It's funny how people you consider friends act like the total opposite at times. I haven't heard from Chadrick Belefonte since he messaged me and said he would help me mine. Haven't seen him, no e-mail, no trace he till exists. Still, now that the wardec is over, we are pulling in ore again and my wallet is increasing once more, but it's slow work.
I've also decided to go back and clean out some of my hangars in Libold. I found an old Mammoth floating in the Caldari station left unfitted and alot of random modules and whatnots. I threw it all in the Mammoth and flew it to Aldrat, selling the stuff and the ship in the Eve University's Headquarters, hoping some new capsuleers would buy my stuff instead of trekking the 5 or so jumps to Hek for cheaper. I really need to try this more often. Taking advantage of other people's laziness.
Coming back to the Caldari Libold station, I inquire about the darkened Vexor in the far corner of my hangar and I'm told it's mine, so I dock my pod in it and have a look. It was then that the memory of it's purchase returns. I fit it for fighting other pilots, for some odd reason, having a dual Stasis Webifiers, a Warp Scrambler, Afterburner, some Drone Damage amplifiers, Medium Railguns (Already loaded too with Antimatter charges) , and here's the kicker, 3 light drones. An Amarr, a Gallente and a Minmitar drone. What the hell was I thinking?
I started to undock to drag the thing to Aldrat to see if someone would take it off my hands. Maybe just put all of it on contract or something. But as I arrive in Aldrat and see my Blackbird on my asset list, docked in another station, I realized that during war, the only ship I have that can help in any meaningful manner is that ECM ship. So instead of selling it, I bought some proper drones for it and tucked the ship in beside my Blackbird to collect dust until needed in another war.
Now I start posting sell orders on the market for my various wares and quickly run out of market order slots, only getting half my stuff up. I also hauled a load of minerals to Hek, which has to sit there now until someone buys something from me and opens up some market slots. Maybe I should add trading training to my list of things to do.
On another note, Maya is still not talking to me. We mine together fine, but it's gone back to the way things used to be when we first started this, like she doesn't trust me anymore. She stayed back in Hardbako while I took the Charon to Hek. I now sit in my Captain's quarters and stare at the large display before me, my mind wandering off.
I glanced around the room, noticing the door that never opens and my mind went off again about what could be on the other side. I tried opening it several times and get a message saying something about the air not being suitable for capsuleer use or something, like it's contaminated. I have been to other parts of the station, like the Bar or Market, Militia offices, Medical, Repair shops, even Bounty offices, but there's this door in every Captain's quarters that I've been in that will not open no matter what I did. I heard there was a passkey blueprint floating around that supposedly opens it, but the materials on it don't even exist, and it turned out to be a hoax among capsuleers.
I turned away from it and spun the holographic Charon on my coffee table and then brought up the ship information out of sheer boredom. It listed the cargo capacity, shield, armor, and hull strength and resistances, speed, agility, and every other feature the massive freighter had to offer.
At the bottom, was something called "Cross-capsule Variant ".
This is something that piqued my interest. I've never noticed this before. I clicked the attribute and read about what this was. As a capsuleer, to pilot a ship you are confined to your capsule so you can control it and if something should happen to destroy your ship, the capsule is ejected to save your life. Furthermore, if your capsule should be breached, it was designed to end your current life before you were killed by explosion or the vacuum of space and you wake up in a new clone. That's supposedly how capsules work. There was no getting out of your pod unless you were in a station. A Cross-capsule Variant ship had a capsule gantry that allowed the capsuleer to exit their capsule while inside a ship. I've been out of my capsule on Mining Barges before, so I suppose those are Cross-capsule Variants as well, but they were small enough for me to pilot manually alone. I wondered about something bigger...
I glanced over my shoulder to see my un-named Charon floating in the Hangar past the catwalk railing and my mind wandered once more. Moments later, I was back in my pod and entered my freighter, my senses expanding, leaving the confines of my body to encompass the entire ship. This is what I'm used to. I've switched ships many times before, I searched my control for some form of reference to this Cross Capsule feature, and I found it buried deep in the controls used to leave the ship. I hesitated for a moment before activating it not knowing what I would find, then my existence shrunk down once more to be jammed back into my own head, but the pod did not open like when docking with the station or in a Mining Barge. The ship was still docked in the station, yet my connection to the ship was severed and I found myself floating in darkness and pod goo. It was like the Capsile had just powered off. I reached out to touch the walls and banged on them as best I could, but nothing happened.
At first...
I suddenly felt gravity. The pod lurched from it's docking clamps and turned clockwise. Then the liquid inside quickly drained away and a breather was placed over my mouth. A sort of dark mask stuck to my skin and I trusted it to be needed. I leaned forward, rising out of the seat in the bottom of the capsule and put my ear to the hull, trying to listen. There was a flash of light as the hatch suddenly opened and I was blasted with humid air. I fell, stumbling out on to a smooth metal floor as the compartment containing my station clothes opened beside me. I composed myself and stood up, coming eye to eye with a young girl barely in her teens holding a screen in her hands and staring wide eyed at me. I assumed it was because I was still naked, but when I stood up, she screamed and ran from the room, leaving me rather confused.
I quickly dressed and equipped a Parapistol to my belt as I started to explore the inside of my ship.
I left the large room the capsule was now in and read the label on the door as I exited, "Bridge" it read. It was a rather large room with the capsule directly in the middle of it, like the bridge of a barge. I continued on the dimly lit hallways, my boots rattling the now metal grated floors. Hearing footsteps ahead I grip my pistol and duck behind a girder to hide. I watched as two men in uniform run past into the bridge in a panic and the young girl from before casually walked past, trying to look over their shoulders to see what they find. I listened as best I could.
"What do you mean it's open? It's never open!"
"Look! It's open!" the other replied.
"And you said a man came out?" One man asked the girl, "Wearing a mask?"
"Yes." she replied, "And naked..."
