As I sit back in my hanger after a brief break I take a few moments to think about where things might be going in the future, and my raison d’être. 

The hangar is vast, grey, empty and dull with the smell of machines and mechanical parts hanging in the air.  It’s reasonably bright, with a few flickering lights in the distance near the smaller frigates and my first destroyer - still intact and being serviced.  I glance across at my beloved Battlecruiser, the largest of my ships, and a wide sly grin spreads across my pale Caldari face.

The occasional clanging and banging as men go about their work, replacing, refitting and servicing.  I sit in what can only be described as a small tin office, the worktops scattered with paperwork, parts, data discs and chips.  I sit with my feet on the side, reclined in my comfortable leather chair, my State War Academy (oh the irony) jacket loosly buttoned as I absentmindedly fiddle with my journal.  My thoughts start to race….

I chose to be a Caldari pirate because initially I’d heard that they’re not great at PvP - well more specifically solo PvP. That could have just been a narrow selection of viewpoints however.

A lot of pirates that I meet and know are Minmatar. It’s not that surprising really considering it’s in Minmatar space, but I do wonder about people’s choices.  Minmater, rebellious, carefree.  Gallente, liberal, free, peaceful. Amarr, supercilious, arrogant. Caldari, ruthless, efficient, order.

The choice of race probably has a lot to do with the underlying person or at least their personality traits.  Maybe not even that, but a darker side of their self they want to embrace - so it’s possible their choice is the complete opposite of what they are really like.

Anyway, I digress.  I chose Caldari partly because of the aforementioned reasion - they’re so-called lack of PvP prowess (seems odd, huh? but I wanted to prove a point) and because a lot of the Caldari sentiments I approve of, whilst at the same time they fill me with dread (see above personality stuff).

So here I am.  A Caldari pirate, with no other skills than PvP.  Show me a mining barge and I’ll be scratching my head.  Show me a blue print and I’ll use it as a napkin.

Maybe in recent releases Caldari have become better for PvP - I can’t really say.  However compared to DPS tank to DPS dealt, Caldari can be considerably lower.  Not accounting for blasters at close range of course.

I guess what I’m trying to say is that whatever setup you have, it can be effective in a PvP situation.  It’ll take a few attempts to get it right, and you do have to vary it for different situations.  I don’t think there is *one* “right” way of doing things, there are many.  Just as there are many wrong ones.

On to the things I must do;

1. Choose another race of ships to fly.  Only one, because I don’t want to dilute my talent too far and become a JOAT (Jack Of All Trades)

2. Head out in groups more often.  Solo is nice, but a small fleet is even better fun.

3. Meet up with BF and Havo. See #2

4. Find some new hunting grounds

5. Train for more T2 equipment

6. Get onto EVE more often

Speaking of point 6, it’s been over a week since I’ve shot at something and I’m getting twitchy.  Hopefully the next blog post will have an interesting story to tell.

Happy yarring

Alia