find the wormhole that I can see so clearly on my system map but am not able to warp to.

So here I am, waiting for my self-destruct timer on my pod so I can go back home, a step closer to being the WORMHOLE WARRIOR I will become!

Ponies 4 Life

Tippytai

Adhocracy.... I hope you are ready for these guys! XD I <3 them :) They fear nothing! \o/

New Home Found : UNKNOWN

2010-06-06T09:16:00.000-07:00

Adhocracy Incorporated
Living Life in Wormhole Space
As I like to call it, "living on a cruise ship..."
without the buffets.

After a bit of mulling over our futures with a couple of friends I have been gaming with since '99, we've always sort of stuck together and decided jointly that a WH corp seemed to be the most unique and versatile of EVE life. Being that of the three of us, I am most involved with the community, it was left up to me to find the corp that would fit us best. After about a week or so of talking to different WH corps, interacting with them in their public channels, there was no question in my mind that Adhocracy would fit us best for multiple reasons.

For one, the folks in Adhocracy are absolutely hilarious, with a very twisted and shared bizarre sense of humor. Also, ironically, a love of Ponies (yes, ponies), something that has spanned a decade with my 2 old friends. An old joke dating back from EQ1, involving The Plane of Sky, and a naming violation. Many "Ponies" ran rampant on the Nameless Server. At one point we had an entire guild in EQ2 with all of our characters surnamed "Ponies". I haven't exactly figured out where Adhocracy got their love of Ponies, but we took this as a definite sign. I mean, its not exactly a common shared interest!

Also, the meaning of Adhocracy itself according to Wikipedia; "All members of an organization have the authority within their areas of specialization and in coordination with other members to make decisions and to take actions affecting the future of the organization. There is an absence of hierarchy."

That last bit being the ringer for me. Red tape and exclusive management and I do not get along. As can be seen for my reasons of leaving BTC as well as E-Uni.

I've only just moved into their main hub, with just one ship, and have already been having a ball chasing people in and out of our WH space, practicing my probing and scanning. Hopefully soon I can bring a hulk out and start sucking some gas and giving a solid contribution to me new corp.

BTW - Thanks to all of you who sent me mails and offers into their corps, I got some really fantastic ones and was frankly quite flattered by some of them!

Fly safe, and careful about that next WH you jump into.... I might be there waiting for you. ;)

Why I love Tweetfleet

2010-06-03T05:24:00.000-07:00

Last nights Ambien induced trip tweets from Egwenne.

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

So speak the profit ambian. He speeks sublet lines that are Not for u to comprehen. about 14 hours ago via Twitter for iPhone

Who could cmprehend what the prophet said befor the thi n was sad about 14 hours ago via Twitter for iPhone

#tweetfleet is calleth to hear words that prophet says to them. Are we. Ready to hold what worldly knowledge (cont) http://tl.gd/1kt8pc about 14 hours ago via Twitter for iPhone

