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Showing posts from March, 2013

Rambling: Push and Pull

[TL;DR: Sugar muses random things about corps and people and the ebb and flow of the Eve social group] Corporations are fragile. The membership is a fine balance. It seems to but take a simple event or two for the members to stop logging in and the corporation to start to die. Inactivity is always a possible bitter end and so we strive to avoid inactivity with activity. But sometimes activity can be the cause of inactivity. It is almost an accidental side effect. I was thinking on this after having a discussion where someone could not get a concept through to me. The concept was about moving to an area to engage in lots of PvP. The area would be hostile and undocking would almost assuredly mean fights. The numbers would be over whelming but when the group got together they should be able to rain down explosions from the holy fires of turrets and launchers. It sounds exciting. It sounds like why so many of us start Eve. Nonstop battle. Nonstop war. It sounds delightful. But is

TCS: Keeping Stock and Order

Warning: The price you have chosen is 59.57 % below regional average. Are you sure you want to enter this order? I click yes each time. I know that my prices are 59.57% below the regional average. The regional average is ridiculous and I am fighting a one person war to correct it. My slow roll concept is going very well for me.  It is creating a lot of daily work but as the store profits I will be able to buy larger amounts of stock and decrease my amount of daily effort.  Or so I think.  At the moment sales are doing very well and people are buying things left and right, sometimes more than I expect. Someone just purchased eight expanded cargohold IIs. I only realized later that I was out of cargohold II's. Someone else snapped up all of my drone damage amplifiers.  Another person drank all my isotopes off the market. 7-2 decided to have gank day and consumed a lot of random modules when they did so. I keep selling Feroxs.  All of the local ones are very over priced so peopl

My Own Looking Glass

Someone wandered into Bosena the other day while I was docked and noticed me in local. They said hello, and I said hello back because I am friendly that way. After that point the conversation wandered off onto a strange path that has left me confused. He asked about a 1v1. I said "No" as I am prone to do. He then said that he had read my blog and was looking for my weaknesses and trying to separate that out from my propaganda. That made me blink for two reasons. Normally I am tickled a various assortment of pastel, sweet smelling colors when I meet people in game that read my blog. This was a bit of a change. The first is why anyone would look for my weaknesses? I lay them out rather clearly most days. They are here all over the blog.  But more so if he is looking for my weaknesses he is coming to attack me? I guess?  I know that a side effect of babbling all over the internet and not learning STFU to III or IV is that some people are going to decide that they need to com

Shopping in Eve

Shopping in Eve is one of the most unexpectedly time consuming pastimes one can have.  The bad part is that there are dozens of things in the game to make shopping easy and it is still time consuming. In most games, I find whomever is the 'shopkeeper' and go to them.  I spam dump my items to them and I buy whatever they happen to have for me. I'll flip through stats and decide if they have better things or just useless junk.  I am only equipping myself. I may want some apples and healing potions, maybe something for endurance and something for magic and some spell ingredients   Once done, I tuck things into my pouches and go forth to conquer the hoards of lions roaming the plains. In Eve, I go shopping at a station. I may go locally or I may go to a trade hub.  I then look for what I want.  If I am silly I will stroll through the hundreds of thousands of items and my brain implodes from the overload. Normally, I will use the search bar.  When I add in my poor spelling a

A Look Over Bounties

People are charging off to examine Odyssey.  I'm still eyeballing Retribution. I may be slow.  I'm fine with that. I also don't want to look at Odyssey.  Watching Minmatar receive another nerf is unpleasant and I still can't speak about Hurricanes without a few years escaping.  Even with a new expansion coming dropping Retribution and walking away from it would be silly, or so I think. I'm wondering about bounties.  The old bounty system was a ridiculous  abusive mess.  The new ones has flooded the forums with tears enough to satiate almost any appetite.  The payout was reduced to a sensible 20% of the cost of the ship and lost modules and also split across the fleet or killers. There was a lot of hope that bounty payments would help to feed PvPrs.  I pulled my bounties for the last two months and the results are a bit anemic. 2013.03.24 20:24:30         Bounty Prize      357,937.58 ISK   2013.03.24 06:04:20         Bounty Prize      35,035.00 ISK      201

