A little time for RL…

So you’ve probably been wondering where I am, where I’ve been and what in New Eden has happened to me.  I’ll take a few moments to explain…

I’ve not been online or on EVE very much/at all lately.  To be honest, I’ve not had the inclination or the will to at the moment.  Why?  Well an immediate family member recently had a near and close brush with the afterlife.  Luckily they were not too seriously hurt and are doing fine now.

It’s times like these that make you sit back and re-evaluate things.  Not to mention getting over the whole shock and distress of it all.  So I’ve taken a little time out for RL, because you only get one and this incident made me realise how thin and fragile that link to mortality really is.

Probably a bit deep and philosophical for this time of the day, but nonetheless it explains my recent absence and lack of presence in New Eden.

I’ll be around, off and on in the *very* near future and intend to get back into the “swing of things” but I’ll be making sure RL also gets a good dose of attention.

Thank you to everyone who reads the blog, and for your patience. 

See you soon!

Fly safe,

Alia

Impending blog update

One word…. “Holiday”.  Holiday translates to;

No EVE

A long skill in training

No blog update

Grumpy Alia

Anyway, back to business now

I’m writing a couple of posts now, so keep your eyes peeled for rambling shortly.

Alia

Thoughts and things I must do…

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

Giving up piracy…

It’s a sad sad day, but I’ve decided that I’m going to give up piracy and settle into a corp.

APRIL FOOL! Kidding… Not a chance I’m giving this riot of a lifestyle up to go mining or missioning.  Were you worried there for a moment?

So why do I choose this lifestyle…. well I’ll come to that in a moment, but did you notice I use the word “lifestyle” rather than career?  Piracy isn’t exactly a career, it’s more a lifestyle.  Mining or researching is a career because outside of the jobs you can do other things - say for example missions or trading, even a bit of PVP if your skills allow.

No, piracy is much more than that.  I would say that it’s probably something within you (or not as the case may be).  You’re either able to ransom someone for every isk they have, or you can’t.  You can quite happily blow up a mining barge and pod the pilot for no good reason, or you can’t.

That sort of explains the “why” part for me, but now onto the “how”.  Being a pirate is more than a career, as I’ve said it’s either something you can or cannot do but outside of that it’s a lifestyle because when you’re not hunting someone you’re dodging the anit-pies coming after you.  When you’re not robbing someone, you’re being robbed by someone.

It’s a 24/7 constant and unending cycle, because there is no “clock off” option in this lifestyle.  You can’t simply say “I’ve done my pirating for the day, now I’m off mining” because the chances are another pirate will shoot you, somone out for revenge will catch you or the anti-pies will have a shoot-fest!

Going further than that though being a pirate gives certain freedoms (and of course curtails others) which you would not normally find in other careers.  A mission runner/part time PVP’er for example is probably quite protective of their security status and would not want to ruin it - that restricts their choice of targets.  A high sec pilot cannot simply go on a trigger happy frenzy without a wardec.

Also being a pirate gives other freedoms, freedoms from corp responsibilities.  Of course there are pirate corps, but they are of like minded people doing the same/similar thing.  As a pirate, you don’t get your CEO shouting “haul this over here”, “help so and so with this”, “go and refuel the POS”.

Piracy = freedom.  The freedom to do what you want, when you want to.  Freedom from rules, laws and regulations.  Freedom from the corporate grind.  Freedom to choose.

It’s not for everyone of course, because those freedoms come with a lack of safety.  You don’t have police protection (the opposite infact), you don’t have the security of high sec space, you are not safe from other pilots.  At anytime you may be the victim of anothers opportunistic gamble.  If you are willing to make the trade-off then it’s quite worthwhile IF those things indeed appeal to you.

Pirates are often viewed in a negative light, for obvious reasons.  It’s assumed we have an easy life, sitting back, counting our loot and spoils - and to an extent thats true.  But it’s not all the high life.  Being an outlaw makes travel much more difficult - sometimes it doubles or triples the journey.  It means you simply cannot pop to the local hub for some goodies - you have to make arrangements to have it delivered to you.