"This is bad. A capsuleer shouldn't be walking around his own ship. Especially with the crew." he said.
"Why not?" the girl replied.
"Because he could die." he answered, "He's not a Mercenary that has internal implants for the cloning technology. He needs to be in his capsule for him to be able to wake up in a clone if he dies. Besides, the air here is contaminated for him. The air is for us planet born Humans and isn't clean enough for capsuleer clones to breathe like in the other section of the station."
"She did say he was wearing a mask." the other man said, "Maybe it was a feature of the capsule."
"The main question is, where is he now?"
"Maybe he's hiding." The young girl said.
"Why would a man unafraid of death be hiding from his own crew on his own ship?" the lead man scoffed, "He's our boss for crying out loud."
"Actually, sir." the other man interjected, "I heard that most capsuleers don't even know there are crew on their ships. They think it's only them piloting it and no one else."
"What?"
"This information censoring is intentional. Otherwise, capsuleers may think twice about bringing ships into battle. Sometimes, suicide missions are normal among them and they won't think twice about killing themselves because they know they will come back. If they knew they had crew on board, well, some may hesitate." he explained, "Even Mr. Darkwing has hesitated to bring out his ships during wars."
I couldn't take it any more. I had to talk to these people. I holstered my pistol and walked out from behind the bulkhead I was standing behind. My boots on grating caught the group's attention. I pretended to be inspecting something on the ceiling. Casually, I rapped my knuckles on the door frame,
"So this is what the inside looks like." I said, "You seem to keep a nicely running crew."
Tuesday, May 27, 2014
Wednesday, May 21, 2014
War, What is it good for?
Absolutely nothing.
That's pretty much what I had left after buying a PLEX to keep Maya flying in the Orca. I usually keep my finances secret from others and she was happy to see her license time extended, but she seemed determined to get right back out and help mine. I was agreeing with her. The wars are over and my Hulk once again graces the belts, noming the roids as it were.
But there's something I'm missing. I don't think I'm doing this right. I hear of others supporting alot more than one pilot on their income and do it easily every month. There has to be more to it than just mining. I think I need to get involved a bit more in other aspects of industry. Not just me, but Maya too. I need to start looking into something to manufacture and rethink some of my planetary installations. I also need to ask Maya to start training the skills necessary for her to have colonies of her own to pull in just that much more ISK. I hear on the subspace network that some significant changes to Industry are coming to stations and Empires are soon allowing POS's to be put up without need for standings. I haven't heard if they still require charters, but we will see. Those changes aren't happening for a while, but in the meantime, I hear some new ships will become available and some current ships are getting redesigned.
One of them I am looking forward to. I haven't flown Caldari ships besides my Charon in a while, the Moa is one I used to own but sold because I just didn't like the look of it. It's odd to dislike a ship just because of it's appearance, but when your view of the universe is locked to a camera drone buzzing around your ship, it's something you're always looking at in space. The new design for the Moa is sleek and for once, symmetrical.
I am thinking of buying a BPO and getting it researched for when the changes come out and people would be looking to buy them. Might just start training my cruiser skills and Medium Hybrid turret skills to fly one myself, when I'm not mining.
Like I mentioned, two wars ended last night, yet I've been in the belts for the past few days. The Alliance rules for wars do not prohibit mining or missioning during wars, but state only that we have to do it in the home constellation and to watch local for war targets. That's what I did. I was starting to go stir crazy in station and found a fairly low population system near Aldrat to mine in. I made sure to look up info on every pilot in local, and I even used my D-Scan for once to see what they were flying. It was fairly comfortable when all I saw was other Orcas and Hulks but I became wary when cruisers and battleships appeared. I kept telling myself they were just missioning, but I was paranoid that they were all spies out to get me. I've been told its not the wrong mentality to have in this universe, but it's no way to live. Once the war was over, I felt like I could finally relax and I happily cleared out my watch list, then got to work with even Mining drones out.
"Sain, come in." Maya's voice came over comms finally yesterday after a long time of silence since the war ended.
"Go ahead." I replied.
"I've been meaning to ask, and it's not that I'm ungrateful, because I am, but..." she said, then stopped.
"Yes?"
"Why buy another PLEX for me?" she asked, "You could have sent it to Amalea. You could have rescued her from wherever she is." I knew this question was coming. Why did I choose to not save her sister and give her the time instead so we can make money over saving a life. It might come down to the way capsuleers view life opposed to normal Humans, not really valuing the life of a capsuleer because of the cloning technology, or the varying levels of greed they have, but in my mind, her sister was safe, just....out of reach. As if she was isolated from the hell we call New Eden in a place she could never be touched by pirates or gankers out for the modules on her ship. She was new at being a capsuleer and had never died since becoming one, and Sain felt like she needed to be protected until she gained more experience, like her sister Maya has. He realized he had left her words hanging between his Hulk and her Orca as they gently float between the asteroids. Sain found himself staring at rocks.
"We make more money together than I could alone. More than if Amalea and I worked together because her skills aren't high enough." he said. It sounded like the answer a greedy, ISK hungry capsuleer would say, but the fact was that he wasn't sure himself exactly what the reason was.
"You did it because you wanted to make more money?" She asked, her words shaky over comms. She sounded upset as she should be, but there was more to this than she knew as well. Extending her time was a part of my general plan to get enough isk to save her sister. With an Orca in the field to increase ore yield, shorter PI schedules bringing in more resources, and my own sister Osiph in Dodixie training manufacturing skills to help with money, it would be a combination of all sources to fund the second PLEX for Amalea.
"We need money now, Maya. We need it to save your sister." he said.
"You had the money. You had the PLEX in your hands!" she stopped and gasped, "I had it in my hands! This is my fault! I could have used it for her!"
"No, no. Maya, you mustn't think that way. Trust me I have a plan." I tried to reassure her, but I could hear her sobbing over comms. I've never heard her cry before.....Ever. There was a long pause and during mining procedures, I get a warning before my eyes.