Le PewPew: Towers, Talos and Timers

It was a busy Sunday.  Before we spent our time as evil, station camping pirates we had other things to do. 7-2 had a tower that we had helped reinforce coming out. Everyone logged in. For a Sunday morning, our presence was quite respectable. We had about a fifteen to twenty person fleet with half a dozen dreadnoughts and a few carriers on standby. It was about my normal wake time but it was early for the guys further west and late for the ones from Europe. But we were ready, and waiting. And then we found out that the form up mail was two hours off. Whoops. The fleet disintegrated. People went back to sleep. Others went to play other games. We knew that chances were low that the turnout might not be quite as solid the next time. Fast forward two hours and DP gets the party started.  He is a very hyper active fleet commander.  Once he decides to start moving everyone needs to be on their toes because he is moving at full speed.  He was moving the battleship group into

TCS: Will it be sustainable?

I am fond of saying that I do not know what my readers like the most about what I write. I consider it my own fault. A side effect of the fact that my topics wander and spin about in random directions. My entry into this low sec market idea seems to interest a lot of people. It interests me too! Let me answer the own question in the title of my blog. Yes. It is making money. From the trends that I see it will continue to increase in its amounts. In the first week and a half I have made about a billion ISK. I consider that a success. I don't know if it actually is.  The amount of items I have turned over to reach that is staggering. I have funneled all of that money back into the store to increase its stock. The pay off I that most of what everyone needs is available allowing me to branch out into a wider range of stock and needs. My plans for personal repayment do not start for 1-3 months depending on how the store is doing. Right now, if my estimate is solid, 4 billion a mon

Le PewPew: The Unfriendly Molden Heath?

" United Star Federation primarily works within NRDS everywhere in New Eden except in Molden Heath and Great Wildlands where we are testing a new R.O.E. we call ECHO (Engage: Criminals, Hostiles, and Outlaws.)" Have we made people mad? Is it bad that I was surprised to read this? Unfriendly? The Heath? Really? But then again, we were camping them into the Bosena station. Okay. Maybe that is viewed as unfriendly. We shot at them every time they undocked. Some can call that hostile. Everyone on grid was a flashy red outlaw. Okay, so United Star Federation may have a view point a bit different from my own about Molden Heath. The thing is that they came in system, we poked our heads out of the station to see who was there, they docked, we stayed undocked, and now there was a bit of a situation where they tried to undock and we tried to kill them.  It wasn't a real  station camp. We live here a lot these days.  In fact, I was working on my store and getting ready for

What does Odyssey have for Low Sec?

CCP announced Eve's newest expansion theme .  Everyone immediately started to write and write about it and rip apart the bit of information they had to guess what the future might bring.  I looked at article after article ticking up on my reader and decided to wander off to do other things.  I read the splash page.  It is blue and very pretty.  I approve of that.  But, they discussed exploration.  That tickled a memory I had been repressing. I haven't commented on the plight of the removal of static complexes from low sec . There is a lot of anger there and I try not to post when angry or point rants and rages.  I've never thought it would get me far.  The chances of being listened to seem greater when one is attempting to communicate when I'm not tempted to call people names and snarl and stomp my feet. We received some response, gave a lot of answers, opinions, and feed back and then heard nothing else.  The last reply was at the end of January. What does this hav

Hunting Deadly Cat in the Night

This is more than a tale about Jaguars.  It is a story about Jaguar girl power.  If this causes hives and a burning sensation I can only advise taking some  diphenhydramine and some type of soothing cream before you try to read this. Naughty Cargo was having a bad thrasher day.  She is new to the corp.  She started with R1FTA and is focused into her smaller ships.  However, it was just a bad Thrasher day for her. She kept losing them.  After she lost the last one and was really down I looked at her problem and decided I had a solution. Jaguars. See, Naughty was not losing her Thrashers because she is stupid.  It is because she needed a better align time, agility and speed then she was getting.  Destroyers are a great concept but for running as light, fast tackle they leave a lot to be desired. We were docked back up and resorting the fleet.  I had done some shopping the other day, so I tossed her my Jaguar in a buffered fit and told her to give it a whirl.  A few moments later