More trip tweets to follow follow from lord ambian about 14 hours ago via Twitter for iPhone

~~~~~~

It all goes silent at this point. One can only assume she eventually passed out, iphone in hand.

I <3 u Egwenne.

New Beginnings

2010-05-30T17:46:00.000-07:00

Maeve Trinity
Oursulaert
IX - Federation Customs Testing Facilities
Essence

It only seemed appropriate to Maeve that she return to Oursulaert to begin her search for a new home in New Eden. In essence, to start over.

Oursulaert, where she learned to pilot a ship, learned her basics and essentials, and made her first friends. It was like returning to a home town.

Stepping into the Federation Navy Station, where she began her first mission runs, she was overwhelmed with old familiar smells and sights. Sure Solitude was under Gallente Sovereignty, but it was far away from Empire and foods had to be shipped and stored. The journey there wasn't an easy one. And nothing beat real fresh Gallentean foods. Meats laden with heavy sauces, quick food stalls with ready to eat cheese baguettes and of course the ubiquitous grilled mystery meats on a stick. She felt giddy with nostalgia.

Though she needed to remain focused. A welcome reprieve and time to gather her thoughts, she knew it would only be temporary.

Most of her belongings she liquidated in Solitude, and only brought with her two ships and the necessities of life she could fit into their cargo holds. In one trunk she managed to fit all of her blueprints, her modest wardrobe, some family heirlooms and trinkets and of course Rigel, her favorite little domestic assistance drone.

She unpacked into a small rented quarter with the Federation Customs. Her reputation was high with them now, so she got a good rate.

Her prospective new corporations was finally narrowing down, from over half a dozen public channel tabs, to only two. Application and formal interview submitted to one. Now all she could do was wait.

"Rigel, Farscape please. Episode; Rhapsody in Blue." With a whir the holoreel projected onto a blank wall in the darkened room. She curled up on her rented cot, flipping through recent conversation logs, new friends made, so much future potential. She knew sleep would be a hard creature to capture this night.

As she nodded off to the sounds of Zhaan, and John Crichton... thoughts and half dreams of her future drifted into her mind.

Departing Solitude

2010-05-19T10:03:00.001-07:00

Maeve stood staring out the expansive window of the viewing level in a station of Octanneve. Her eyes resting on one of the numerous blue planets there, perhaps for the last time.

For Maeve had handed in her resignation papers to The Black Thorne Corporation the night before, her time in Solitude would soon come to an end. Solitude, a system she had spent more time in than any in her entire career in New Eden. It had become a place dear to her heart, with many little pockets to hide away in, and belts with the most beautiful vistas of Octanneves planets floating blissfully just beyond, its warm red sun glowing in the distance.

She fiddled with a data-pad filled with messages from soon to be x corp mates that ranged from sadness and support to vehement rage. She looked back out at the swirling clouds, and knew she needed to stick with her decision. It was the angry ones that surprised her, and reminded her she was making the right move.

Big Momma, Ready to Roll

She didn't know where she was going.

But she knew her priority was first and foremost finding another group of people she enjoyed flying with, and calling her own. Second to that, becoming a solid asset within a corp where her skills could be put to use and appreciated.

Not a tall order, at least she thought, and she had several options open to her at this point. In a way it came down to a matter of reverse interviewing she supposed. Would she disappoint them? Would they disappoint her? Did she have the skills required? Would they share her strange sense of humor? So many questions. She needed to make sure wherever her path went, the fit would be good.

Corp mates become family to Maeve, and not a decision to be made on a whim. And those she has considered friends from day one are still kept in her address book, and checked in on from time to time. Soljisk, her first real CEO, she still held on a pedestal, everything she knew about being a capsuleer to this day she's convinced she learned from him.

Yes, Maeve would miss Solitude. But deep inside, the prospect of spreading her wings and trying something new was quite frightening and thrilling all at once.

On a side note; while attempting to move a few of her ships out of 0.0 space before her 24 hours timer expired, she did lose a bomber to an impressive blob guarding the last gate out before low sec. At least 4 sling bubbles as she could see and who knows how many pilots. She had evaded their camp on the jump in, and perhaps got too cocky, thinking everyone in local was at the gate she had just escaped.

But she's proud to say, that although she was severely outnumbered, she managed to take out a T2 ship worth MUCH more than hers before the 9 of them who had her targeted took her down. In the end... the isk damage was worse on their end than Maeve, 3 fold. It made her feel a little better about her pvp capabilities. And a tiny bit more tempted to humor the offers into pvp corps.

Enjoy: Solo Kill - severely outnumbered.

This little kitty bit back =^-^=

Sun, Moon & Stars

2010-05-03T08:44:00.000-07:00

There is this old book I have that I had forgotten about.

I purchased it in Covent Garden in London some years ago at a little antiques book shop. As I've mentioned in the past, coming from a NASA family and being so close to all things space my entire life, I snatched this little gem up without hesitation.

This morning I flipped through it and thought it might be worth sharing with you folks out in New Eden.

The author of this book is actually a woman (quite unusual for its time, published in 1879) one Agnes Giberne, and she had quite the imagination. I look at her illustrations, and read her daydreamings and smile. She was only a century too early.

She ponders sitting on the surface of the moon, looking back at the earth and says,

"The stars shine with dazzling brightness, and the huge body of earth, always seeming to hang motionless at one fixed point in the sky, gives brilliant light, though at present only half her face is lit up and half is in shadow. Still her shape is plainly to be seen... She covers a space on the sky more than a dozen times as large as that covered by the full moon in our sky.

It would be worth while to stay here, and watch the half-earth grow into magnificent full-earth."

This image of the Earth rise was taken

during lunar orbit by the Apollo 11 mission crew in July of 1969.

Then compare photos taken from one of the lunar landings, you would think, she in fact had experienced this first hand.

An imagined illustration of and "earth-rise" from the moon.

I love this quote:

"And as our journeyings together are for a while to be away from earth, we shall find ourselves obliged to count her as something quite small in the great universe, where so many larger and mightier things are to be found, -if indeed they are mightier.

Not that we have to say good-bye altogether to our old home. We must linger about her for a while before starting, and afterwards it will be often needful to come back, with speed swifter than the flight of light, that we may compare notes on the sizes and conditions of other places visited by us."

These thoughts and wonders, shared by us today, from a woman over a century ago. Some already have come true, "we must linger about her for a while before starting,"..... is exactly our International Space Station... paving our way to further reaches of space.

And her quote is also, in some way, a connection to our fantasy in EVE, exploration.... and the dream to return to our "old home", with a realization of flying at the speed of light.

Maeve: As Art

2010-04-30T17:15:00.000-07:00

sorry about the lack of crispness, took these shots with my camera

So I've been wanting to do an illustration of Maeve for a long time. A series of them perhaps... maybe even enough to go along with a short story.

But for now, I have started just an illustration of her, as herself, being the "Wench with a Wrench" we all know and love, hard at work on one of her Trinity Drones. ;)

This is just pencil sketch beginnings, details & background will be worked in, then inked.

Finally I will scan the image in and probably paint it in photoshop.

Just wanted to share this start. :)

Planetary Interaction Tutorial

2010-04-24T14:26:00.000-07:00

Click to enbiggen

After several hours of scouring the net for a half-comprehensive and up to date tutorial on Planetary Interaction, and failing miserably to find anything, I decided to just jump in and figure it out on my own.

Granted, I've only spent a handful of hours so far messing with it, I've barely begun to scratch the surface of this new feature in the game. I decided to make a recording of the most basic element of setting up a command center, extractors and a processor. Enough to get you started.

I apologize if I've missed anything, but like I said, I am just starting to learn like everyone else. :)

Where Are All The Wenches?

2010-04-21T05:11:00.000-07:00

CK at crazykinux.com asks us in Blog Banter #17:

"What could CCP Games do to attract and maintain a higher percentage of women to the game. Will Incarna do the trick? Can anything else be done in the mean time? Can we the players do our part to share the game we love with our counterparts, with our sisters or daughters, with the Ladies in our lives? What could be added to the game to make it more attractive to them? Should anything be changed? Is the game at fault, or its player base to blame?"

First lets get down to the nitty gritty of the matter;
Why are there so few female players in EVE?

Is it because we don't like sci-fi?
Doubtful, if the amount of female Browncoats I saw at last years Dragon*Con is any reliable indicator.

Is it because we don't like space?
Um, no. I come from a NASA family. My grandfather worked launch control during the Apollo missions, and was one of the designers of the Space Shuttle. My mother worked for NASA as well. I could easily say love for space and space travel is in my blood, and I never even made a career of it. And I am only one of thousands, possibly and probably more.

Naoko Yamazaki, Stephanie Wilson and Dorothy Metcalf-Lindenburger

Consider the fact that there are currently four women floating around up there on the space station, in a crew of 13. Sure there are still more men, but that its a lot more than 3.6%. All three of those women in the above photo flew together on Shuttle Discovery's last flight, along with four men. That is damn near even.

