Breaking Rules

I have rules that I try to live by in Eve.  These are not usually hard and fast rules and they aren't written down anywhere, they live in my head.  But to me, as a player, they are real.  More like mantras than actual rules.  Most of them have come about because of bad experiences and poor choices.  Lessons learned.  Usually learned the hard way.

Yesterday I broke several of those rules because I was bored.  Boredom is my biggest enemy in Eve, I tend to do really stupid things when I get bored.  That was the first rule I broke, Rixx isn't supposed to do anything when he gets bored.  He is supposed to stay docked and take care of business, log into his alt and make isk, or something else that doesn't involve flying alone deep into enemy territory.  Which is what I usually end up doing and it usually ends up getting me kilt.

The second rule of thumb I broke involves Stealth Bombers.  My relationship with my Manticore/Nemesis is a love-hate relationship.  I like the 'idea' of a stealth bomber much more than the reality of a stealth bomber.  Because they can cloak I tend to fly them a lot when breaking the first rule!  Months and months ago I promised myself that I wouldn't do that anymore.  That my bombers would be used for what they are good at, structure takedowns, scouting, making bookmarks in enemy territory, ganking the rare miner (but only if that happened during one of the other uses!) and things like that.  I would not undock a sb with the intention of getting into a fight.  Cause that never works out.

What good do these rules of thumb do if I insist on not following them?!

Last night not only did I break the two RoT above, but I also managed to be incredibly stupid.  A few of us decided to fly deep into enemy territory in our sbs and see if we could gank some ratters or miners.  On the surface this seems like a decent idea, until you wake up and realize it isn't.  Not only did we manage to get stuck in a pocket, not only did the enemy (for once) not act like idiots, not only did they bubble gates and set up stop bubbles, not only did they bring the exactly perfect ships to kill us... but I apparently left my brain somewhere.

This is important kids.  Even someone who knows better, someone who writes guides on how to do things, a seasoned Fleet Commander, a veteran of hundreds of campaigns, roams, engagements, gate camps and warfare of all shapes and sizes, someone incredibly intelligent, charming, handsome and talented... even that person can do stupid things sometimes.

All of the above and I most likely would've lived.  I'm very, very good at getting out of those situations.  But I couldn't survive my own stupidity.  Sigh.  Yes, I warped cloaked to the station at zero.  Nope, don't know why.  Yes that did de-cloak me and yes the Munnin volleyed me to death in my paper-thin manticore.  Oh wait, there's more.  Yes I started podding home, 13 jumps.  Yes, they chased me.  Yes they set up bubbles on the gates.  (Funny story, once they had me dead to rights in a bubble.  They should have killed me.  I held cloak as long as possible and lo and behold they let the bubble drop!  I wasn't the only idiot out last night.)  And no, I did not do a single thing I was supposed to do.

I warped directly to gates.  How many times have I told you, "Never warp directly to gates in zero!"  Sheesh.  If I had followed my own advice I wouldn't have been podded.

But I didn't and I was.  Oh well, chalk it up to yet another lesson learned.  Just to protect myself from myself, I think I'll hold off on replacing the Manticore for awhile.