A Tale of Two Newbies

I had two very different experiences with two new players the other day. The first encounter started after LR announced that he had again killed and podded someone.  It was the second time that day and the third time in the last two or three. I checked the character's age and decided that they were, indeed new. I will shoot a new player, I admit.  Eve is to much the game of alts not to shoot that rookie ship or shuttle. However, I do send them eve mails and occasional start up conversations if I think they are new.  Often, I am ignored. Sometimes, I help people out. I can only assume that it was inevitable that my ego would catch up with me. I sent this guy a conversation request and said hi.  He said hi back.  Everything seemed good.  I asked him if he was new because I noticed that one of my corp mates had destroyed his ship and pod several times. Because of this, I thought that he might not be aware of warping the pod off to safety and things like instant undocks to avoi

AFK Stalkers

AFK cloaking is quite the issue for some people.  People sit in your system, cloaked, and you do not know if they are trying to kill you or not.  If you undock and kill things they might try to kill you.  This makes people not undock because they might lose their ships and don't want to be farmed.  They don't want to encourage the person by giving easy kills.  However, locking down the system is also appealing to many because many Eve players love inconveniencing other Eve players. This is seen as a problem because it can not be directly confronted.  The unknown is possible ship loss.  People dock up and feel under siege  The solution of go out and do what you are doing anyway and risk losing your ship doesn't work for many.  Some do. Some get in trouble for it maybe. But as an outside observer I never thought much about it other then wondering why they didn't just work with the situation.  I still wonder that but now I also understand how incredibly irritating it i

Rambling: Elitism - Opinions and Thoughts

[ TL;DR: I responded about elitism  turned it into a ramble, babbled for a bit, think it's a lot of the way people view it for more bad then good, and made a salad. ] Yesterday, I wrote a post that was supposed to be a tongue in cheek review of Crimewatch and the way it has reshaped a lot of PvP in low sec.  It was also a follow up in a way of the day before when I commented on my decision to spend time and focus on frigates now that I was able to be a valuable member of a small gang low sec PvP fleet  in a frigate. My ideas and opinions on this blog are very much geared around the part of the game I play in.  I know that I am not well informed about other areas and play styles outside of low sec piracy and the aspects of gameplay that spawn from it.  I'm not overly informed about low sec piracy as well.  I don't ransom. I don't solo. I don't actually pirate. What I do is play a video game where I am part of a small group of players with a majority focus on Pv

Origin of a Spaceship: Warp Disruption Fields

Excerpt from: Origin of a Spaceship Warp Disruption Fields (See also: Bubbles) Pseudo Predatory Flora Subclass: Mobile  Identification: Warp Disruption Fields can be identified by their large, globular shape.  Translucent, Warp Disruption Fields have a blue sheen to them. The exterior field is non-static and material can pass through.  There is no tack or rebound and movement is freely made through the exterior membrane.  The exterior  membrane  will appear to be fragile and ripple. However it is sturdy and not prone to collapsing upon itself.   There are multiple sizes of Warp Disruption Fields.  These various sizes indicate maturity and longevity with higher chances of mature spore release for larger Warp Disruption Fields. Sub-Species:  Interdiction Spheres are a short lived, fast spore Warp Disruption Fields cultivated internally by spaceships.   Properties: There is no stickness or rebound and movement is freely made through the exterior membrane

Crimewatch Tanked My Sec Status

I stand before you this day to cast judgement down upon CCP and their Retribution Expansion and the changes it has made to the way the denizens of low sec maneuver through the daily trials and tribulations of their space. Let me say, with firmness of thought and stance that these changes have brought forth consequences that expand across the entire region.  That these changes have taken Pirates, souls who skirted the grey line into the full red span of Outlaw Status!  That they have plummeted past the point of redemption their souls darkened and hardened as they stare with cold eyes at the gates of high sec which has cast them so firmly out!  Let me also point out that it is upon these changes were done with this intent in mind!  Before you I cast a story that will chill the hearts and rip away the innocence of those that hear... Now, someone might go back through things like my blog and other such places of 'information' and point out that my security status was quite unheal