"Maya, the Fleet Hangar is full. Can you move the ore to the Ore Bay?" I ask. There was no response on comms as the connection was cut. The Fleet Hanger suddenly emptied and I was able to put more in. She still seemed mad, but I swear I will make things right. I'm hoping "The Player" will come through for us in the end and help, if it even exists.
That's pretty much what I had left after buying a PLEX to keep Maya flying in the Orca. I usually keep my finances secret from others and she was happy to see her license time extended, but she seemed determined to get right back out and help mine. I was agreeing with her. The wars are over and my Hulk once again graces the belts, noming the roids as it were.
But there's something I'm missing. I don't think I'm doing this right. I hear of others supporting alot more than one pilot on their income and do it easily every month. There has to be more to it than just mining. I think I need to get involved a bit more in other aspects of industry. Not just me, but Maya too. I need to start looking into something to manufacture and rethink some of my planetary installations. I also need to ask Maya to start training the skills necessary for her to have colonies of her own to pull in just that much more ISK. I hear on the subspace network that some significant changes to Industry are coming to stations and Empires are soon allowing POS's to be put up without need for standings. I haven't heard if they still require charters, but we will see. Those changes aren't happening for a while, but in the meantime, I hear some new ships will become available and some current ships are getting redesigned.
One of them I am looking forward to. I haven't flown Caldari ships besides my Charon in a while, the Moa is one I used to own but sold because I just didn't like the look of it. It's odd to dislike a ship just because of it's appearance, but when your view of the universe is locked to a camera drone buzzing around your ship, it's something you're always looking at in space. The new design for the Moa is sleek and for once, symmetrical.
I am thinking of buying a BPO and getting it researched for when the changes come out and people would be looking to buy them. Might just start training my cruiser skills and Medium Hybrid turret skills to fly one myself, when I'm not mining.
Like I mentioned, two wars ended last night, yet I've been in the belts for the past few days. The Alliance rules for wars do not prohibit mining or missioning during wars, but state only that we have to do it in the home constellation and to watch local for war targets. That's what I did. I was starting to go stir crazy in station and found a fairly low population system near Aldrat to mine in. I made sure to look up info on every pilot in local, and I even used my D-Scan for once to see what they were flying. It was fairly comfortable when all I saw was other Orcas and Hulks but I became wary when cruisers and battleships appeared. I kept telling myself they were just missioning, but I was paranoid that they were all spies out to get me. I've been told its not the wrong mentality to have in this universe, but it's no way to live. Once the war was over, I felt like I could finally relax and I happily cleared out my watch list, then got to work with even Mining drones out.
"Sain, come in." Maya's voice came over comms finally yesterday after a long time of silence since the war ended.
"Go ahead." I replied.
"I've been meaning to ask, and it's not that I'm ungrateful, because I am, but..." she said, then stopped.
"Yes?"
"Why buy another PLEX for me?" she asked, "You could have sent it to Amalea. You could have rescued her from wherever she is." I knew this question was coming. Why did I choose to not save her sister and give her the time instead so we can make money over saving a life. It might come down to the way capsuleers view life opposed to normal Humans, not really valuing the life of a capsuleer because of the cloning technology, or the varying levels of greed they have, but in my mind, her sister was safe, just....out of reach. As if she was isolated from the hell we call New Eden in a place she could never be touched by pirates or gankers out for the modules on her ship. She was new at being a capsuleer and had never died since becoming one, and Sain felt like she needed to be protected until she gained more experience, like her sister Maya has. He realized he had left her words hanging between his Hulk and her Orca as they gently float between the asteroids. Sain found himself staring at rocks.
"We make more money together than I could alone. More than if Amalea and I worked together because her skills aren't high enough." he said. It sounded like the answer a greedy, ISK hungry capsuleer would say, but the fact was that he wasn't sure himself exactly what the reason was.
"You did it because you wanted to make more money?" She asked, her words shaky over comms. She sounded upset as she should be, but there was more to this than she knew as well. Extending her time was a part of my general plan to get enough isk to save her sister. With an Orca in the field to increase ore yield, shorter PI schedules bringing in more resources, and my own sister Osiph in Dodixie training manufacturing skills to help with money, it would be a combination of all sources to fund the second PLEX for Amalea.
"We need money now, Maya. We need it to save your sister." he said.
"You had the money. You had the PLEX in your hands!" she stopped and gasped, "I had it in my hands! This is my fault! I could have used it for her!"
"No, no. Maya, you mustn't think that way. Trust me I have a plan." I tried to reassure her, but I could hear her sobbing over comms. I've never heard her cry before.....Ever. There was a long pause and during mining procedures, I get a warning before my eyes.
"Maya, the Fleet Hangar is full. Can you move the ore to the Ore Bay?" I ask. There was no response on comms as the connection was cut. The Fleet Hanger suddenly emptied and I was able to put more in. She still seemed mad, but I swear I will make things right. I'm hoping "The Player" will come through for us in the end and help, if it even exists.
Tuesday, May 13, 2014
The Woes of War
Again we've been targeted by war, and after two weeks, the enemy has racked up enough damages to extend the war by another two weeks. Not to mention, a second corp has declared war as well, meaning more targets to shoot at me.
This has taken a huge hit to my income, and I have a full Charon sitting in my hangar, ready to haul ore to Aldrat for refining. Yet I dare not take it out during war. I won't even mine both from fear of losing my barge and causing even more money to be added to the damages of our war report. Maya has gone to try and be productive in Egyfe to see if she can get some ice and mine in the area when the ice belts run dry. She seems to be getting a little annoyed with me, or rather, the situation and knows that with me unable to mine means no money for a PLEX. Her own license was also running out and we both had hopes to make enough for a spare to somehow apply to her sister's license and rescue her from wherever she had disappeared to when her's ran out in a belt.