I’ve heard someone say “I’m not mining and missioning all day so some lazy pirate can come along and gank me!”.  That’s fine, that’s your perspective.  From mine, it’s slightly different.  Your work is mining and missiong.  My work is to hijack, rob, loot and steal from you.

They each involve risk.  You might be able to outmatch me and I skulk away with my tail between my legs.  You might have friends closeby ready to help.  The way I “earn” my money is different from the way you earn yours.  It’s far from laziness, just a different choice and different lifestyle.  They can be equally hard, and equally rewarding depending upon your persona and what you’re looking for.

Enjoy your career, enjoy your lifestyle… depending. 

Until the next time, happy yarring, looting and robbing.  May your killboards fill with victims, your wallet bulge with isk and your hangar overflow with loot

Alia

Apologies to….

Apologies to whoever convo’d me the other day - I failed to respond as you may have noticed.  I was actually AFK at the time, and when I’d returned and accepted the convo you’d vanished. I then closed the window without looking at your name…. epic fail :s

So a little note here to say I wasn’t being rude, I was just AFK.

Anyone who does want to convo/message me in-game please feel free to do so, although I can’t guarantee I’ll reply right away as I may be;

1. AFK

2. Shooting someone

3. Getting shot at

So an EVE mail may be best, or drop a comment here on the blog.  I do like to hear from people and don’t mind mails at all - infact I’m happy to speak with any budding pirates and pass on any limited knowledge rattling around in my head. It all adds to the YARR

Until the next time…

Alia 

Piratess *is* a real word! O.O

I really must get some sleep now, but before I do I finished uploading my new header… You know, put a name to a face and all that.

When I first made the blog, I decided “Piratess” would be a good term - rather than pirate.  I assumed it was a word I’d made up somewhere in my head.  Anyway, whilst doing the header today I decided to google it.  Sure enough it actually turned up.  Seems I’m not quite as bonkers as I first thought.  Here’s the description;

Referring to the modern day Women Pirate, IE: Not a Wench, in so much as; she the Piratess considers herself to be equally qualified in the pirating profession and/or genre,as any male pirate. Not as a “play thing” or “pretty poppet” to be “plundered.”  She will most likely be well armed and can usually be found captaining or navigating the ship. Certainly not a woman to be trifled with.  Mary Read, Anne Bonney, Grace O’Malley and Shi Xainggu are all wonderful examples of a true piratess.

It’s true, here’s the link to prove it:  http://www.urbandictionary.com/define.php?term=piratess

So thats made my day and provided me with yet another giggle :)  What can I say to that?  Apart from “Yarr!” :p

Tin pot piracy

I sat around in my destroyer waiting down the few hours before I could clone jump back out.  To help pass the time I was checking over recent communications and stumbled across a “Velator Pirate”.  Amused by the title alone I read on.

Flash had written his communication, and mentioned a pirating velator - I had to check it out.  I did, and it proved an endless source of amusement.  A single velator had destroyed a kestrel and a rifer - amazing in itself, not to mention hilarious.

After I’d finished laughing it drew my mind back to early days of frigates.  They were fun.  Limited damage, limited ammo… You had to do things right.  Manage your cap, shields, guns, speed and so on.  In a bigger ship there is more room for error, but in a frigate it’ll get your splattered pretty quickly.

I bought up the market console and selected a few items, smirking as I found exactly what I was looking for.  A couple of frigates and fittings for them.  I open a channel to my broker “Hi Phire, can you get me these things?” I asked.  “Lemme check” came the reply.  Whilst I was waiting I re-read the article and sniggered again.  It had infact been an inspiration and promted me to do a bit of my own - not in a velator though.  I’m not that insane, yet….

 ”Yeah I can get them” my broker replied.  “Where do you want them delivered?” I just grinned and hung up the channel.  Moments later a message came through “It’s low sec isn’t it?  God I hate it when you want stuff there”.  I sent the reply ”Friday?”.  A simple 4 letter confirmation came back “Sure”.