Blog Note: Orginization

I am terrible at tagging my posts.  Terrible. I forget every single time. I then promise myself I will start to tag. I do it for a bit. I forget again.  The only conclusion is that tagging does not work for me and I have to develop another method of internal organization. Because there is a search function to search inside of the blog, I've started turning posts into topic format.  Hopefully, this will become more common for topic posts.  Normal just post posts will remain randomly titled as they always are.  Because I have no idea what people read and if people want to skip over topics or find topics easily I'm trying to categorize them. Right now I kind of have a few topics I'm trying to use with regularity. Rambling: First: These will almost always have a TL;DR. These are thought posts.  I don't know what else to call them.  Normally I dig around in my own mind and thoughts and coat the blog all over with my personal opinions on various aspects, often social, o

Future in Frigates

I love being a frigate pilot for combat. I adore it. One of the personal benefits for me of crimewatch was that I was able to ship down into an assault frigate and still be useful on the field due to gateguns deagressing. It also came at a time when the Hurricane, my PvP staple of choice was being nerfed and I needed something different to try. The only other thing in my book that I enjoyed flying as much as my Hurricane was my Jaguar. The Negative Side of Frigates Frigates are a bread and butter staple in Eve.  Most people have stacks of them hanging around their stations and various systems.  They are fast, agile and cheap.  This makes them useful and easily obtainable.  Replacing frigates does not take as much time and energy as replacing larger, more expensive ships.  (Note: I'm excluding Pirate Frigates) from this conversation. Tackle ships are important.  Tackling, in Eve jargon is stopping a ship from entering warp and escaping the field.  This is normally done thro

Observation of a Ganker

Vov ratted up his security status. I have to admit that he came along on one of our fleets the other week and we tanked his sec status in ridiculous ways.  With his security status up, he decided to play with the new aggression mechanics and do some ganking. As a firm subscriber to industry by piracy I am very excited when this happens. It is like goodies falling from the sky at super discount prices from the back of a box truck with graffiti on the side. When I popped on the other day he offered me a Nocxium drop. It is a lovely cycle. He gives me first dibs.  If I take it he can just toss me a contract and he instantly has ISK. No sorting, selling, market orders, or transporting needed. I get discounted materials.  Its great for everyone but the hauler pilot that lost his ship. That leads to an observation he made the other day. As he is sitting on a gate, scanning people that come by he keeps seeing a particular pattern.  The T1 haulers that are tanked have nothing of value.  Th

The Cougar Store - Grand Opening

I am glad that I decided not to pick a pirate oriented name for my blog.  My time in low sec is more than the pewpewpew.  Others write about pewpew in a more interesting and in depth manner then I do.  For me, as much as I enjoy it, there are so many other things for me to do in low sec and in Eve beyond the pewpew. Opening the Cougar Store is one of them. I named my market the Cougar Store.  I run it, I'm female and not that long ago someone accused me of seducing young men of New Eden.  Now, I was shocked.  As a Pirate Queen I have no need to seduce anyone.  They come willingly.  However, the lable, even if I am a tad bit young for it, was hysterical enough that I immediately demanded it for a title.  This has snowballed a bit and the new low sec market that I have started up is called the Cougar Store. You can view our information and order form here .  This lets people communicate with me. I've handed it out in a few intel channels.  My favorite entry so far is from V

Ramblings: What is a Good Fight?

[ TL;DR: Sugar mulls over topics of personal reasonings ] After a fight, in local, the participants often say "gf". GF is the abbreviation for good fight. It is a polite way to recognize the other side and the combat that happened between each. It is a wonderful way in which people engage each other beyond the immediate aggression of the first explosion. Or so I wish. It is also (and often) used with a thick layer of sarcasm. This transference of sarcasm can be for both sides of the fight.  It can come from the party that annihilates an opponent and it can come from the person who suddenly found themselves facing a situation with no pleasant outcome. A few months ago I toiled over the question. I wrote a lot of words that I never published because I was trying to understand the motivations of some of the neighbors. There is a fine line between wondering and whining. I know which side I stand upon but balancing it for others is not as easy. The neighbors like their Gua