This time was a little different for the war though. I actually tried to get involved. I trained a doctrine fit for a Blackbird, an ECM cruiser used for jamming sensors of the enemy. I sat in an Aldrat station and actually joined coms for a while, waiting to be called out to start jamming the enemy, but they ended up running away and not taking out bait. It was going to be the first real fight I've been in, and it just didn't happen.
Another friend of mine had heard that my corp was constantly getting war decced and contacted me recently. It was short e-mails back and forth, but he actually offered to train himself for a Retriever or Covetor to help Maya mine. A corp member of Darkwing Inc. I believe Osiph must have let him in.
Chadrick Belefonte. A rather sophisticated name for an Amarrian, like he had some nobility in his blood. I've known him for a long time, but rarely kept in touch, each time under friendly circumstances. Although I do recall loaning him money for new ships a few times and not seeing a single ISK in return...
He says he's mostly mission running now, a bit of exploration on the side, but for some reason he did have a rather significant dip in his security status in the past, so I was always wary of the man.
"Chadrick Belefonte?" Maya had to repeat it to make sure she had it right. I stood on the catwalk of my captain's quarters and stared up at my Blackbird hovering in the Hangar above me, Maya on comms through my internal implants.
"Yes. Have you met?" I asked, an odd sneer on my face.
"No. Can he be trusted?" she replied, voice full of uncertainty.
"No, but cut him some slack, would you. He's a friend."
"You keep odd company, Sain." she said, "When will he be here?"
"He hasn't finished training for a barge yet." I said, "Then he has to get one..."
"You make it sound like you're expecting a favor from him."
"Is it that obvious?"
This has taken a huge hit to my income, and I have a full Charon sitting in my hangar, ready to haul ore to Aldrat for refining. Yet I dare not take it out during war. I won't even mine both from fear of losing my barge and causing even more money to be added to the damages of our war report. Maya has gone to try and be productive in Egyfe to see if she can get some ice and mine in the area when the ice belts run dry. She seems to be getting a little annoyed with me, or rather, the situation and knows that with me unable to mine means no money for a PLEX. Her own license was also running out and we both had hopes to make enough for a spare to somehow apply to her sister's license and rescue her from wherever she had disappeared to when her's ran out in a belt.
This time was a little different for the war though. I actually tried to get involved. I trained a doctrine fit for a Blackbird, an ECM cruiser used for jamming sensors of the enemy. I sat in an Aldrat station and actually joined coms for a while, waiting to be called out to start jamming the enemy, but they ended up running away and not taking out bait. It was going to be the first real fight I've been in, and it just didn't happen.
Another friend of mine had heard that my corp was constantly getting war decced and contacted me recently. It was short e-mails back and forth, but he actually offered to train himself for a Retriever or Covetor to help Maya mine. A corp member of Darkwing Inc. I believe Osiph must have let him in.
He says he's mostly mission running now, a bit of exploration on the side, but for some reason he did have a rather significant dip in his security status in the past, so I was always wary of the man.
"Chadrick Belefonte?" Maya had to repeat it to make sure she had it right. I stood on the catwalk of my captain's quarters and stared up at my Blackbird hovering in the Hangar above me, Maya on comms through my internal implants.
"Yes. Have you met?" I asked, an odd sneer on my face.
"No. Can he be trusted?" she replied, voice full of uncertainty.
"No, but cut him some slack, would you. He's a friend."
"You keep odd company, Sain." she said, "When will he be here?"
"He hasn't finished training for a barge yet." I said, "Then he has to get one..."
"You make it sound like you're expecting a favor from him."
"Is it that obvious?"
Tuesday, February 25, 2014
Back in Business
The war is over and I'm out mining again. I figured since we were both in Egyfe, we might as well put some time in the ice fields. I've opted for Maya to fly a Mackinaw and myself in a Hulk to try and see what kind of progress we make with me jetcanning it into her ship and she mining and hauling. I'm not sure if having extra lasers on the ice part time is better than having the Orca boosts. We've been in the belt a couple of hours and pulled in a little over two hundred ice blocks. Maybe tomorrow I will try the Orca with a hulk to see how that goes.
Maya still seems distracted as we worked. It's understandable since there's not much to do while ice mining. The cycles are long and the ice blocks are so large you rarely have to re-target anything. I've fallen asleep several times doing this. When this ice is gone, we might try ice mining in Nein, but it would be more to do there because it's a 0.5 system and I'm paranoid to I would actually use my directional scanner while I mine.
I also started manufacturing, yet it's a hard business to get into. When I found some items I would make a profit on, I started making them in bulk. The problem is, most of it is sitting in Hek waiting to be sold but no one is buying. Another lesson learned. Make sure people are buying what you want to make, and make sure you can make it for a profit. I've been sticking to frigate rigs and mining crystals to start, of course with dreams of building large freighters and Orca's in my future, but I seem to have issues with spending mountains of money on materials for building. While mining, the credits in my wallet simply increased as I offload pile after pile of minerals in Hek for sale, decreasing only a little when I bought things like crystals or new lasers. I understand that with manufacturing, you need to spend money to make money, but like losing ships, I have this irrational fear of failing and costing myself money that I could have in my pocket.
For once, I decided to open up a bit with my co-worker. We were in Maya's Captain's quarters this time. Again we were drinking, seemingly the only thing to do on this station while docked.
"Have you ever died, Maya?" I suddenly ask in the silence. She had the holo projector on the coffee table pulled over to her side of the couch, lying down and lazily swatting the hologram of her ship as it spun like a top in front of her. She stopped and the glowing Mackinaw spun to a stop, drifting above the table.
