EVE Journey

Wow, got to see a Rorqaul up close in the alliance ice mining operation. There was also mackinaws aplenty while I had to content with mining in a retriever and being relegated to hauling duty for awhile since the retriever’s output couldn’t’ match up the the mackinaw.

Dark Glitter is apparently the most profitable ice for us to mine and also helps with supplying Liquid Ozone and Heavy Water for POS fuel. With exhumers training finally coming to an end, I hope to be able to contribute more in such ops in the future.

Finally! We have moved towards an achievable goal of producing capital ships for the Alliance. Our very first investments get us enough capital to invest in some Capital Ship Component BPOs.

Revelation produced by TGIND, it was a proud moment to know it would later go on to take down a few RED POS.

Mica points out that the latest fixes by the POS engineers somehow makes it such that the Titans won’t be able to penetrate the shields of a POS! This of course sets him off on tech guys and their silly mistakes that cost hard-earned ISK.

A rather interesting new Industrial Command Ship – Orca is introduced to allow for greater hauling in the mining belts. A corp mate decides to pick up a BPO to see what opportunities it can bring the corp.

While I have been keeping busy with mining and also dabbling in Invention of tech 2 modules, Mica got into a real interesting situation with Titans and getting himself blown up in the process.

When a blue alliance recently lost control of a border system to AAA, the nearby blue alliances decided to attempt a joint fleet rescue and try to wrestle back control. This resulted in a fleet that lasted several hours from the form up at ERVK-P for the Sylph Fleet to the final jump into F9E-KX.

Amarr Titan – Avatar

Of course, this is just the first titan Mica witnessed, there’s still 2 more to go that night and not all would be friendly.

Sniper Fleet in warp

After a failed attempt to bridge the blue fleet into the battlefield, conventional ships had to take the long way into F9E which included an agonizing jump into a well-laid large bubble trap all over the star gate.

Wreckage after a Double Doomsday

Mica miraculously survived the trap and made it safely into the shields of a blue POS. Things didn’t turn out so well due to a technical glitch in POS mechanisms that allowed Doomsday weapon effects to penetrate the POS shields resulting in a huge loss that day for the blues. AAA cynoed in two titans, an Erebus and a Leviathon, and sets off a Double Doomsday that obliterates the blue fleet in the POS. It would be the first time Mica lost his Megathron fitted for sniper duty.

2008.11.09 00:48

Victim: Mica Breeze
Corp: TransGalactic Industries
Alliance: Sylph Alliance
Faction: NONE
Destroyed: Megathron
System: F9E-KX
Security: 0.0
Damage Taken: 47316

It has been two months since we moved to Sylph. While things have gone smoothly in some areas, we have also seen lesser activity in the corporation as people adapt to 0.0 life. Our CEO is finally able to join us in a more active role which helps a lot in recruiting new members.

The high-sec sister corporation is also getting some good pilots who will eventually be able to join us in 0.0 to help with the fight against pirates who constantly roam our skies.

I’ve been recently promoted as a Director within the corp and since I’m very interested in the industry side of things have volunteered to help out with taking care of production matters. This entails organizing ops to help produce modules and ships for us to use or sell on the market.

Another interesting project which we manage to get running is having a second Sylramic Fiber chain installed in the moons around Sylph. This provides us with the much needed income to keep things running and having some liquidity towards our own capital ship program (ever since seeing my first capital, I have vowed to be able to build one).

Mica storms into the bunk and starts to rail about PvE and PvP fittings. I look up his loss

2008.09.19 15:05

Victim: Mica Breeze
Corp: TransGalactic Industries
Alliance: Sylph Alliance
Faction: NONE
Destroyed: Myrmidon
System: ERVK-P
Security: 0.0
Damage Taken: 23597

When he first flew into 0.0, he had hurriedly x’d up (term we use for joining a fleet) for a FC (Fleet Commander’s) call to battle versus Against ALL Authorities. Being slightly cocky, he thought he had faced the worse in Lvl 4 Agent missions and he brought his only mission setup ship to the fight which turned out to be a huge mistake.

With nothing to his name but the ISK in his wallet and his trustworthy Myrmidon, he flew straight into a well set up camp by reds and watched as his shields crumbled under the onslaught of 3 Falcons (keeping him jammed), 2 Rapiers, 1 Curse, 1 Arazu, 1 Huggin, 1 Zealot,  1 Drake and a Crow. The well rounded recon gang kept him jammed and locked down with little that could be done. Thankfully, the friendly fleet managed to come out on top.

I quickly sent Mica a new ship (after all, I had encouraged him to join us) to help him along while he rummaged through his weapons locker to get refitted. He learnt a lesson that day to always have the right ship for the job.

A piece of goods news is that Mica finally joins us on in 4 days! He has thought things over and will be flying down with his battle-cruiser straight into fleets here. This gives me some relief as my own fleet efforts has been less than desirable with frequent losses of Tech 1 frigates in tackling.

I think I will concentrate more on industrial skills to help supply Mica with pvp ships.

Mica writes to me today from his new Myrmidon battle-cruiser in Empire. He is quickly growing weary of running missions with his Federation Navy agent, they no longer present a challenge to him even as he moves from Level 3 agents to Level 4 agents. I’m amazed at how far he has progressed while I’m still slogging away on Exhumer training to be able to solo-mine in 0.0.

The days here have been long and weary with corporation mates getting tired and some choosing to remain in Empire. Those remaining soldier on in fleets but some of us are miners who can’t wield a proper PvP ship against the hardened pirates around us. I urge Mica to join us so that he might take up the fight against the pirates. He says he will consider and get back to me soon.

Lesson learnt after seeing all those capital ships assembled, to truly enjoy a POS takedown, you need to pilot a dreadnought in siege mode. This quickly transforms the ship into putting out tremendous amounts of damage that makes short work of a POS.

Our fleet makes short work of the offending POS (they were red, enough said) and assembles at a nearby planet while we take stock of the situation. In my rather tiny incursus, there isn’t much I can contribute but to watch intel channels and observe the proceedings.

Even though I’m a miner, I’ve quickly learnt that even the smallest frigate is appreciated in fleets in 0.0. As a tackler, we can contribute to bringing a red down at the expense of our usually frail but inexpensive tech 1 frigates. My first fleet signup was amusing in that I had not fired a single shot or locked down a single ship before I was downed by hostile fire due to a mix up in POS passwords.

I do however get to view some of the more impressive ships most pilots don’t ever get to see in Empire. From carriers to dreadnoughts.. these capital ships fill the sky when they undock. Seeing them for the first time makes truly appreciate the scale of my training. I send Mica photos of the capital ships and he informs me that the Moros is a ship he hopes to pilot one day. I vow to be able to build one for him when the day comes.

Gallente Dreadnought – Moros

Caldari Dreadnought – Phoenix

Amarr Dreadnought – Revelation

Gallente Carrier – Thanatos

Caldari Carrier – Chimera