Been a rough week. In-game and out. Punched, kicked, stomped, smacked, you name it and your friendly neighborhood blogger has had it done. In-game things weren't much better, bleak I tell ya!! It got so bad I turned down my first ever 1v1 request yesterday and I never, ever, never do that.
That is how the day started. A few days of slinking around trying to keep a low profile and stop losing blingy T2 stuff I shouldn't be losing. Trying hard to get the mind off real world concerns and focused on in-game excellence. Funny how difficult that can be. It isn't as easy to separate the two things as you might think. Reality mimics art, or is it the other way around?
Absolution? BOOM! Imperial Navy Slicer? BOOM!
So I decided to keep it simple stupid and stick to T1 frigates again, back to basics. The day before I had lost a Merlin in an ill-fated attempt to kill an Ishkur - two of us against one Ishkur? Ok, bad idea. But today I promised myself I'd stay clear of complications and stick to easy... well, easier type stuff.
I had actually docked up the day before in Lisb, so I undocked to see what was around and was given a free Rifter Cyno gift on station. Already the day was looking up. The only T1 frigate I had in Lisb was an Incursus, so I hopped into it and went on a quick sweep. Mostly people ran away and this is when the thought started forming that perhaps my tactics needed some revisions. More on that later. I did get fortunate in Melm and landed on an Incursus sitting on the Acceleration Gate.
I decided to head back to Hev and give this problem of catching people some more thought. While I was tinkering in station Corelin showed up in local and called me out. I jumped into my trusty DD and undocked. Fully intending to get into a fight. But then my brain actually started functioning and a few of the remaining brain cells actually talked to one another. So I gracefully bowed out and promised to catch him again later. When you are having a bad run it is wise to accept it and be the better part of valor. Good things will come of it, just watch.
Reports came in of a smallish gang with some blingy Cynabals and whatnots over in Osti/Agoze, so a few of us formed up a ad hoc gang to go see what was what. Suli in his Tengu, Kiren and myself in Canes. But by the time we got there the gang had vanished. So we decided to do the loop over towards Heyd and see if anything was cooking.
Funny moment. Kiren and I are waiting on the Heyd gate while Suli is scouting inside Heyd. Nothing is going on and space is pretty empty. Suli warps in to the OMS gate and says, "There is nothing going on today." as he jumps into a rather large gate camp on the other side. His next words are, "Oh Shit" Sometimes life is good. Fortunately these gate camper doods are retarded and not only do they all aggress, but none of them thought to bring a Web. So he gets back to gate and jumps thru.
We decide to call it and head back to Hev. Kiren decides to try one more system as Suli and I are about to jump home. He calls out that there is a Tengu on station and we stop and turn around, just in case. Sure enough the Tengu follows him to the Sun and Kiren does a perfect align, burn, bait job just long enough to allow Suli and I the four jump time we need. I wait on gate as Suli jumps into Kiren and hopes to entangle the other Tengu with his Web. The moment he calls point I join them with my awesome Arty barrage Cane loaded with EMP ammo and itching to put the hurt down. He didn't die easy, but with all of us pounding away, and my Arties doing upwards of 1,400 a volley - the outcome wasn't in doubt.
I go into detail about that kill because the Tengu we killed was worth almost 4 BILLION ISK!!
That kind of thing will turn your day around pretty quick.
One more story for an already full day. Earlier in my Incursus roam I had run across a FW Incursus appropriately named "Die Tusker". I had tried to catch her but she had gotten away. In local I mentioned that she should change the name of the ship to "Die Later Tusker" which she did right away, being a fan of Eveoganda it turns out.
After the Tengu kill I finished my Final Solution ship and went back out to do some hunting. And Lo and Behold "Die Later Tusker" was in one of the systems. I admit this was a tad weird since I suspect she died mostly because it was me... but I'll take all the kills I can get. Just keep reading my new friend.
One more Incursus in Loes died to my new tactics before I finally had to call it a day.
...
This is Eve in a nutshell. The worst of times can change on a dime. The slightest decision leads to more decision. If I had taken the 1v1 and won or lost, that may have been enough for me and I may have logged off. The Tengu kill might never have happened, or I may not have been the one on the killmail.
It is impossible to know what leads to what. We can't see ahead. But I do know this much, nothing happens if nothing happens. And sticking to it is, as I've said many times before, the only way to win.
That was a good day.