Is it because EVE is too complicated for women?
Please see the above question. You go become an astronaut, earn a spot on the Space Station, and tell me we can't do complicated. ;)

I think this question might come down to a matter of gaming experience. I am willing to bet most of the ladies in EVE have been gamers all their lives. I am also willing to bet most of the ladies playing say, WoW, it is their first experience in gaming. Purely from a gaming experience stand-point... yes, EVE is complicated, but I think it would be just as complicated for those men who's first experience in gaming is also a game like WoW.

So why... WHY?
Personally, I think it is because of the initial lack of feeling a connection to ones character. In every other MMO I can think of, you physically see your avatar, you can customize them, they become an extension of yourself. I believe women by nature need to feel connected, whether it be to an avatar in a video game, or to a lover. Men can differ in this matter. It all boils down to some primeval instinct.

I confess, it took me two tries to become enamored with EVE. My first try was simply because I am game to give any MMO a shot, and I heard it was like Homeworld, which I loved. But I will tell you my heart sank when I realized the closest I would get to my character was a cold still image. My first foray into EVE lasted only a few days. No, I wasn't confused or overwhelmed. No, I wasn't afraid of the pew pew. I just felt no connection to my own character.

My second attempt is what changed everything. The hosts of several of the podcasts I was listening to at the time were getting into the game. They would talk about living legends, individuals who were doing things that effected and touched almost everyone in New Eden. That is when it hit me, that community is everything in EVE. Admittedly it did take a bit to get over the fact that I could never see Maeve, and adjust my mindset. In time I accepted that she was in that ship, and that she wasn't the ship itself. I began developing a character for her in my mind, maybe to compensate for the fact that I couldn't physically see her, and that only deepened my connection with Maeve. As for community and social opportunities, EVE has the strongest of any MMO I have ever played. And that is what filled my need for a connection.

The player base is definitely not to blame for a lack of female players. If it weren't for you lot, I wouldn't have given the game a second try.

But enough rambling about my personal experience, I should probably get to the point of CK's question,

"What could CCP do to attract and maintain a higher percentage of women to the game."

I believe once Incarna launches, there will be a massive influx of female players. Simply because of the factor that drove me away in my first attempt with EVE.

But as the game stands now, game-play specifically, I don't think anything should be changed, especially to lure in a new audience. That would only be doing the existing player-base a disservice.

I do think EveGate is a step in the right direction. Easily accessible socialization, the ability to share ones character and statistics might help us feel more connected to them. We are a social bunch, us ladies. ;)

My suggestions that might encourage more women to play:

Advertising.
The advertising for EVE is VERY masculine. Besides the narrations from the AI Aura, we hardly hear any female voices representing pilots.

Take the video advertisement for Dominion, one female voice for each fleet. Both very submissive (tho it was cool they were thoughtful enough to put one of the ladies in a Dreadnought). They could pump that up by having a few more ladies, or maybe even one as *GASP* a Fleet Commander??

More female voices in an advertisement like this one might be unrealistic for the game in its current state, but putting women in a more powerful and prominent role might encourage more of us to give it a try.

Manufacturing.
It is female instinct to create. You know its true when I say every girl you know probably adores crafting in the MMO of their choice, and will spend hours happily clickety clicking their wares into creation. But in most MMOs, their creations bare their mark, even if it is simply (and it usually is) just their name listed on its details. It makes us feel like we've made our mark, and that our creations are out there proudly carrying our name. Hell, I for one would be ecstatic if I could label my drones "Trinity Drones". But as it stands now, you manufacture something, put it on the market, and it becomes another anonymous product. Maybe I want there to be a demand for my drones? How would people ever know they have a bay full of Trinity drones unless they specifically put a contract for me to sell them some. But even then, they hold no unique signature of my time and effort put into them.

Other than that, for now I think we should just hold our breath for Incarna, an expansion I think more than just women are looking forward to.

Some banter replies I found interesting:
Talk Nerdy To Me
La vie d'une capsuliere
Rantuket
A Little Bit of Blue
And, so far the funniest response to the question:
Chicks N' Ships from Eveoganda

As well as one whom insists it is not part of the banter, but is definitely worth reading regardless:
Sweet Little Bad Girl : EVE vs Women

Also outside of the banter, and from the past:
A post on this subject last December on The Real Sisters of EVE on Facebook

And this is a good watch relating to marketing to and stereotyping female gamers.... THIS IS NOT ME.. this is Cindy at Dream Bytes. If you want the point - 7:30

What gamer women don't want.

A Sister Returns

2010-04-19T17:28:00.000-07:00

Maeve Trinity
Octanneve V
Sisters of EVE Bureau
Solitude

Maeve sat in the far corner of one of the many exclusive airy capsuleer bars of The Sisters of EVE Bureau. Although it seemed a strange place to have a multitude of bars and lounges, to Maeve the Sisters were an odd, if not contradictory lot.

The bar had high ceilings with deep blue swashes of fabric covering what was most likely garish bare concrete. Pale aqua lights shone up from the floor, creating translucent columns through a mist of smoke and dust. It was an entrancing effect.

She absentmindedly stirred her drink, scanning the room for the face she was anticipating. Her sister, Aurynn. A couple of months back she disappeared leaving only a note, scribbled in a rush, stating simply that "Solitude is such a snooze-fest.." and, "I'm going to become a pirate."

Pretty bold words coming from her little sister who loved the most expensive and garishly lavish adornments on herself, and in her environment. Amarr make mostly. From trinkets and wardrobe, to shining golden ships. Maeve knew her pirate phase wouldn't last. She was hardly surprised when she received a transmission from Aurynn asking her to meet her in this very establishment, back in the same station where her old quarters were.

Time ticked by slowly, and Maeve began to lose her patience, orders she needed to check on, ore she could be refining, drones that needed detailing. But just as soon as she pushed her drink away and began to rise, she saw the familiar silhouette of her sister stepping through on of the columns of light, gracefully striding towards her.

Aurynn sat slowly and casually waved her hand for service, pointing at Maeve's drink to indicate she would have the same. She leaned back, obviously avoiding making contact with Maeve's eyes, though still keeping her head high.

"So I hear you guys are establishing yourselves in null sec." Aurynn said, getting straight to the point.

"You heard right Aurynn." Maeve said.... taking a bit more than just a sip of her cocktail. "And we need cyno pilots...."

At this point Maeve decided that whatever happened out there to Aurynn, it more than likely bruised her ego. Things always went perfectly for her. No need to pick a fresh wound. The best medicine for Aurynn right now would be to feel needed. And it was true, her skills would be very useful to Black Thorne at this point in time..... and to herself, as selfish as that might seem.

"Cyno pilots Maeve?" Aurynn leaned back, she liked feeling control back in her hands, and it showed outwardly quite obviously. "So what, you'd get a kick out of me losing every ship I fly as a sitting duck wouldn't you?"

Maeve rolled her eyes, and took another bit-more-than-a-sip of her drink. "Well that or you can go back to tipping cans in Empire."

This was the truth of the matter and Maeve knew it. Aurynn wanted to be a pirate, but couldn't make the connections, lacked the training and skills for proper combat, and was reduced to scavenging. Maeve imagined it probably took a full week to afford one of her precious gold plated Amarr hair-clips. And it hit home.

"Fuck you Maeve!" Aurynn said as she splashed her drink into Maeve's smirking face. Aurynn sat rigid, hands gripping the chairs arms, ready to lash out or run. But she stared at her for a moment, Maeve couldn't tell if Aurynn was considering her proposition, or just being frustrated with Maeve's lack of temper, or perhaps it was both. And slowly, Aurynn slouched back down.

Rubbing the bridge of her nose between her eyes, Aurynn said, "It's too early to talk about anything permanent, I just got back out to this dead end region." She stood, and glanced quickly at Maeve,

"Just let me know if any jobs come in... you know.... cyno shit or whatever." She adjusted her shining black cropped hair, "I'll be back in my old quarters."

Maeve sat and took the final sip of her drink, thinking to herself how funny it was that she, the calm collect wrench wench, could rile up her sister, full of ambition to shoot everything down, without hardly saying a word.

Whats in My Hangar?

2010-04-17T07:00:00.000-07:00

Maeve Trinity
Octanneve V – Moon 1
Federation Customs Assembly Plant
Solitude

Lots of people in the twittersphere are jumping on the topic started by Rixx over at Eveoganda -a must visit for some excellent EVE inspired propaganda art.

Because of my lack of organization, not all of my ships are seen here, they are spread all over. Some in Empire, some in Wicked Creek, but most, in Solitude.

The topic? "Whats in your hangar?" More specifically, the naming of ships.

The inspiration for most of my ships either comes from ancient mythology, or the series Farscape. Yes, I am THAT big of a nerd. And then sometimes, I will name a ship something completely lame. The latter, are ships I usually never fly, and should probably sell!

When it comes to differentiating two same model ships with different functioning fittings, I will name them accordingly. For instance, I love domis... my standard fitting I will name Moia. But my RR domis are named Airmid, after the Celtic goddess of healing.

So here are some of my ships, and the names I've given them.

