Friday 29 March 2013

Shatner. I'd fight William Shatner.

You know this shit is serious when the awesome Joe Struck cranks out some serious graphics



Thursday 28 March 2013

You've met me at a very strange time in my life...

When you wake up in a different place at a different time, can you wake up as a different person?

This week I celebrated 3000 kills, Pengo1998's Ferox being the lucky recipient of a particular brand of violence that is few and far between in low security space, good old fashioned belt piracy. That which started me on this age old journey through space.



This is your life and it’s ending one minute at a time.

I've been chatting with Sard Caid about my place in the EVE verse and I've come to the decision that things will change...






But not with Kane.

The Rizzel's will remain in our spiritual home and I'll continue to hunt as and when it pleases me.

It's only after we've lost everything that we are free to do anything 

In an earlier blog, I mentioned a new character I started. After a few unsuccessful attempts in noob friendly corps, he moved to Rens, where he was running some low level missions for some Sisters.

Every evening I died and every evening I was born again. Resurrected.

Using the new Duel System he quickly learnt that tracking disruptors are overpowered, but ever the optimist he engaged in Frigate on Frigate action with no concern for his own safety.
There are a fair few frigate pilots congregating outside the Brutor Tribe Treasury, many way more skilled than he, but he was still giving it his best.

This all got him thinking...

After fighting, everything else in your life has the volume turned down. You could deal with anything.

A quick trip for a skill book and a couple minutes of learning, he created his corp, an idea which will need a little help, and this is where y'all come in.

The first rule of Rens Fight Club is: you do not talk about Rens Fight Club. 
The second rule of Rens Fight Club is: you do NOT talk about Rens Fight Club. 
Third rule of Rens Fight Club: someone explodes, the fight is over. 
Fourth rule: only two guys to a fight. 
Fifth rule: one Duel at a time, fellas. 
Sixth rule: no Logistics, no Links. 
Seventh rule: fights will go on as long as they have to. 
And the eighth and final rule: if this is your first night at Rens Fight Club, you have to fight

Rens Fight Club is open to all new characters and/or players. Frigates & Destroyers on the undock of the Brutor Tribe Treasury at Rens VI Moon 8.
Characters should ideally be made self sufficient, loss after all needs to be felt and a little mining for ISK never hurt anyone, but if you want to endow your new frigate hot shot with a fat wallet, so be it.
I was gonna say something about no podding of corp members, but people need to learn and clone costs on new characters are cheap.
Experienced players with new characters, help the new guys, like with suggested fits, EFT warriors welcome, slagging off precious newbies is not
This is purely for fun, there are no corp hangars to loot, or a fat wallet to steal, but hopefully a little corp could achieve some fun without too much hassle.
I fully expect a wardec or twenty, but frigates and destroyers don't cost much and fights are what we are after.
We have a cool corp logo. 

You had to give it to him, he had a plan. And it started to make sense, in a Tyler sort of way. No fear, no distractions. The ability to let that which does not matter... truly slide.

So what now? Create a new character in a free slot, train up some skills and fly to Rens, Midnight Freeman is waiting for your application, learning skills for this corp to grow at a furious rate.
Join Kane's ingame public channel NovaKane and have a chat.


Wednesday 20 March 2013

Not going to lie...

A good plan isn't one where someone wins, it's where nobody thinks they've *lost*.
-- (Terry Pratchett, The Amazing Maurice and his Educated Rodents) 


But I feel disappointed in CCP and EVE online but it's also my fault.

Many years ago, I moved to a small system close to highsec, life was good, plenty of frigate action generated by the local 1/10 and 2/10 complexes, surrounding systems full of the brave and foolish.

Every time I logged on there would be conflict, either with those trying to farm the plexes, or those purely coming for a fight. Gusandall was a highway, with so much traffic it some days resembled highsec. Anti Pirates would bring massive fleets through on a regular basis, knowing there would be Pirates for all occasions. There were so many Pirates, oh so many, who cared and tended the area, making sure not to bleed it dry and there was so much action and opportunity for all of us, even the smallest of solo Pirates.

I had carved a niche for myself, not a plex runner or plex farmer, but that of a plex hunter. I was furious in my assault on any interlopers to that plex, so much so that intricate traps were laid to scuttle any plans I had on violence. From polcarbed domination point tackle Rifters and stealth bombers, to log on traps by some of my fiercest opponents. I had fought off entire gangs inside the plexes, lost a few but won a helluva lot. I made many enemies, but also a few life long friends. Many of you may recall some of my thrilling stories of hot plex action on this very blog.

I had ransomed so many pilots, not only for their ships and pods, but also for the right to run the plex (I would convo pilots from station and tell them I would undock and come cause explosions in their immediate vicinity if they didn't pay... Some did and went on their merry, those that didn't met a sticky end)

The untold billions I made off my endeavors and my sheer success at hunting these folk meant I very rarely needed to leave Gusandall. Sure, I still hunted in the surrounding area but I fondly recall whole action packed days spent in the warm glow of the Gusandall star.

Those days are sadly gone, and with them, my raison d'etre.

I'm lost.

Why am I writing this? Well, I'm struggling to find inspiration, I'm too old to be moving around, six years of some of the most exciting action ever and now nothing... Is this what retirement feels like?
Have I been put out to pasture by CCP?

This really sucks.

Wednesday 6 March 2013

The little Caracal that couldn't

"It's going to look pretty good, then, isn't it," said War testily, "the One Horseman and Three Pedestrians of the Apocralypse."
-- The Four Horsemen of the Apocralypse encounter unexpected difficulties
(Terry Pratchett, Sourcery)


Hunting has been slim in the area, between my neighbours operating a scorched earth policy and there no longer being a frigate magnet, I'm struggling to make ends meet.