"Everyone has to die to become a capsuleer, Sain." she said. It was true, the process is quite jarring. You're initially scanned, uploaded to a computer, then your consciousness is transferred to your first clone equipped with the interfaces needed to operate a pod. The interfaces wasn't something that could be surgically implanted since they were so intricately interfaced with your own body, they had to be put in place and a clone grown around it. Therefore, the only way to become a capsuleer, was to transfer your consciousness to the new clone, and your old body was terminated in the process. The first time is the most eerie. You're leaving the body you were born in, only to be forcibly put into a new one identical to the old. You could have the new clone altered if you like, a new face, new bone structure. You could even change gender if you wanted. But once you begin life as a capsuleer, it costs a lot of money to change it. Dying to start a new life is one thing. Dying because someone else wanted to end your life intentionally, is another.
"Have you been podded, I mean?" I asked. Podded was just a term meaning to have your pod destroyed after your ship was. Pirates do this all the time if they manage to catch you after they destroy your ship.
"No." she replied after some thought, "Have you?"
"I can't remember, but I think so." I replied, "I have lost ships to gankers." Another capsuleer term meaning pirates who attack in high security space, trying to destroy you before CONCORD shows up to destroy them. They do this in cheap ships to try and kill you, to loot your expensive modules off your wrecked ship after they get another ship and come back. I added, "I've also survived a gank attempt."
"Your point?" She asked, swatting her hologram again, "That's normal for a Capsuleer."
"I know, but that's the one thing I'm afraid of; losing ships and dying." I said, "It's pointless because I know I'm immortal now and ships are just flying ISK, really. Everything is easy to replace. I don't understand why I'm so afraid to lose ships. Maybe because I feel attached to them? I don't know."
She giggled and spun her holographic ship again, "You're attached to your ships? You feel sad when they blow up? Why?"
"I don't know. Maybe because it sometimes feels like my own body with the interface, you know? Wouldn't you miss your arm if you lost it?"
"Not if I could buy a new arm identical to the old one." she retorted, going back to spinning her ship. I noticed a little counter appear underneath the image of the mackinaw and thought it interesting it was programmed to count the number of rotations if you got bored and decided to start spinning it...
Anyway...
"I suppose your right. I guess I haven't lost that many ships to be used to it." I huffed.
Maya sat up, "Listen, you're into manufacturing now, right? You have BPO's for nearly every frigate out there. Pick one, build a bunch, fit them, then fly out to low sec in an empty clone and don't come back until you've lost them all."
"I've been told to do that many times." I said.
"Then why haven't you?"
"I don't want to lower my security status and be locked out of High Security space." You still lose security status in low security space."
"Null sec?" she suggested.
"Too far away." I said, "Might not make it." We sat in silence for a while then she suddenly straightened up with a thought.
"Wormholes!" she said, "You could find a wormhole and fly around in one. I'm sure you could find a fight in one and learn about them while you're at it!" Now that wasn't a bad idea. I could jump into an empty clone and put my training on hold for a bit. Fly in a wormhole and look around. I haven't been in them because of the same reason I don't go to low sec. I didn't want to lose ships. But if i were trying to lose ships, that might be the way to go, since I wouldn't lose security status in unknown space as well. I also just trained up and bought a Crane as well, a cloaky version of the Badger for hauling during war time and maybe into low sec. I could try training for a stealth bomber of some kind and go for a wander around. But stealth bombers might be pricey to lose. I'd have to look into it.
"I will look into it." I tell her, then finish my drink.
Maya still seems distracted as we worked. It's understandable since there's not much to do while ice mining. The cycles are long and the ice blocks are so large you rarely have to re-target anything. I've fallen asleep several times doing this. When this ice is gone, we might try ice mining in Nein, but it would be more to do there because it's a 0.5 system and I'm paranoid to I would actually use my directional scanner while I mine.
I also started manufacturing, yet it's a hard business to get into. When I found some items I would make a profit on, I started making them in bulk. The problem is, most of it is sitting in Hek waiting to be sold but no one is buying. Another lesson learned. Make sure people are buying what you want to make, and make sure you can make it for a profit. I've been sticking to frigate rigs and mining crystals to start, of course with dreams of building large freighters and Orca's in my future, but I seem to have issues with spending mountains of money on materials for building. While mining, the credits in my wallet simply increased as I offload pile after pile of minerals in Hek for sale, decreasing only a little when I bought things like crystals or new lasers. I understand that with manufacturing, you need to spend money to make money, but like losing ships, I have this irrational fear of failing and costing myself money that I could have in my pocket.
For once, I decided to open up a bit with my co-worker. We were in Maya's Captain's quarters this time. Again we were drinking, seemingly the only thing to do on this station while docked.
"Have you ever died, Maya?" I suddenly ask in the silence. She had the holo projector on the coffee table pulled over to her side of the couch, lying down and lazily swatting the hologram of her ship as it spun like a top in front of her. She stopped and the glowing Mackinaw spun to a stop, drifting above the table.
"Everyone has to die to become a capsuleer, Sain." she said. It was true, the process is quite jarring. You're initially scanned, uploaded to a computer, then your consciousness is transferred to your first clone equipped with the interfaces needed to operate a pod. The interfaces wasn't something that could be surgically implanted since they were so intricately interfaced with your own body, they had to be put in place and a clone grown around it. Therefore, the only way to become a capsuleer, was to transfer your consciousness to the new clone, and your old body was terminated in the process. The first time is the most eerie. You're leaving the body you were born in, only to be forcibly put into a new one identical to the old. You could have the new clone altered if you like, a new face, new bone structure. You could even change gender if you wanted. But once you begin life as a capsuleer, it costs a lot of money to change it. Dying to start a new life is one thing. Dying because someone else wanted to end your life intentionally, is another.
"Have you been podded, I mean?" I asked. Podded was just a term meaning to have your pod destroyed after your ship was. Pirates do this all the time if they manage to catch you after they destroy your ship.
"No." she replied after some thought, "Have you?"