Big Momma - My Obelisk. I thought it was fitting.

Farscape I & II - Comet. My Farscape fandom shining through.

OMG RUN - Viator. Because this is how I feel when flying it through all the gate camps to Solitude.

The Navigator - Helios. Very subtle reference to childhood nerd-dom, Flight of the Navigator. She finds me all the interesting stuff in space. Compliance.

Goblin King - Brutix. More childhood nerd-dom. I do think Brutix look like goblins.

Luna I, II & III - Zephyr. They look like moths to me. I have 3 and I never fly them.

Bustopher Jones - Nemesis. A reference from the musical Cats, the ship looks like a little happy fat cat to me.

10 Hygiea - Hulk. Named after an actual asteroid. Also, coincidentally, I finished training Hulk during Hulkageddon, the goddess Hygieia is the Greek goddess of health. I was hoping for some good juju.

VERY IMPORTANT!

2010-04-09T10:42:00.000-07:00

Maeve Trinity
Location Classified
On Board Nemesis "Bustopher Jones"
Wicked Creek

All your marines are belong to me.

So last night I made my way out to our corps new POS in 0.0 space to set up a clone and take a look at our little home way far away from comfy familiar Solitude.

I'm pretty excited to have the opportunity to get back into some 0.0 fun... but it didn't take me long to peruse the hangar array and spot some lonely Marines. I couldn't resist.... I stole them. They are mine. MINE. Acquiring them was of utmost importance. Hopefully this does not give cause to me being kicked out of Black Thorne. XD

That is all. Marine capture was a success. Very important business.

Back from the Dead, Almost Literally

2010-04-06T07:38:00.000-07:00

As you can tell from the time-stamp of my last post, I have been completely MIA.

Long story short, I came down with a fantastic flu, and spent most of that time as a slug. My gaming restricted to a radius around my new center of operations -the couch- which meant lots and lots of console gaming. But now that I no longer feel like my head will explode while sitting in a vertical position, I am back to EVE again and can resume my blogginess.

Not long ago a few people in the blogosphere made some posts about where they had been in the New Eden according to their in-game map. I thought this was a pretty awesome idea, as for one, I didnt even realize this option even existed in the EVE map. Oh EVE map... mystery of mysteries.
My life in EVE has been quite backwards... most people have their beginnings in high sec.. and possibly eventually make their way to low sec or null. I on the other hand, found myself in 0.0 within a few short weeks of starting the game. This was mainly because I had a few old online friends who were already deeply entrenched in EVE, so I found myself just following along, quite literally flying by the seat of my pants. I took a long break eventually, and returned to find the old corp dissolved, most of my old friends no longer playing. My beginnings in EVE have become all but a mystery to me, I couldn't even remember where exactly I had been.

Thanks to the handy dandy map, I can see most of my start in EVE was spent in Providence, with a few toe tips into Catch. I look and find my wandering has brought me way out to Etherium Reach, and Detorid. What was I doing out there??

In other news, on my ongoing quest to figure out what exactly I want to do in EVE (after 2 years you would think I would have figured this out by now), I've purchased and fit my second T2 frigate, a shiny new Ishkur. So far I haven't had the opportunity to really break her in, but with my corporations recent foothold in 0.0, I don't think that adventure is too far off now.

The Reward of Blogging

2010-03-07T07:54:00.000-08:00

The Mind Behind the Trinity Sisters
Sitting at her desk
Cape Canaveral, Florida

Not too long ego I was the lucky winner of Crazy Kinux's blog banter "Why We Love EVE".

loots!!

My reward came in and I quickly spent (most of) it at the EVE gift shop. I wasn't expecting free shipping, so I have an extra $30 waiting to be spent! \o/ GTC maybe? Maeve is poor!

The awesome thing is that mug! When I ordered it, I thought I was getting a mug with an image of Gallente ships wrapped around it. To my dismay, when I pulled it out of the box, it was plain and black. Oh well... it was still a nice mug. So this morning I poured my tea into it, and suddenly, the ships appear!! How cool is that!?! Now I can also tell if my tea is cold before I take a sip! ;D

Had to get the evil coca-cola-ish corporation Quafe patch, it is now happily stuck into the edge of my monitor to remind me who #2 works for.

Patron shot in an EVE glass inc tonight.

The Trinity Rig

2010-02-25T08:39:00.000-08:00

The Mind Behind the Trinity Sisters
Sitting at her desk
Cape Canaveral, Florida

So I'm gonna jump on the band-wagon chocolips started over at the tweetfleet and her blog, I must confess, I have poster envy!

So that is where I spend most of my time. This space doubles as my gaming space and my work space. The nice thick glass top surface of my desk is excellent for my leather-working, and big enough for paper or my wacom (not pictured) when the mood strikes. This is why there is a mess of paints and stuff on that shelf up there.

Left to right, my 17" MacBook Pro I promised my husband I would use only for work and not for gaming (lol), my main screen, a 28". And on the right, my old 21" I hope to replace with another 28" eventually. Also have the EVE Maps book there, along with the latest issue of EON. The best part is they are all set with a Matrix screen-saver.

You can also see the microphone that hovers over my head, tormenting me to get off my ass and make a podcast.

One Night of Roc

2010-02-22T10:59:00.001-08:00

The Mind Behind the Trinity Sisters
Sitting at her desk
Cape Canaveral, Florida

So a while back I purchased Roc Wieler's Bio, and posted my raving review of it. Not long after, I also got Roc's One Night of Roc.

It is by far a distant cry from the style of music I fell in love with in Bio, but that is not to say that One Night of Roc is not equally astounding. The line is so blurry between what is real and what is fiction, but you quickly find yourself easily slipping into the idea that it actually, physically happened. Music aside, skillfully sampled and placed tracks of roaring audiences, giving a feel that they are actually reacting to what is happening on stage.

Prime example. My favorite track, Sacrifice, a beautiful duet with Roc and a mystery lady. You can tell the moment she walks on stage, just by listening- the audience goes absolutely wild. Audience reactions aside, like I said, this is my favorite track. Much more mellow and intimate than the rest of the songs on the album, and the lyrics speak of a dynamic and deep relationship.

The album is about split between vocals and instrumental. All rock, with a tech edge. But One Night gives you the feeling of actually being there, a unique feat in itself. I daydream of the day Incarna is released, and actually attending a Roc concert at a station somewhere in New Eden, where his tracks are broadcast in-game. Wouldn't that be fantastic??

In the end, I still think Bio is my favorite of the two. Simply because that is my favorite style of music. But as far as mainstream music goes, rock is where my heart is.... and if it is rock music you like, you will not be disappointed with One Night of Roc.

A Girl and her Helios

2010-02-19T16:49:00.001-08:00

Maeve Trinity
Octanneve
On Board Helios "The Navigator"
Solitude

A small, inconspicuous ship docked into Maeve's delivery hangar. She had finally finished her training in Frigates V and wasted no time putting out an order for a covert operations ship, a Helios. It was an unimpressive looking ship. Awkward and unattractive. But it didn't matter, this ship would spend most of its time cloaked, it wasn't meant to be looked at. The opposite rather, it was meant not to be looked at.

Plunging herself into the cockpit of the tiny frigate, she looked over all of the elaborate display consoles and scan screens. Without hesitation, she launched several probes into space and began looking for adventure. It didn't take long.

"Now this is what I'm talking about."

First, a belt of rare ore. Jackpot. This would be much help to her drone manufacturing, and what went unused would make excellent lining to her wallet.

Then, Serpentis hide aways, full of drones and good salvage. Even some modules begging to be hacked.

But her most exciting moment was the discovery of her first wormhole. She'd been inside of one once... but never found one on her own. With a gulp she jumped through.

Now, even though Maeve has spent time in Wormhole space before, this doesn't mean she actually spent any time exploring them. And more importantly, never encountered Sleepers. Her time in Wormhole space was on Wormhole guard duty in Corporations past, days, literally, staring and hoping for just one unauthorized ship to jump through.

But this time, as far as her probes and scanners could tell, this wormhole was hers, and hers alone.

Maeve opened her coms to her corporation, "Has anyone dealt with Sleepers?" Followed by a brief silence, until a lone reply came, "I dont think so Maeve....."

She stared at a Sleeper outpost on her scan readout. "Can they see through my cloak?". Again, "I don't think so Maeve...."

With a look of determination, she set The Navigator to warp to 100k, just to be safe. The warning on her display made her heart leap into her throat, she held her breath.

Maeve shit a brick.

What she saw before her was probably the most breath-taking sight she had ever witnessed in New Eden.

Please click to see the full version of this one, you wont regret it.

Zooming in as close as she could she snapped several shots. Warping from Sleeper strongold to Sleeper Outpost, taking in as much as she could.

Once she was finished feeling selfish, and properly touristy, she notified Black Thorne she had found Sleepers and would lead anyone willing to give them a shot to their strongholds.

It was a moderate success, only the three of them, two really considering she was in a non-combat ship. They managed to take down several Sleepers and empty some wrecks, but wave after wave prevented any salvaging from taking place.

After several hours gallivanting in her little pocket of wormhole space, she head back to Octanneve, looking back proudly at her Wormhole, then docked up at her home station.

"Save these images Rigel. Today has been a good day." She stared out her window, and suddenly the empty space looked much more mysterious, full of much more potential. She imagined herself, sneaking around in quick invisible little ships. "I think I may be getting closer to my calling Rigel." He clicked and bleeped, examining the images for himself, and whirred in wonder.