Friday came and went, and the goodies have now been delivered.  I’m preparing to have a hoot and a riot with a little low sec frigate piracy… I’ll keep you posted

I really must learn to fly Minmatar ships.  Whilst they may not be as advanced or high tech as Caldari ones they are a lot more fun.  I once heard someone describe them as “Duct taping yourself to the office chair, riding down a flight of stairs with twin machine guns - bloody fantastic!”.  I mean, what more could you want from a ship?

 Hope to have some frigate kills soon… wish me luck

PS.  I often liken a frigate to a tin pot/tin can - hence the title… In case you were wondering

Montagues and Capulets

A bit like Romeo and Juliet, although less romantic and a few slight differences.  Confused?  Let me explain…

It’s actually really none of my business, but me being me I’m going to put in my 2 cents worth anyway hoping that some good may come of it.  The worst, I get podded - a lot! :p

As per the story, it goes back way before my time - and even before the time of the two “families”.  The members all being good friends and enjoying the yarr together.  Over time, this grew into two distinct “families” - this sets the scene for the rest of our tale.

Relations, unlike the Montague and Capulet families were very good initially.  Until members of said families were involved together (think blasters, not love).  Thus, the feud was born.  Putting member against member, house against house and even family against family.

The relationship is a complex one.  Members of each “family” being interwoven, being friends and old collegues.  In all honesty they would probably rather not strike each other down.  But family loyalty matters, right?  So we now have two great houses pitched against each other for the sake of their family names.

I’m a bit of an outsider looking in.  It’s not my place to say too much, it’s not my place to judge - I won’t, don’t and wouldn’t.  Although I do hope it can be resolved before it becomes all consuming, and the tail ends in a tragedy - like the one we all know so well.

Blood is thicker than water they say.  They also say you can choose your friends, but not your family.

As I say, I’m a bit of an outsider.  I know and speak with members of both “families” and I know that underneath it all there is a base friendship.  Why do I care?  Because such good friendships are hard to find.

Good luck to you all, and may it not end in the traditional way….

Where be these enemies? Capulet! Montague!
See what a scourge is laid upon your hate;
That heaven finds means to kill your joys with love;
And I, for winking at your discords too,
Have lost a brace of kinsmen;
All are punished. All are punished!

They’re all gone :((

Sickening isn’t it?  I’d rather this than have my blog disabled/impaired. 

It’s a long story, but the jist of it is….. It seems some people have taken offence and reported blogs to Wordress/Google - whoever runs it.  Their reason?  Because they “name” appears on the blog in the form of a killmail.

Sad really, but some people are just asses.

Sadder though - it’s a pain to get your blog restored to “normal” status.  I’d rather people can easily get to mine than not, so I’ve taken this precaution.

Blog tanking…

Well nothing EVE related, well not exactly anyway.  It is in a way because it’s reflects my experiences on EVE, and that of others - our blogs.

A friend of mine recently had their blog “nerfed” by some asshat.  The probability was that he’d (the asshat) been the victim of piracy in EVE, checked his agressors profile, found his blog and then reported it as “offensive” because his “name” appeared in the kill mail post.

This is *very* annoying to say the least.  Not only because it causes untold pain for people trying to read your blog, but also the fact that someone couldn’t quite grasp the concept that it wasn’t their *real* name.  I mean really, are you that ashamed of losing your ship that you have to bring out of EVE aspects into it for revenge?

What happens in the game, happens in the game.  What appears on a blog is an account of that occurance.  All I can say is that whoever flagged it as “offensive” should go and research the EVE “honor tank” phrase.

I may actually appear quite calm in the writing of this, but I’m actually quite livid about it.  What can I say apart from “get a grip”. Grrrr!

I quite enjoy writing my blog, and I hope people enjoy reading it.  To keep it that way, I’ll either be omitting killmails or censoring victims names.  Asshats 1, Pirates 0.  We’ll level the score in game, shall we? :p

“Combat: Total asshat strikes your blog perflectly wrecking for all enjoyment”