"I can't remember, but I think so." I replied, "I have lost ships to gankers." Another capsuleer term meaning pirates who attack in high security space, trying to destroy you before CONCORD shows up to destroy them. They do this in cheap ships to try and kill you, to loot your expensive modules off your wrecked ship after they get another ship and come back. I added, "I've also survived a gank attempt."
"Your point?" She asked, swatting her hologram again, "That's normal for a Capsuleer."
"I know, but that's the one thing I'm afraid of; losing ships and dying." I said, "It's pointless because I know I'm immortal now and ships are just flying ISK, really. Everything is easy to replace. I don't understand why I'm so afraid to lose ships. Maybe because I feel attached to them? I don't know."
She giggled and spun her holographic ship again, "You're attached to your ships? You feel sad when they blow up? Why?"
"I don't know. Maybe because it sometimes feels like my own body with the interface, you know? Wouldn't you miss your arm if you lost it?"
"Not if I could buy a new arm identical to the old one." she retorted, going back to spinning her ship. I noticed a little counter appear underneath the image of the mackinaw and thought it interesting it was programmed to count the number of rotations if you got bored and decided to start spinning it...
Anyway...
"I suppose your right. I guess I haven't lost that many ships to be used to it." I huffed.
Maya sat up, "Listen, you're into manufacturing now, right? You have BPO's for nearly every frigate out there. Pick one, build a bunch, fit them, then fly out to low sec in an empty clone and don't come back until you've lost them all."
"I've been told to do that many times." I said.
"Then why haven't you?"
"I don't want to lower my security status and be locked out of High Security space." You still lose security status in low security space."
"Null sec?" she suggested.
"Too far away." I said, "Might not make it." We sat in silence for a while then she suddenly straightened up with a thought.
"Wormholes!" she said, "You could find a wormhole and fly around in one. I'm sure you could find a fight in one and learn about them while you're at it!" Now that wasn't a bad idea. I could jump into an empty clone and put my training on hold for a bit. Fly in a wormhole and look around. I haven't been in them because of the same reason I don't go to low sec. I didn't want to lose ships. But if i were trying to lose ships, that might be the way to go, since I wouldn't lose security status in unknown space as well. I also just trained up and bought a Crane as well, a cloaky version of the Badger for hauling during war time and maybe into low sec. I could try training for a stealth bomber of some kind and go for a wander around. But stealth bombers might be pricey to lose. I'd have to look into it.
"I will look into it." I tell her, then finish my drink.
Thursday, February 13, 2014
The Case of the Missing Sister...
It was quiet around the table. Only the sound of ice falling in her glass could be heard in the dimly lit Captain's quarters on board a station in Aldrat. Our corporation had a station here and I had docked to run some research jobs to try and start manufacturing again. Maya and I stared at the large screen in the small room before us, watching advertisements for Quafe, bounties, and Concord roll by. I could see she was clearly upset after what happened, but I had no idea how to help. I've never heard of it before.
"Go over again what happened." I said, in a calm, comforting voice, "I want to get my facts right."
"Amalea was out mining ice in that Retriever you loaned her and went missing. Just over in Egyfe." she said, "I heard her snoring on comms and knew she fell asleep."
"And she just vanished?" I asked. Maya took another swig of Caldarian Whiskey and sighed.
"Yes. Comms shut off and I couldn't re-establish the connection." she said, "I mean I don't blame her for falling asleep while ice mining. You've even done that before. But to just leave and not say anything? And with your ship?!"
"I'm not worried about the ship." I said. It wasn't entirely true. If I could get it back, it would be nice, but its not worth losing a friend. Neither of us would be worried even if she ran off and got killed. I'd lose the ship but at least she would wake up in a clone vat somewhere right as rain. The problem is that the station that has her medical clone repeatedly states that her clone has not received any neural data and has been dormant for a little over a month since she first became a capsuleer.
A little over a month....Wait a minute...
"You don't suppose." I trailed off.
"What?" She demanded, "Say it, Sain!"
"Maybe her Pilot's license expired while she was in space." I guessed. We both sat silent while both of our cybernetically enhanced minds tried to comprehend the idea.
"License expired?" Maya asked, "Didn't an alarm go off to wake her up to tell her such an important piece of information?!"
"There is no such alarm." I advised, "As I understand it, the license is a code that allows linking of our pods to our ships, or allows operation of the pods alone in space. If it expires or we lose connection for some reason with our ships, there is a fail safe that will warp our ship to a random location nearby in space, then adjusts the chronoton frequency of the hull to phase out of normal space." Maya blankly stared at me and slowly blinked.
"What?" she asked, "Can't you just take your Heron out and scan her down?"
"No she's not out there anymore if that's the case. Her and her ship have phased out and vanished."
"So where is she?" Maya asked.
"She is wherever her ship warped her to, but has moved to another plane of existence."
"How is that possible? Is she cloaked?" she asked.
"No, but cloaking technology is along the same lines. I think it might be a part of the pod's subsystems that affects the ship it's connected to. It's lost Jovian technology after all, we just know how to duplicate it, not how it works."
"How do we fix this?" she asked quietly. I knew what was going on in her mind. I just could not afford a PLEX for Amalea right now. It's still war time and I can't mine, nor haul minerals or ore to sell. I just bought a Crane and fitted it with an advanced cloak so I could start Manufacturing. I could sell something, but that would mean taking a step back in my efforts. It sounds heartless, but the concept of well being is lost on most capsuleers because we are immortal.
"She should still be training her skills. As far as she knows, she went to sleep mining ice and will wake up when her license gets extended." I said, "I will try to afford a PLEX soon."
"I'm sorry, Sain. I shouldn't have joined your corporation with you. I should have stayed in your corporation so I could still be out there now. I'm good at ice mining too. I could be making some income at least."
"No, it was my decision to have you move over." I said, "Don't apologize. You've become the best Orca pilot I have seen and are valuable to the corp."