Keira has stormed off in a mood as there is no longer a steady flow of ISK from customers to Gusandall and I've not heard from her in a long ole while.

Kenny has also been missing, no idea where he's off to but he's still got some market stuff brewing with all our loot, so hopefully he hasn't scarpered with it.

Tough times for NovaKane Incorporated and You've got RED on you

So when a Proteus shows up on scan in Eifer, the three of us that are left spring into action to bushwhack it in its mission. The covops pilot drops probes deep out of onboard scanner range, drags them in and out of scan range in quick sweeps as not to leave them scannable for too long and spook the quarry.

Soon a 100% hit is returned and the probes are dragged over 100AU away, left in space just in case , as the covops warps in to setup the final stages of the ambush, I board my weapon of choice, a Caracal

A Loki with skirmish links moves into system, extra range was key to this being a successful hunt.

I undock from Gusandall and warp to the Eifer gate, the Loki reports in place and ready to drop cloak and activate links, but the covops reports the Proteus has warped out, so I warp away to a safe spot and wait. This is a lucrative mission from a level 4 agent in Emolgranlan, the Proteus would be back and after a fair few minutes, he was.

So the whole process of setting up the warpin would begin again, but with the Loki in place, I had exceptionally long range on my point, so as soon as the covops reported within 40 clicks I jumped in and warped to her position. I land under 40km and immediately lock the Proteus up and apply the loving caress of a warp disruptor to its warp drive but still have a little work to do, I close under MWD to within 24km and open up with a full flight of Nova missiles which start to tear great big chunks out of the Proteus' Shield and then armour, he starts to repair it but I'm in control, out of range of his blasters as he sends a wave of small drones to try force me off. I'm taking fire from the mission rats as it seems they take an instant dislike to warp disruptors being used in their presence.

The Proteus isn't long for the universe and soon he explodes... Victory...

But...

There always seems to be a but as of late...

I had switched to my drone overview as a precaution to how the Proteus might be set up. Not checking to see what else had warped in I had taken my cue from said overview and it was only then that I noticed that not only was I tackled, but I was scrammed, no MWD, a friend of the Proteus in a Loki had warped in or decloaked, doesn't really matter as my Caracal was in deep trouble... Very deep trouble.

I engaged the Loki but it was too late, Had I been paying attention I might have had another kill but as it stood I was preparing to warp my escape pod out.

Good fight shared all round but I wasn't finished, I warped back to Gusandall and again, not paying attention, thought I was boarding a Hurricane, but as I undocked and warped to Eifer I noticed I was in a Maulus.

Really Kane?

Anyways, this might be fun, I warped to the site as soon as I jumped into Eifer and the Loki was still there, scooping all the loot, so I engaged the Loki which immediately pissed off the Equilibrium of Mankind ships who turned all their attention to me. I started dodging fire as I could whilst making sure the Loki wasn't going anywhere, also had to navigate through and around some structures which could have caused me to lose range and transverse speed, which in turn would have made it a very sticky situation.

The damage from my drones and railguns were not enough to even dent the Loki's shields and after about half an hour I got bored and let him go, again Good Fights shared all round


I was a little gutted that due to my errors I lost a ship, and even further errors meant that even as I had another shot at killing the second hostile I failed.

I have now checked all my overview settings and it seems all the Strategic Cruisers were unchecked, certainly not something I would have done and I'm wondering if in some recent software update to my systems it was turned off accidentally, much like the Combat Battlecruisers not being checked.

Sunday 3 March 2013

His name is...

"Can't sing. Can't dance. Can handle a sword a little."
-- Victor's resume
(Terry Pratchett, Moving Pictures)


I'm doing something a little different as my home is now so desolate that the opportunities for my old shenanigans are few and far between. I did get some kills today, a Thrasher on station and two Ventures flown by the same pilot, but it's not the same, it will never be the same, and I'm not sure I will ever be the same... But Gusandall and Eifer are my home, everyone else are just guests.

So I've started a new character... well I started him just before I took my unscheduled break, he's a free Brutor, flying Gallente frigates. He's just joined his second corporation as is overwhelmed at all the information offered him. His first corporation took a few days to materialise, the recruitment channel has some serious issues but his first corp was based in Caldari space, near Jita.

They seemed like a nice bunch, espousing easy going values with an understanding that RL™ is the priority, but when it came for said priority to interfere with his development, they kicked him to the curb, albeit with a little pocket money for his trouble. So upon his return he decided to once more brave the recruitment channel... Within seconds he was inundated with conversation requests from all manner of corporations. But eventually he settled on a new little outfit based in Gallente space, with a lowsec conveniently located next door to their base of operations and three jumps from Old Man Star.

They again seem like a lovely bunch of coconuts, with all good intentions of making a success of themselves in this harsh universe...

He's currently flying a Tristan but doesn't seem to find anything alone in the surrounding lowsec that might take him for easy pickings and he's also mining with a Venture to make some ISK as it seems more lucrative than level 1 mission. He's helping where he can some of his corpmates with their mission.

His life is that of a free man...



How long until my Piratic nature manifests itself?

Friday 1 March 2013

May your skies always be clear...

It was the sort of thing you expected in the Street of Alchemists. The neighbours *preferred* explosions, which were at least identifiable and soon over. They were better than the smells, which crept up on you.
-- (Terry Pratchett, Moving Pictures) 

Take on a death-trap job... Story of my life. A little something to celebrate my return and reminisce about the good ole days







Anyways...

What are y'all thought on me taking on an apprentice?
A wing man... or woman who seeks adventure and giggles. Would need to be someone who is self sufficient and independent enough to do their own thing but then fly side by side with someone quite clearly with no regard for his or anybody else's safety.

Just a thought.