"Call in 10 Hygiea to the departure bay.... I'm going to actually wind down by mining at my favorite belt and stare at the beautiful storm systems of Octanneve II."

Maeve's New Portrait

2010-02-17T11:19:00.000-08:00

So.... just to shake things up a bit, I've changed Maeve portrait from her old, peaceful shot, to her with a look of mischief in her eyes.

Hope you all agree its just another step towards a new Maeve :)

White Out

2010-02-10T11:55:00.000-08:00

Maeve Trinity
Niballe V – Ice Field 1
On Board Exhumer "10 Hygiea"
Solitude

Maeve tapped impatiently on the navigation console of her Hulk, staring mindlessly at the massive block of ice that floated and slowly rotated at the end of her harvester beams.
She had been doing nothing but this for hours now with several of her corp mates, as part of a voluntary operation to help fuel the corporations station. She had never mined ice before, she had no idea that she was in for this. It had taken her hours to yield a single block of blue ice. HOURS. Okay maybe it didnt actually take that long.... but it certainly felt like it!

Maeve was starting to question her career path. Until the other day, she had her skills books all lined up to lead her straight into an Anshar. But she found herself in her Obelisk for several hours not long ago, hauling, consolidating junk.... jump, after jump after jump. Did she really want to do that? All the time?

She'd recently acquired a Myrmidon to compensate for her lack of long range weaponry.

"Shooting stuff is fun...." she thought. Looking back out at the massive block of ice, that still sat there, unchanged. She imagined setting explosives on it, and it blasting into a million sparkly pieces.

Clicking her coms, she said, "Rigel..... set Frigates V out for my studies... I want to fly a tech 2 ship thats NOT industrial for once." Rigel bleeped in compliance.

She sat back and smiled softly to herself.

"Time for a change."

EVE Blog Banter Special Edition: Why We Love EVE Online

2010-01-29T08:09:00.000-08:00

The Mind Behind the Trinity Sisters
Sitting at her desk
Cape Canaveral, Florida

Welcome to my special installment of CrazyKinux's Blog Banter, where he asks us, "Why do you love EVE".

An interesting and more complex question than I thought before I sat down and really started thinking about it.

Besides the fact that EVE is unique in the sense that it is an original creation of the sci-fi genre... not latching itself onto any other existing franchise. The events and changes in this game happen because the players are making them happen, not because thats how it happened in the movies. And its not some.. "go raid this dungeon and kill this boss" and then 2 hours later it respawns like nothing ever happened.

In EVE.... the "bosses" are groups of hundreds of players, enemy alliance, bands of pirates, and elusive mega-personalities... living, breathing, players.

Entire regions of space are owned and controlled by massive player alliances, with no NPC interference at all.... epic battles and "land grabs"... espionage... you name it. Approximately 30 systems belonging to the Goonswarm were lost within the last few days. The systems will not reset. The Goons will not get them back outside of fighting to get them back. All of this... player driven content... and guess where the Goons are moving? Syndicate. That will make them my happy new neighbors, and will more than likely cause changes to how we function in our region of space. These ripple effects happen everywhere, constantly.

The most important part of all of this is that everyone in EVE plays on one single server (or, cluster of servers, joined together). If you know someone who plays EVE... "What server do you play on?" is not something that needs to be asked. We all play out here together. And that leads to one incredible community.

People become legendary... take for instance Helicity Boson, famed Pirate.... the scourge of the miner.... for putting effort into organizing an event to shake up those who take mining as their main source of income, some, becoming complacent -a dangerous attitude to have in EVE. I am pretty sure not a single pilot in New Eden doesn't know her name now... and her spawn, "Hulkaggedon".

And on the other hand, there is Chribba. Not an uber combat pwn u pilot... but a respected industrialist..... hundreds came to his aid to help defend one of his POS's that was recently attacked, just because he is known, and respected. And quickly the attacking corp withdrew, underestimating the power of a good reputation and friends.

Anything you want to be.... do... or become in EVE is possible. It is limitless.
So you want to be Boba Fett and be a bounty hunter? Go for it. Players put bounties on others heads, there is money to be made there.

Become a mercenary...... maybe an industrial corp wants to cut off a competing industrial corp in their system from main trading hubs. They will hire a mercenary corp to declare war on them for them (since typically, industrialists are not highly trained in combat skills), and then they profit as their competitors can no longer haul their goods to and from their destinations... because you... the mercenary... have been hired to do so.

There is another aspect of EVE I think many may take for granted... or will even deny - Roleplay..... In EVE more than any other MMO I have ever played (starting in '99 with EQ1).. people truly roleplay their character. Just take a look at the massive amount of EVE blogs.... almost all of them written "in character".

Take Maeve for example. She is an industrialist. She mines, she missions, she daydreams of adventure one day, joining a wing of her alliance in 0.0; but for now is perfectly happy to stay in her quiet system, grease to her elbows, and hair a mess.... building nothing but drones. Not because she can't build things other than drones, but because that is part of her character. She just loves her drones, and every combat ship she flies boasts a full bay of a variety of what she lovingly calls, "her babies".

In EVE you never know what you are up against.... you never know what skills that pilot that just locked you has.... what surprises up that sleeve.... what weaponry... what drones.... are friends waiting for a command to warp right on top of you in ambush?? Definitely not as simple as looking at that human warrior, seeing with your own eyes exactly what armor he has on, and knowing his level and what spells exactly to use most effectively against him.

In EVE you are not just another Human Warrior, or Elf Mage, grinding for the best gear you can get, becoming a cookie cutter of every other class like you. In EVE... you are what you make yourself. And many people form who they become based on a personality they have placed (maybe unknowingly) onto their character.

Pirate, bounty hunter, industrialist, hauler, spy, even eco-warriors.... these are not classes you choose in EVE, this is who you become. All in one New Eden... all connected... together.

UPDATE :: February 8th, 2009 ::

I'm sure pretty much everyone who was involved in this fantastic blog banter knew CK was announcing his winners this morning. Well... technically a few days ago, but more entries than he anticipated rightly pushed him back a few. Personally, at my sloth-pace, it would have taken me weeks to not only read all 56 but to judge which were the best on top!

So I dragged my sleepy little self to my computer this morning to see what was new in interweb-land, as I do. Saw CK's post on Facebook.... so I clicked.... definitely NOT expecting to have been placed anywhere in the top of some dozens of incredible entries. The little greedy monster inside secretly hoped I made it in the top 10.

Of course my eyes fell on #1 first.. I mean come'on, you know you did too!

I wanted to read the winning post first thing! (because I admittedly have only read about a dozen or so, so far). What was that? "Wench with a Wrench".... I blinked.. haven't had coffee yet.... refresh the page.... read the whole post this time... maybe I was being tricked... reading it wrong?

"1st Prize: Wench with a Wrench"

I have to say how incredibly excited and humbled to be placed at the top. Seriously. I don't win things, and I am no writer! (But that doesn't mean I'm not taking my $100 and running off to the EVE store now!)

Thanks CK... and thanks to the rest of the pilots out there who participated. And as CK requested, my email - lea (at) leadidit (dot) com .

Oh... and I just wanted to share my personal favorite of all the entries.... Ecliptic Rifts Boom dee ah dah

Fly safe! \0/

In Times of War... we keep on keepin' on...

2010-01-22T12:04:00.001-08:00

Maeve Trinity
Octanneve V – Moon 1
Federation Customs Assembly Plant
Solitude

A wrench went spinning across the tiled floor of Maeve's quarters, hitting the wall in a clatter. It had slipped from her hands, she was distracted. With a long sigh she carefully lifted the Warrior I Drone she was detailing from her lap and onto the bench beside her. She was never quite happy with how they came off the assembly line, and the artist blood in her wouldn't be happy if she left her Trinity Drones without some mark of character and beauty. She wanted them to be sturdy, obviously finished by hand. This didn't make a hill of beans once on the market, but she did it anyway.
A Trinity Drone, pestering a big angry Serpentis Pirate.

Maeves source of distraction came from a recent transmission of a declaration of war against her entire alliance.

Intel said they were hired, by who? Anyones guess was as good as anothers.

But as a little time passed, it became apparent these guys were just looking for easy pickings... limiting their members to systems around Jita, likely hoping for an easy target passing through the trade route. But as more intel came pouring in, it seemed the vast majority of the Corp who declared war on our alliance spent their time docked in stations. Hopefully whoever it was didn't pay them much to declare this war.

So life continues normally for now in Solitude, taking jobs from customs, spending time looking at the stars while listening to the hum of her Hulks mining lasers... and manufacturing her drones. Though, this didnt stop Maeve from feeling on edge. Constantly monitoring her local population channel, inspecting every red and even neutral to enter the system.

She knew the alliance had scouts monitoring the pipe in and out of Solitude... so far so quiet.....

Maeve popped a reel of captured images into Rigels projector, and sat back and watched some images from some previous Serpentis engagements.

Trinity Drone VICTORIOUS!

"Damn I love my Domi." Maeve thought out loud, Rigel bleeping agreeably. And pondered thoughts of how she might hold up if indeed, the war was brought to Solitude.

Me? Podcast?

2010-01-17T18:39:00.000-08:00

The Mind Behind the Trinity Sisters
Sitting at her desk
Cape Canaveral, Florida