"I can still command from your corp." she rebutted, "Besides, I've never been in a fleet with other people in this corp yet to command. It's only been us, just like before. If I move back I can start hauling too. Shouldn't I be able to fly that Charon you've been drooling over and finally bought?" She had all good points and at the moment I've been wondering why I decided to have her move to this new corporation in the first place. I think it had to do with some method to warp a large ship faster using webifiers. I remember losing a Rifter trying it to Concord before realizing it was considered a hostile act, unless in the same corp. I had thought you could be in a fleet together and it would be fine, but I learned the law at the cost of a ship, and some security points...
She sees the gears turning in my head as I sit quietly and stare at the hologram of my docked ship hovering over the coffee table. Something else occurred to be as I sat staring, I glanced at her to see an expecting expression, as if waiting for me to give permission. But I realized, we've been stuck in this station for weeks now because of a war, and with her out of the corp, she could start traveling to Hek again, where her boyfriend works as a broker.
I was so stupid to not think of her personal life. My business mind had took over all aspects of my capsuleer life and I neglected her needs. There was no benefit to have her stay in this corp and many for her to leave right now. My personal corporation held by my sister would be perfect for her to stay in since it's so small, it would be pointless to spend money on bribes to concord to wardec. You wardec alliances anyway, not corporations, unless you are just doing it to be annoying. Darkwing INC. is not in an alliance and should be relatively safe.
"I suppose, if you really want to..." I muttered, taking a swig of my drink. A sneer appeared on my face, "You could always switch back to my old corp." Her face lightened as she nodded. At least she could get out and fly again, and not waste her license time. She wasn't ecstatic though, as something else weighed heavily on her mind.
"Soon we can rescue Amalea, right?" she asked.
"Yes. Soon. Unless something else intervenes." I said, finishing my drink.
"Something else?" she asked, confused.
"Have you ever heard of an entity called "The Player?" I asked, trailing off.
"Go over again what happened." I said, in a calm, comforting voice, "I want to get my facts right."
"Amalea was out mining ice in that Retriever you loaned her and went missing. Just over in Egyfe." she said, "I heard her snoring on comms and knew she fell asleep."
"And she just vanished?" I asked. Maya took another swig of Caldarian Whiskey and sighed.
"Yes. Comms shut off and I couldn't re-establish the connection." she said, "I mean I don't blame her for falling asleep while ice mining. You've even done that before. But to just leave and not say anything? And with your ship?!"
"I'm not worried about the ship." I said. It wasn't entirely true. If I could get it back, it would be nice, but its not worth losing a friend. Neither of us would be worried even if she ran off and got killed. I'd lose the ship but at least she would wake up in a clone vat somewhere right as rain. The problem is that the station that has her medical clone repeatedly states that her clone has not received any neural data and has been dormant for a little over a month since she first became a capsuleer.
A little over a month....Wait a minute...
"You don't suppose." I trailed off.
"What?" She demanded, "Say it, Sain!"
"Maybe her Pilot's license expired while she was in space." I guessed. We both sat silent while both of our cybernetically enhanced minds tried to comprehend the idea.
"License expired?" Maya asked, "Didn't an alarm go off to wake her up to tell her such an important piece of information?!"
"There is no such alarm." I advised, "As I understand it, the license is a code that allows linking of our pods to our ships, or allows operation of the pods alone in space. If it expires or we lose connection for some reason with our ships, there is a fail safe that will warp our ship to a random location nearby in space, then adjusts the chronoton frequency of the hull to phase out of normal space." Maya blankly stared at me and slowly blinked.
"What?" she asked, "Can't you just take your Heron out and scan her down?"
"No she's not out there anymore if that's the case. Her and her ship have phased out and vanished."
"So where is she?" Maya asked.
"She is wherever her ship warped her to, but has moved to another plane of existence."
"How is that possible? Is she cloaked?" she asked.
"No, but cloaking technology is along the same lines. I think it might be a part of the pod's subsystems that affects the ship it's connected to. It's lost Jovian technology after all, we just know how to duplicate it, not how it works."
"How do we fix this?" she asked quietly. I knew what was going on in her mind. I just could not afford a PLEX for Amalea right now. It's still war time and I can't mine, nor haul minerals or ore to sell. I just bought a Crane and fitted it with an advanced cloak so I could start Manufacturing. I could sell something, but that would mean taking a step back in my efforts. It sounds heartless, but the concept of well being is lost on most capsuleers because we are immortal.
"She should still be training her skills. As far as she knows, she went to sleep mining ice and will wake up when her license gets extended." I said, "I will try to afford a PLEX soon."
"I'm sorry, Sain. I shouldn't have joined your corporation with you. I should have stayed in your corporation so I could still be out there now. I'm good at ice mining too. I could be making some income at least."
"No, it was my decision to have you move over." I said, "Don't apologize. You've become the best Orca pilot I have seen and are valuable to the corp."
"I can still command from your corp." she rebutted, "Besides, I've never been in a fleet with other people in this corp yet to command. It's only been us, just like before. If I move back I can start hauling too. Shouldn't I be able to fly that Charon you've been drooling over and finally bought?" She had all good points and at the moment I've been wondering why I decided to have her move to this new corporation in the first place. I think it had to do with some method to warp a large ship faster using webifiers. I remember losing a Rifter trying it to Concord before realizing it was considered a hostile act, unless in the same corp. I had thought you could be in a fleet together and it would be fine, but I learned the law at the cost of a ship, and some security points...
She sees the gears turning in my head as I sit quietly and stare at the hologram of my docked ship hovering over the coffee table. Something else occurred to be as I sat staring, I glanced at her to see an expecting expression, as if waiting for me to give permission. But I realized, we've been stuck in this station for weeks now because of a war, and with her out of the corp, she could start traveling to Hek again, where her boyfriend works as a broker.
