Cat and Shuttle

I just spent a chunk of the last few hours playing a game of cat and mouse with someone. When it was done, I was going to comment about how stupid the entire thing was. Then I found my hands shaking and my heart beating a bit and I realized that stupid was only my reaction to being frustrated and not doing what I wanted as well as the fact that I did not really get the other person's interests. But, the entire situation while not dramatic was a beautiful illustration at the days in and days out of life in Eve.

Over the last few days I have been consolidating assets and getting myself settle into Black Rise and the neighboring high sec. I have a high sec jump point. This is also where I mine because my jump freighter pilot also mines when she is not doing other things. My jump point is the place where I have things delivered so that I can jump into low sec. I've had other spots over the time that I have played, but since the jump changes have been released I don't think I'm going to need many of them.

Because I am a hoarder, I consolidate assets that are not worth consolidating. I've been moving a little fleet of mining barges across space, ventures, and collecting random, rogue deposits of ore and minerals. I've also been building up my stockpiles in my low sec station.

Today, was the first day that I used my jump freighter to jump since Phoebe was released and fatigue became real. I was jumping out of low sec to gather some things. I've been coming to know my neighbors. Several of the PvP groups that surround Sujarento are USTZ. Also, gate camping is much more common here then I am used to. I could lazy burn through Molden Heath. Here, smartbombers are all over the place, gatecamps are full of instalocking things, and life is a bit less casual for movement.

That isn't a big deal. I got up and woke up and started putting around. I'm building a dreadnought for someone. I talked with Steve and used his blueprint calculator over at Fuzzwork. I gathered all the pieces and spent some time shipping it all to my high sec jumping zone. I then got myself together and jumped my jump freighter into my low sec connection.

However, someone was out smartbombing. Smartbombing pods has become more and more popular. Santo Trafficante is in my corporation now. He has inspired many to make pod killing machines. Sometimes he loses them and people comment on his killmails if they don't know him and why he is fit that way. He was even interviewed by Niden and well... yeah so anyway, smart bombers make me paranoid.

I am also paranoid of my jump freighter going to gates. I don't 100% trust the auto jump. I know it should work but it has broken enough times in the past that I am paranoid. The drop you out of warp not quite far enough and putter a few meters before jumping is enough time for a smartbomber to kill you or someone to bump your freighter. These things will probably never happen but why should I risk my jump freighter?

I decided I'd wait for him to go away. He was running around in a cloaked Maller killing shuttles and pods and rookie ships. Frustrated, I made some perches around the gate with my scout who doubles as my cyno and watched him work. I still don't get gatecamping much less gatecamping like this. I know that it can be profitable. People move very valuable things in small ships that explode when eyeballed funny. And, as someone who does a very tedious activity and finds great joy in it I have no right to comment on what is and is not interesting to other people. None of that stops me. Plus, I was annoyed.

After a while, I logged off. I could do everything later. That was also irritating but it would have to do. So, with that planned, I did some other things, wrote another blog post and went about my day until I was asked to make a jumpclone for someone. I've gotten comfortable with the jump clone thing and one corpmate is making about ten of them for an alt. Every day we are both on, I make him a jump clone.

Now, I had all of those characters on and nothing to do with them. It had been hours, obviously the smart bomber was bored and had logged off. Right? After all, that is what I would do. I sent my alts back into the system. I checked the stations. He was in local but not in the stations. Plus, he cloaks. Irritated, I tanked up my Prorator and decided I'd at least get some of the things I needed to get out, out. I'd also use her for the shuttle my other alt was in.

I sent the Prortator into system and cloaked, headed to one of my nice new perches to watch what was going on. I waited and saw nothing. I then sent my shuttle into the system and I warped it to the station while watching the gate. About the time my shuttle should have landed on the gate, he decloaks in a Condor?

He sits there for a few seconds and then he warps off. I decide that it is my chance. I undock and warp. As I am entering warp, he lands on station in his Condor. Confused, I prey to god that I don't wind up a killmail of mid-grade ascendancy implants somehow. At the same time, I sent my Prorator to the gate as well from her perch. Both accounts land and jump into high sec.

I found myself thinking in disgust, "That was so stupid. Sitting on that gate is dumb can't he do something better with his time?" and then realize that my heart is thumping and my hands are shaking. "Oh, that wasn't so stupid then if I'm this effected," was my next thought along with my ridiculously judgmental reaction that came from being inconvenienced.

It may not be a glorious battle report but its a moment in time where thinking and decision making came into play. No matter how stupid I felt he was, he was making me react to him and causing me to make decisions to avoid getting killed.

That's a lot of the reason I love living outside of high sec. In high sec I worry about being ganked on trade hub undocks in a light weight ship and having my freighter bumped and ganked. Outside of high sec little thing after little thing matters. I was terribly inconvenienced today and that was great. I've never seen this guy before. One reason I like that particular system is that it tends not to be camped. But there he was, fucking up my day. I love it.