So..... I've been thinking about trying my hand in podcasting....

I have no experience in it.... but.... I dunno... just thoughts rolling around in my head about it. I have not mentioned these thoughts to anyone, or even done any kind of research other than listening to everyone elses podcasts (lol)

So I randomly blurted it out to my husband last night... and he smirks and says... "I had a feeling you'd been thinking about that.... with your EVE blog and everything..."

"Really?" I thought...... hmmm....

We end up wandering into the computer room later and he is sitting there, again, smirking... and he says, "So you know how you said you were thinking about podcasting and I had a feeling? Well I bought this a couple of weeks ago...."

And he pulls out this fancy pants shock mounted MXL 990 condenser microphone along with a pop filter and a swiveling boom to attach to my desk.

I think he is psychic.

So now its on.

My little random thoughts in the back of my head have to be pushed out... but where do I start?

Should I go it alone?

What would my topic be? EVE? Gaming in general? .. I do have gamer ADD.....

What do you guys think? I sorta feel like now I can't let my husband down!

Hulkageddon Over : My thoughts

2010-01-14T06:58:00.000-08:00

The Mind Behind the Trinity Sisters
Sitting at her desk
Cape Canaveral, Florida

I am an industrialist. Have been for the 2 years I've been playing, in and out of null sec space. Admittedly I've always had a bit of curiosity of the piracy aspects of EVE, and have many people in New Eden who are Pirates I would call friend, even though I know they would pod me in a second given the opportunity.

So I took my alt (also, 2 years old).. and participated in Hulkageddon.

Not because I am mean spirited.... but I knew it was going to go down whether I was part of it or not. So I set Maeve's Hulk safely in its hangar and I took the opportunity to learn. To learn how to defend myself, and what to watch for, by putting myself in the place of those who would attack me, and to learn the complexity and dangers of earning low security status.

I personally thought Helicity did a bang-up job organizing the event... it brought a lot of people together, and shockingly, the people I flew with weren't the sniveling f-bomb dropping ass-hats I imagined they all might be. They were just like the people I flew with in my industrial corp. Organized, friendly, and even honest (ship salvage payout was always equally distributed amongst the fleet, of perfect strangers... pirate strangers, mind you).

I also will agree though, it hopefully brought to light a glaring flaw in the system. That money can be MADE suicide ganking in high security space, via insurance (I could fit a catalyst, with T1 guns and faction ammo, and the insurance payout was MORE than what I spent on it all together) While at the same time, insurance on a Hulk doesnt even begin to cover a fraction of cost of the Hulk on its own... without any fittings at all.

Piracy and danger should go hand and hand. But Hulkageddon is an example where danger is minimal at best, and this situation can be taken advantage of easily by a few freshly rolled alts, taking down a veteran player -even at his keyboard- in an expensive T2 ship with little to no defense or chance of escape.

My suggestion as a solution?
There should not be insurance payouts for ships lost to CONCORD.

Additional defensive and escape methods for mining barges should be implemented. I watched first hand a Hulk pilot trying to escape, but with 4-5 destroyers warping directly onto you at once, bumping your align, and then unleashing all hell on you, you simply have zero chance no matter how alert you are.

Macro miners don't attempt to escape... and personally, I feel no pity for them. They deserved their losses, and their poddings. I am also hoping CCP realizes just how rampant macro mining is. The amount of pod losses is evidence of this.

Otherwise... now that the simplicity of this is so well known.... I think it will become more and more common, and not exclusive to events like Hulkaggedon, where Helicity was kind enough to give a very fair and far warning that it was going to happen.

Fly safe everyone! 07

The Hulkaggedon

2010-01-05T07:46:00.000-08:00

Maeve Trinity
Octanneve V – Moon 1
Federation Customs Assembly Plant
Solitude

Maeve stood in the station hangar overlooking her just delivered Hulk.

Sighing, she looked down at her datapad displaying transmissions and reports of a rumored pirate mass invasion that had been coined by one "Helicity Boson" as "Hulkaggedon". Reports said the onslaughts begin tomorrow. Almost exactly a full day after she'd finally finished her long and arduous training for the beast... the Hulk.... target #1.

Maeve scratched the back of her head, a mass of tangled and piled hair, and began pacing, chewing her nails nervously. Her bank had just been drained dry again acquiring the ship and its various fittings. She needed to get back out there and make use of it to rebuild her wallet.... it also didn't help that her drones were not selling, despite that she priced them at the lowest in the system. Even if they did sell, she didn't have the minerals to build more.

"What if they come?...... what if they come....?" Quickly she glanced back at her Hulk, its new hull shining, bursts of flame spewing from its powerful engines. "I can't risk it..... not right now.... what timing..... rotten luck....."

She scrolled her datapad to her wallet balance, a sad, paltry 176 million isk.

Sighing in resignation, she clicked her coms, "Please deliver the Dominix "Delvian" into my launch bay.." clicking the coms back off, "Looks like my drones will be hunting rats for Federation Customs."

The Still Moments

2009-12-29T08:05:00.000-08:00

Maeve Trinity
Octanneve V – Moon 1
Federation Customs Assembly Plant
Solitude

The kettle on Maeves small kitchen stove whistled away, distracting Maeve from her studies on Mining Barges V. Getting up she dragged herself over to the stove and poured a cup full of steaming water over a small bundle of dried tea leaves to steep. Some comforts reaching back thousands of years never change.

Rigel hovered over offering sugar and cream, which Maeve gladly accepted. She tried to keep at least some comforts in her station quarters.

Rigel, sensing her recent reclusiveness, switched on some holo-reels of Farscape for background noise. Ever since she had turned off all local channel chatter, things were very quiet... too quiet. The recent move-in of this pirate corp into her home system had turned what was once friendly helpful banter between friends into vehement petty gloating, mostly from said pirates. On top of which, they declared war on an allied industrial corp.

A knock pattered on Maeves door. It was Aurynn,

"Freck Maeve I thought you came out here because it was peaceful........" helping herself to a cup of tea, with Rigel hurrying up behind her with an attempt to offer sugar and cream... ".. and now you've just holed yourself up in this room......"

Maeve glanced up from her book... "Meh... I have a lot of studying to do anyways.... I should be ready to fly that Hulk within the week.... these guys are focusing their grief in Octanneve it seems, I might rent a temporary quarter in another system in Solitude until they get bored and move on."

Aurynn eyed Maeve dubiously. "Well... anyways did you hear our cousin Aurora graduated marketing? She is setting up shop in Jita..... if you EVER get finished training for this blasted Hulk.... then will you move on to Jump freighters? Market seems slow out here... and ships are expensive." Rummaging through Maeve's cupboards for some biscuits, she continued... "Ohhh and get this... Aurora changed her name... apparently Aurora Trinity wasn't cool enough so she switched it to Trinity Aurora.... like she is our mascot or something!"

"I dont mind" Maeve said, nose still buried in her book, "If we will be making "Trinity" drones... might as well have our main seller going by the name Trinity.... makes sense to me..."

"Pffft.... pompous if you ask me... like she thinks she is THE Trinity.... whatever...." Aurynn looked back over at Maeve, "Sis, you really need to get out of the station.... wont you be joining the corp tonight running missions for the Customs Agents?"

Maeve sighed and looked at the ceiling..."Yea.... that would probably be a good idea......."

Pirate Fail

2009-12-24T11:24:00.000-08:00

So apparently, according to our local channels the other night.... we have a Pirate corp moving into our peaceful corner of Solitude! ONOES!

I just thought I would share our first encounter with the first of these scurvies to enter our system.

So there I was, mining as usual, when an imicus rolls up and flips my can. lol... ok... and he zooms away. Then in local another miner mentions to everyone to keep an eye out for a can flipper, possibly bait. He continues like this for a little while... obviously taking massive amounts of ore in his imicus cargo and yells into local... "lol thanks for all the ore!"

Eventually (being a mess of industrialists these things dont come together quickly) we form a fleet to test the bugger out... he zooms off and comes back with... and vexor...... while here we have a Domi, a Myrm, a Hawk and a 1 or 2 other cruisers... and then of course a bunch of miners still omnomming away. Well we expected something bigger or maybe even friends... but I guess our expectations were too high for this one.

In the end he lost 3 Vexors to us.... When he was finished "pirating" us..... he left with a sign out saying something along the lines of "lol losers! We are settling out here so get used to us having some fun with you!"

But the best part was after all was said and done, it turned out he purchased his replacement ships and its fittings from people in OUR corp.

\o/

Roc Wieler : Bio

2009-12-22T06:10:00.000-08:00

Sure, you always hear about fan music... maybe make the mistake of downloading a fan track and try really hard to enjoy it, just because you've got to appreciate someone is just that excited and passionate about what they are dedicating their art to..... but sometimes... no... pretty much 90% of the time... it is just plain bad.

So of course this is what I thought when I first saw an ad for Roc Wielers music, I confess.

But let me get it out there that I am a pretty massive music dork, sountracks and orchestral music especially. People look through my CD collection and think they are looking at DVDs.

I'm not sure why exactly I decided to listen to a sampe of Rocs music.... I think maybe I had read a funny post on his blog... nothing to lose right? I listened to the sample track Bio, from its name-sake album. It was good... really really good.... so I bit the bullet and ordered the CD. While waiting to get it I thought to myself, "You know its just gonna be a fluke, I'm just gonna like that one track and never listen to the rest..."