I was so stupid to not think of her personal life. My business mind had took over all aspects of my capsuleer life and I neglected her needs. There was no benefit to have her stay in this corp and many for her to leave right now. My personal corporation held by my sister would be perfect for her to stay in since it's so small, it would be pointless to spend money on bribes to concord to wardec. You wardec alliances anyway, not corporations, unless you are just doing it to be annoying. Darkwing INC. is not in an alliance and should be relatively safe.
"I suppose, if you really want to..." I muttered, taking a swig of my drink. A sneer appeared on my face, "You could always switch back to my old corp." Her face lightened as she nodded. At least she could get out and fly again, and not waste her license time. She wasn't ecstatic though, as something else weighed heavily on her mind.
"Soon we can rescue Amalea, right?" she asked.
"Yes. Soon. Unless something else intervenes." I said, finishing my drink.
"Something else?" she asked, confused.
"Have you ever heard of an entity called "The Player?" I asked, trailing off.
Saturday, February 8, 2014
New Friend
It's been a while. Too long. I've stopped doing logs entirely as I moped about, intimidated by all the shiny things I could be doing. At this point, I think I'll put a stuffed squirrel on my pod as a hood ornament as a symbol of my endeavours. I've tried so many things and trained for them, but leave and do something else.
Things have improved. Maya is mining with me and had become the best Orca Pilot I have seen. The boosts I get are considered 'Perfect" since it's now not possible to make them any better. I have perfect refine skills and an implant away from perfect mining skills. I also bit the bullet and bought my freigher, a massive Charon that makes it so much easier to haul ore and minerals in. Its also the slowest ship I have ever flown, and I'm used to exhumers being the norm. A frigate is like ludacris speed to me.
But we've added another member to our group. Not sure how long she will be staying to help. Amalea Nao, Maya's younger sister.
She's very quiet and I think she only speaks to Maya because she has never opened comms to me, nor answered any of mine. However, she does what she's told and is learning to fly a retriever well. She has joined my sister's corporation, Darkwing Inc, while Maya and I are still in POM, however because of a recent war on our corporation, I've basically shut down mining operations because I don't want to chance losing ships. I do have some capital and can replace one if needed, but I'm not over the scare of losing ships yet, due to lack of PVP experience.
Mining operations are much better with three people. Maya boosts and we can pull in about two Orca's worth of minerals an hour. Ice mining is about the same. Since Maya and I are stuck in station, most of the time, Amalea is out in the ice fields pulling in what she can. Something I never asked her to do.
This however presents another challenge. Another person to buy a PLEX for. The license for this month came from unknown places as it has several times before. Concord's records simply get updated that our licenses are validated for another month, yet the payment source eludes me. I am starting to believe in this being called "The Player" and hope his good graces are bountiful.
I'm also wanting to get into Manufacturing. I have the skills trained, but haven't made anything yet. Something else to learn.
Things have improved. Maya is mining with me and had become the best Orca Pilot I have seen. The boosts I get are considered 'Perfect" since it's now not possible to make them any better. I have perfect refine skills and an implant away from perfect mining skills. I also bit the bullet and bought my freigher, a massive Charon that makes it so much easier to haul ore and minerals in. Its also the slowest ship I have ever flown, and I'm used to exhumers being the norm. A frigate is like ludacris speed to me.
But we've added another member to our group. Not sure how long she will be staying to help. Amalea Nao, Maya's younger sister.
She's very quiet and I think she only speaks to Maya because she has never opened comms to me, nor answered any of mine. However, she does what she's told and is learning to fly a retriever well. She has joined my sister's corporation, Darkwing Inc, while Maya and I are still in POM, however because of a recent war on our corporation, I've basically shut down mining operations because I don't want to chance losing ships. I do have some capital and can replace one if needed, but I'm not over the scare of losing ships yet, due to lack of PVP experience.
Mining operations are much better with three people. Maya boosts and we can pull in about two Orca's worth of minerals an hour. Ice mining is about the same. Since Maya and I are stuck in station, most of the time, Amalea is out in the ice fields pulling in what she can. Something I never asked her to do.
This however presents another challenge. Another person to buy a PLEX for. The license for this month came from unknown places as it has several times before. Concord's records simply get updated that our licenses are validated for another month, yet the payment source eludes me. I am starting to believe in this being called "The Player" and hope his good graces are bountiful.
I'm also wanting to get into Manufacturing. I have the skills trained, but haven't made anything yet. Something else to learn.
Friday, July 19, 2013
The Inside of a Capsule
 |
| Contemplating the Future. |
This is my greatest weakness. I have little to no experience with PVP stuff and I'm not used to loosing ships, or clones. I often find myself staring at my open pod, contemplating the future and knowing that death and destruction will find me eventually. Thus is the nature of New Eden. Whether it's Pirates, Gankers, or enemies in wormhole space. The Reapers icy touch extends to all reaches of space and he reaps quite often in New Eden. I suppose he would be a little annoyed by our technology, however, never able to keep his reaped souls as they simply fly back to a station and enter a new clone.
My current goals are still locked on a freighter. I've finally trained enough to fly one, so now I'm improving my refining skills to be able to use our stations, less than adequate, facilities to get perfect refine again. I've stockpiled alot of ore and ice products, now able to refine it without waste. The ice fields have changed, why I don't know. The upgrades to ship computers across the galaxy have included improved scanning algorithms, Ice belts are no more and are now scannable anomalies. The sites are also easily exhaustible, causing pilots to clean them out regularly. I heard of this change early and kept ahold of my ice, but the market already peaked since the change and people are offloading their stock, making the price drop. I will continue to wait until the stock depletes and for the price to rise again before selling. I will keep an eye on the mineral market too and see if it rises before selling specific minerals. I want to save a bit so I can get a Charon somehow. That is my current goal.
I haven't heard from Maya in a while now. She did help a bit with ice mining, but again is opting to stay in station at Hek for a while. Maybe I will wait until I drift up to the porthole of her quarters in a massive freighter before I open comms again. Imagine the look on her face!
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