EVE Online: Do you hear the people sing?

It’s been awhile since I’ve written about EVE Online; it’s been awhile since I PLAYED EVE Online. It’s my own fault, what happened. I’d left Otakudyne, a dead corp, for a nullsec corp.

I found when I got there that nullsec was everything I didn’t like. Having to continuously monitor three mandatory channels, with at least three more that would be need to be watched, having to be on voice chat whenever I played the game, not being able to two box, having to farm rats for money, having to abandon the invention business which was my only source of income (since I’d stopped running missions because they were boring)…. The one night I spent in nullsec was a harrowing gauntlet of no fun at all.

I have a full time job; I play MMOs occasionally – not every night, any more – to relax and chat with friends. I often watch a DVD at the same time. I don’t need people shouting in my ears.

I kept meaning to log in again and give it another shot, but there was always something better to do, something far less stressful. I have enough stress in my real life. When my subscription ran out, I didn’t renew.

My second account, though, I’d subbed in one of their two-box promotions. It was a six month deal, and it’s still active.

I’d heard through the grapevine yesterday that my old corp, Otakudyne, had been wardec’d by a rival corp that wanted to set up a starbase at the exact location of OUR starbase. And so, ours would have to go.

Kasul continued and said that corp director (and sole remaining active member) “Red” Sredans was trying to save the base, but that things were not going well. The starbase had gone into “reinforced” mode, the 25 hour chance for the defenders to pull together a way to save a base that was under attack. Red was calling together a coalition to meet the enemy corp when the starbase left reinforced mode at 4AM this past morning.

All my good ships were on my main account, but I had some ships of note on the second account. I had my Prophecy battlecruiser, a beautiful looking ship, and my Amarr stealth bomber of which I was very proud. That bomber had been the perfect companion to the Ishtar on my main account.

The first job was to get all the station’s guns back online, using remote armor and hull repair modules. I fitted a Mauler cruiser with several and started repairs, but the low cap on the cruiser meant I could run only one repair module continuously. This was almost pointless compared to the number of repair modules the battleships and battlecruisers pulled out, so I got my Prophecy and helped guard the station against the occasional enemy attack. We got one of them!

I had to sleep before we finished; this morning, the guns were back. The station was out of reinforced mode, and the enemy (based apparently in the UK and also apparently without jobs) was bombing the central core. I tried to take some of the heat from Red with the Prophecy, but I was scrambled and killed. I then did some sniping with the bomber, but I was scrambled, killed and podded. So I was out of ships.

This is, by the way, why it was stupid to have ever had the idea of joining a nullsec corp. Every single time I get into a PvP situation in EVE Online, I just get killed and usually podded. The only thing I could think of in my few hours in nullsec was how all my ships would, one at a time, be destroyed, and there I’d be, deep in nullsec with no ships or money and no way to play the game. What choice was there BUT to quit? I didn’t even have the ISK to replace even one of my main ships, my Ishtar or my Domi….

Anyway, enough whining. I knew I would lose all my ships in the defense of the starbase, but what better way to go out than with a bang?