Was I ever wrong. And I am so glad I was.

The track Bio is incredible, but nowhere near my favorite.... "Children of New Eden" is mind boggling.... epic and graceful.... with a bit of an edge. I could (and do) listen to it over and over. "Brutor" & "Nemesis" make this peaceful industrial girl want to suddenly go out and start ambushing people.... they make me feel kick-ass just listening to them. I listen to "Black Hole" and start daydreaming of the day they release Ambulation.... Maeve and Aurynn chillin in a station bar...... Aurynn perhaps up to no good.... pick-pocketing.......

I could go on and on about every track on this album... they are each unique and sci-fi-exotic... but true to any good composition, there is a theme that arises through-out the entire album.

Roc has some mad musical skills.

If you are a fan of orchestral music, and are familiar with film soundtracks, think Edward Shearmur (K-Pax), Graeme Revell (Aeon Flux, The Crow) and Eric Serra (The Fifth Element). Every bit as professionally done... and wonderful to listen to. Worth every penny spent, I can't wait to hear more music like it from him.

Views of Dominion I

2009-12-15T08:37:00.000-08:00

Maeve Trinity
Octanneve V – Moon 1
Federation Customs Assembly Plant
Solitude

Maeve walked to her shoulder bag and pulled out a small image capture chip. She had programmed said chip to capture images from the camera drones installed onto her various ships.

Turning to her communications console, she plugged in the chip, and clicked, "Broadcast".

"I think I might do more of this Rigel." Rigel's little lighted eyes gazed at the images projecting on screen, whirring in awe, "There are some beautiful sights to be seen when you're not staring to hard at the asteroids, or trying to fight or flee a gate ambush..... sometimes people don't take a moment to notice....."

With that she smiled and watched the upload status complete, and imagined those beautiful vistas floating out across the cosmos.

Enjoy. :)

1920x1200 *

*Apparently Blogger scaled these down to 1600 x 1000, contact me and I'll be glad to send you the full size versions :)

What Storms Bring

2009-12-11T03:44:00.000-08:00

ooc: This image was much touched up by moi ;-)

"Maeve! Maeve!! Do you read? For fucks sake Maeve, do you read!?"

The communications console on Maeves Retriever "Scuttlebutt" flickered an image of a frigate class Amarr ship flying through what seemed to be a cosmic storm, so badly obscured by interference it could hardly be made out.

Maeve sat with her feet kicked up on the console, completely oblivious and passed out, head back and arm dangling, with the tiniest bit of drool making an attempt for escape.

"MAEVE!"

Maeve snorted and blinked awake, mining lazers humming familiarly in the background.

"Maeve I don't know if you can read me, but my ship is freked...." the sound interference breaking up most of the message... "I"m going to try to...... and make it through to the.... I'm trying to figure out.... FUCK Maeve what..... Solitude? Oh for fucks sake....." And the coms console flickered off.

Maeve sat staring, dumbfounded at the now blank screen. It was her sister, Aurynn who as far as she knew was still undergoing her education at The Center for Advanced Studies in Clellinon. She hadn't heard from her in what felt like years. Aurynn had always been for the most part, impossible to reach, always off trying to find adventure in the cosmos..... and by the looks of things, "adventure" had found her.

Maeve looked at the time of the transmission from her sister. It had been severely delayed incoming, originally broadcast the night before.

"I've got to get back to the station and find out if Concord has received any distress calls....."

Without even bothering to deactivate her strip miners, she aligned for her home station.

Before heading to the Concord offices, Maeve stopped in her quarters to drop her things and set Rigel to keep alert for an Aurynn Trinity and comply to any services she might request. Before she could even step through the door, she saw a small piece of paper laying on her cot, a note... she looked back towards the door and noticed it had been jimmied open. Rigel spun in circles in alarm, bleeping so quickly and erratically it was obvious he had much to object about the situation.

"Its okay Rigel..... that intruder was my sister..." Rigel clickered in acknowledgment. She reached down and picked up the note.

"Hey sis...

You need a better lock.
My ship is fried and its the only one I've got... can you fix it?
I'm broke.
I've arranged for quarters at Octanneve V, with the Sisters of Eve. I told them I'll pay for my rental deposit today... you can help with that right?

Oh and... nice drone....."

Maeve huffed and crumpled up the note, throwing it to the floor and fell straight back onto her cot, staring up at the paper peeling from the top of the wall. She could hear Rigel hovering over to the note, having identified it as waste, incinerating it.

Octanneve V Sisters of Eve Bureau

Maeve came to the door to the quarters she was told by the Sisters was registered to an Aurynn Trinity early that morning. Sighing, she knocked. The peep hole slid open, her sister's gray eye peering dubiously, almost comically, through the little slit, then slammed shut. The door opened.

Aurynn was much like Maeve in height and build, small of frame, with nice graceful Gallentaen poise, and soft delicate features. However in dress and grooming they couldn't have been less alike. Aurynn's hair was cropped short and jet black, oiled to a glistening sheen and adorned with a dainty hairclip with long graceful gold feathers, and a golden ensemble she wore to match. Maeve couldn't have been any more the opposite. Hair in such a massive mess you couldn't tell if it was supposed to be long or short..... a tattered leather work suit with more buckles than there could possibly be purpose for. And of course.... the oil smudges across her face and fingers stained dark from grease and paint.

"Holy Hell Maeve what the freck happened to you??" Of course Maeve was completely oblivious to her own state... she was an industrialist and worked in a corp full of men... it was a mark of the trade... but that was besides the point and she was getting annoyed...

"Forget about me... what the freck happened to you??"

Aurynn stepped back from the door allowing Maeve to follow her in, and set about unpacking and arranging her new quarters, "Oh that....yea you wouldn't have believed!!! There I was, just scanning for some anomalies, just, you know... poking around... so I just warped into this one I found, and I'd never seen anything like it!!! It was some sort of electrical storm... I didn't even know we could have those in space? What the Hell right? Anyways it absolutely FRIED my ship... nothing works on it except the engines, no guns, no shields.... and these frecking Sisters made me go deliver a bunch of dolls for my breakfast. What the Hell is that all about? Dolls? I might nick one and see if there is something stashed inside them... they seem to have an obsession with them..."

Maeve raised her hand, "Can I talk?"

Aurynn was inspecting the wallpaper, "This is DEFINITELY gonna need to be replaced... oh ya Maeve, wha?"

"I'll fix your ship for you..... but I really hope you're not moving out here for me to support you! I'm barely making it by on my own., and..."

"Ohh ppfffftt.... nah.... I think I can handle doll dealing with these sisters..... I'll be fine..." Aurynn's attention shifted to the top of Maeve's head, "What the Hell happened to your hair!? It looks like you've got something nesting in there!"

Maeve shoved Aurynn with a scowl, and Aurynn hooted hysterically.

With that Maeve stormed off back towards her shuttle, unconsciously trying to fix her hair, grumbling about an honest days work and not having the luxury of flying around in shiny golden Amarr ships....

Behind her Aurynn shouted, "Love ya sis!"

Views From Larryn

2009-12-10T17:56:00.000-08:00

Maeve Trinity
From the Pilots Bridge
of the Brutix "Goblin King"
Larryn System
Solitude

I really just wanted to share with everyone this beautiful tranquil view out the window of my Brutix while touring through Larryn eariler. Just breathtaking.
More tomorrow!

Moving on Up!

2009-12-09T07:21:00.000-08:00

Maeve Trinity
Octanneve V – Moon 1
Federation Customs Assembly Plant
Solitude

Maeve came bursting though the door to her quarters, causing Rigel to spin around and bump smack into the tool-box he had been occupying himself with organizing, gurgling and bleeping with annoyance.

"Look at this Rigel!! Look!" she said waving a little slip of paper in her hand, "I flew out to speak to Albettare Changeceptan in the Fed Customs Plant at Octanneve III and she said I have been promoted to level 2 missions with their corporation!"

Looking down again at her little slip of paper, she proudly pinned it to the wall over her workdesk.

"I'm gonna need the extra ISK to start manufacturing drones! We're gonna be the biggest Drone designers in the region, Rigel, you and me! You just wait. Everyone is gonna want a Trinity Drone!"

Maeve threw down a shoulder bag she had slung around her onto her cot and rummaged out a small Image Capture Capsule.

"Some corp mates of mine were kind enough to let me assist them in some of their level 4 missions last night, and I would say that is why Albettare was willing to speak to me this morning... " holding the viewing screen towards Rigel, "..here look, I set the capsule to capture some images during our missions, and I think we got some nice ones!"
"I brought my newly fitted Vexor out. I'm trying railguns because after having flown my old Brutix a few nights back fitted with blasters, by the time I slow-boated out to get the targets in range, my fleet-mates had already blasted them to smithereens. I need the range" Glancing over at the Mining Barge IV book on her desk, "After I finish up studying these Mining Barge books, I'll be in the Hulk finally..... then maybe I can start training up my railgun skills..... what do you think Rigel?"

Rigel clickered doubtfully.

"I know, I know... I say it now.... but I do need to study manufacturing to begin my marketing empire.... and I do need to finish studying Drones to completely fill out my fleet of drones. So much to learn.... such a short attention span." Maeve sighed. "Lets look at more of these image captures..... that'll cheer us up."
"Look at this... this was funny... somehow I managed to catch the attention of every rat in the immediate area and proceeded to be the tank... the TANK... in my VEXOR! Imagine that. Apparently I was surviving due to the fact that I was doing something called "Speed Tanking".... just being so small and moving so quick those big guys couldn't hit me...."
