In yesterday's post I mentioned that I didn't actually have any losses to discuss. Having only lost 2 ships in all of June, the entire first page of my killboard was green. (Unusual) To make matters worse, when I logged into Eve yesterday I ended up mentioning to Cervantes that I typically don't fly certain ships on Mondays because I end up getting blobbed a lot on Mondays. Which was mostly a joke, but it is a weird perception that I've had for years now. For all intents and purposes I cursed myself by bringing this up not once, but twice.
I lost 5 ships yesterday.
So how does a day like this get started? Bad decisions and a distracted Pirate Lord. I have a lot going on in real life right now and while I was playing Eve I was also involved in a email discussion and other distractions. Which is never a good formula. I try to play only when I can focus on what I'm doing, but let's be honest here - that is not always possible. Especially right now. We're all a tad distracted to be fair.
Either way, I took out my new Legion to do a bit of scouting in a system nearby that had a mining fleet up and running. 18+ in local, so the idea was just to see what was happening and if any opportunities presented themselves. Nothing serious. The mistake was when I jumped into system to discover the gate was being guarded by three Frigates and a Dragoon. Instead of burning back to the gate and jumping out, which would have been the smart thing, I fought back when they engaged me. Which, again, would have been fine had the Hurricane and Bifrost not landed shortly afterwards. I managed to pop a Tristan before my Legion finally exploded. Goodbye new Legion and hello to training another skill back up again.
The next one was totally due to being distracted by real life. And a great lesson in how important it is to pay attention all the time. I literally turned my head away for a few seconds and had a Hecate land on me at zero. Needless to say that was not a good position for me to be in and my 14 killmark test Dramiel exploded in an expensive ball of faction goodness. Sigh. Just to be clear, I wouldn't have won that fight even if I was paying attention - but I would have run away.
Shortly after that Phoenix mentioned a Gnosis he had found in a belt ratting nearby. He was flying a Stabber so I decided to grab a Rupture and head over to help him. We figured it was bait, but as always our rule of thumb is "always take the bait". Shortly after engaging the Gnosis we realized our mistake as the Loki, the Curse, and even a Blackbird quickly descended on us. Phoenix managed to get away, but I was stuck. Luckily the old Ruppie was a tough nut to crack and was pounding out enough dps to kill the Gnosis before finally exploding herself. 32m isk to 8m isk, I'll take that fight every day.
Often after a fight I will name my pod to reflect my thoughts about the fight. Good Fight, So Close, things like that. This time I named it, "Blobbed Again" to express my displeasure at the imbalance of power brought to bear on two T1 Cruisers. Despite the Blackbird not appearing on my killmail, the Loki and the Curse were a bit much. Having said that, who cares? I understand that sometimes you can't choose what you end up bringing to a fight, you have to come in what you are in. Often that gets Stay Frosty accused of blobbing, or power crunching too. And we are the last people who try to do that. On the other hand, I feel as if sometimes I am required to say something. The idea of a perfect fight is not the same as a good fight. It's complicated.
Ok, time for another lesson. I try to keep all my ships prepared in my hangar, so that when I select one for combat I can be reasonably assured that it is ready to undock at a moment's notice. You often need ships in a hurry and they should be ready to rumble. I take a great deal of pride in that. On the other hand I also purchase or have donated a lot of ships that aren't technically "mine" yet. Mostly these ships are kept in other systems for emergency use. When I have time I work on getting them prepped as well or updating any old fittings as needed. Some stay in my own personal fleet and some get put into Corp Hangars for general use or for special doctrines. But sometimes things slip through the cracks.
So it was yesterday when I grabbed a Thrasher and headed out to battle. I didn't realize it wasn't my Thrasher until the Hookbill landed 50k from me and started burning towards me. By the time I realized that I didn't have a prop mod I was scrammed and unable to warp away. And, as it should, that Thrasher exploded in a cloud of dumb decisions. Thank god.
So I grabbed a Coercer (and double checked to make sure it had everything it needed) and helped kill a Hawk who had too much tank for his own good. An Algos that wasn't paying attention to local.
And then we got report of a Vexor Navy running an Upwell site nearby. So we burned over there as fast as we could, hoping the rats wouldn't kill it before we arrived. Which they did not.
And then some confusion ensued. Some of us warped away from the Upwell site and some of us stayed to finish it. But not enough. One of my corpmates got caught and was in trouble. So I warped back to try and help, but I was too late. But not too late for the rats to point me and, after losing three of their evil bastard selves, explode my Coercer.
So that was five losses. My personal limit for non-FFA losses in a single day. 951m ISK lost, 304m exploded. Not a great exchange rate.
Just to be clear, I don't care. I still had fun and managed to get some decent kills along the way. And more stories to share. There isn't a curse. And Monday's are just like any other day in Eve. They can often go your way, as often as they might not. Eve is very much a long play, engaged in moments, dealt with over time. Play it long enough and everything will happen to you eventually.
It hasn't broken me yet. Onward and Upward.