"Now here is my corp-mate Arkea properly tanking... the ol' Domi looks so impressive even with the fireworks all over it.... I do need to finish properly fitting my Dominix....." Rigel bleeped in alarm, "Hahahahaha, there is no end to it is there, Rigel? It's ok.... I'm gonna try to take it slow... I'll worry about my Domi when Federations Customs has promoted me to lvl 4... and that will be a while from now I think"

Becoming Part of the Community

2009-12-08T15:35:00.000-08:00

I was recently contacted by the well known CrazyKinux and was told I've been added to the most excellent Player Blogroll! yay!

It means a lot, as I am a long time follower (and listener) of his... and have found many wonderful other EVE blogs via his website. I am very glad to be a part of it!

I've also created a Twitter account for Maeve (@MaeveTrinity) .... if anyone is ever bychance interested in my completely random ramblings.... since apparently I need to be doing something EVE-ish even when sitting on the couch watching TV...... making a half-hearted attempt to do something not EVEish!

Maeve had lots of adventures tonight, I am sure we'll be hearing a report from her tomorrow!

The Naming of Rigel

2009-12-06T08:55:00.000-08:00

Maeve Trinity
Octanneve V - Moon 1
Federation Customs Assembly Plant
Solitude

Maeve stood in front of the rust splattered mirror in her quarters and blew a straggling lock from her face. Disapproving the oil and grease smudges all over her face that seemed to be permanent fixtures, she sighed and slumped into a tattered arm chair.

Reaching down she picked up the small Domestic Assistance Drone (D.A.D.) of her own creation and wiped its shared grease splotches from its little hull.

"Well at least I can finish something. You should be a big help to me around here.... I know everyone else thought I was nuts putting so much effort into a 2 foot drone that does nothing but follow me around, but I need the company, and I fit you with the perfect welding tools....... and a holoreel projector."

The D.A.D. bleeped in a satisfactory response..... whirred a moment and cast a projection of her favorite reel... and ancient episode of a space adventure called "Farscape". The episode, "Rhapsody in Blue".... aahh this little guy knew her well already.

"I think I'll call you "Rigel"...... you remind me of that little guy the way you float around incessantly.... except you're more helpful... I think..."

She cast a dubious glare at Rigel, and winked. It bleeped in recognition of its new name... feeling full of purpose and identity. She patted him on what would seem to be its head, and pushed it on its way to carry off duties she had previously assigned to it, such as picking up the tools and papers scattered haphazardly across her quarters, which also doubled as her workshop.

Maeve looked forlornly over at the Cybernetics manual sitting at her bedside, a skill she has been training for to fit a few of the coveted +5 enhancements.... and thought about how she should actually be completing her training for her hulk..... or finishing up the 2 days left on covert ops for her Viator..... or training for those T2 blasters.... or a tweaking her Dominix....

She had started and stopped studies on more skills than she could count. Progression seemed to be going nowhere. She got up and flopped down into the many cushions on her cot, face down, covered her head with a pillow and screamed. After her brief tantrum she looked back over to the book and picked it up.

"This is going to be another 16 days study.... I NEED to get into that Hulk. Sorry implants.... you're gonna have to wait a while."

Rigel hovered over and removed the Cybernetics book from her nightstand, and replaced it with Astrogeology V.

"In the mean time, I need to seek out my Federation Customs Agents and inquire about whether or not they feel I've proven myself enough to be promoted to level 2 missions. I need the ISK... I need the standings..... wish me luck Rigel."

With that, Maeve straighted her mass of unruly hair as best she could.... attempted again to remove some of the grease stains from her face - unsuccessfully - and head off to the Agents offices.

oooh Pretty...

2009-12-02T09:03:00.000-08:00

So I only logged in for a tiny bit yesterday to take a look at the UI changes, mail changes, and particularly the planet re-skins.

And I felt like quite the space tourist zooming from planet to planet... ooohing and aaaahing, swirling plasma planets, earth-like planets with deep blue seas and drifting clouds.... raging storm entrenched planets, and dark, sinister glistening magma planets. Just beautiful. Does nothing but make a capsuleer wish to fly even closer.....
Though I am not sure how much I might participate in all the sovereignty and 0.0 action going on just yet..... my alt that currently lives in 0.0 isn't quite experienced enough to fly the bigger ships fleets are requiring just yet. I think my time for the most part will be spent on Maeve, watching from the sidelines how everything is going to unfold with Dominion.
So... for the most part, my experience with my brief log-in yesterday after the release of Dominion was only of superficial changes. Planets, UI, mail.. etc.... everything is looking very nice!

New Toys

2009-11-23T12:09:00.000-08:00

So along with settling in a new system and starting afresh on missions, comes some new toys.

A couple of firsts for me, a Faction ship.. a shiny new frigate for the lvl 1 missions, The Gallente Comet. I love the little thing.... super quick and looks like a space cop with its little flashy blue light. Oh, and that catalyst I was getting all nostalgic over has become a salvager.

Also, this morning I made a trip out to Jita (30+ jumps half of which are through low sec)... and bought my first T2 ship, a Viator. A ship made specifically for blockade running, that is.... escaping people who want to destroy your ship and its precious cargo. With an align time of just over 3 seconds, I think it gets the job done well. ;-) Especially when I went and blew ALL of my isk (about 400mil) on it, its fittings, and fittings for other ships back in Solitude.

I couldnt help but laugh at myself a little that my first T2 would be a friggin hauler.

Maeve, Queen of the Shopping Carts.

Settling Back In

2009-11-20T12:21:00.000-08:00

nomming roids... why on earth do I find mining so fulfilling.
My first mining op with Black Thorne.

So, after some thinking over, I made the decision to leave E-Uni.

The corp is fantastic in theory.... but with the constant war decs from griefers... and what seems to be some massive ego's attached to the corp itself, where I found that for a corp thats newb friendly.... they would get quite impatient with simple repetitive newb questions.

Not a blanket statement about the whole corp... but I found more often than not a simple question would quickly be answered with, "go read the corp mail.." or... "its on the forums". Frankly.... most of those answers could be found in simple web searches... but people join a newb corp for quick answers.... and if people aren't willing to, and are too impatient to answer such questions... whats the point?

So, I made a handful of pilots I like to consider friends there.... and have moved on to another corp.

Which has brought me to Black Thorne Corporation. An old corporation of a decent size... but not with hundreds online at once... but just enough to keep you occupied. And VERY helpful, friendly people. Not once has one of my questions been answered with, "Go look it up."

I've moved all my stuff out to the Alliances home in Solitude, a region that definitely lives up to its name! Several jumps through 0.0, or low sec if you take the long way... to our little secluded corner of New Eden. I've only been out here a few days and its already feeling like home.

I am starting at lvl 1 missions, which is nice, easing myself back nice and easy... building my standings up with the intention of eventually having a jump clone or 2 out here. They do offer a JC service in a sister corp.. but really.. I need to get beyond lvl 1 missions!

I've tagged along for a few lvl 4 missions in my little glass cannon Brutix..... partipitated in Worlds Colide for the first time.

And at the moment I am struggling to put together a smaller ship for some of the lvl 1 missions that have limitations! lol So right now I am fitting a catalyst... I remember loving it so much the first time I flew one.... however shopping in Solitude isn't exactly easy... and sifting through my mess of a hangar is proving quite entertaining! CCP really needs to do something about hangar organization!

Until next time.... fly safe! 07

Meet Maeve Trinity

2009-11-13T08:09:00.001-08:00

This is Maeve. My alter-ego in space. My gun-slinging, laser-beam pewing capsuleer in a speedy ship. Okay maybe she's not that cool but I like to pretend.

Maeve was born in New Eden in the MMO EVE in March of 2008. One of the things I love about EVE is that you can continue training your character as long as you are subscribed..... so, after playing for a few months last year... I put the game aside but for the most part continued training.... skills absolutely all over the place.

I've come back to the game now and have decided to give it a more dedicated go. I am trying to focus on manufacturing and trade.... some people hate it, but I do appreciate that mining and the things related to it can be a pretty slow paced thing .. which is good because that means I can work and play at the same time. Don't get me wrong tho... I am not silly enough to afk.... my workspace is right in front of my monitor. ;-)

Nothing like creating art to the hum of mining lasers. o_O

To kick-start my career back in EVE, I've decided to join Eve University, after having read about them in EON Magazine. Figured what the heck.... I could use a few "classes". However it sounds good in theory, after 10 days in the corp we're only spent 2 days out of war... and the Uni has some strict rules about remaining docked unless there is a fleet formed. Considering most of my time is spent on mid-day... not much action going on. But I guess thats what alts are for. ;-) I have however learned a bit about wormhole space.... we've made a few excursions out there..... interesting, but I still haven't seen any sleepers.

Anyways I think I hyped up E-Uni more in my mind... and am a bit disappointed. I was in a really good 0.0 sec industry corp before I stopped playing before.... I might hunt them back down if I can't stick out the 3 months it takes to be a e-uni "grad". But here's hoping I get something out of joining this corp between all the numerous and apparently pointless war decs (for instance the current war dec was put on us by a 2 man corp.... one dude and his alt apparently. He hasnt logged in once since the war was declared... ugh)

Anyhoo.... o7