After a lag filled week of trying with a Merlin, Dramiel, Garmur, and a few other ships - I finally managed to score my 2,000th solo kill the other day. A Slicer engaged me on station in my Stabber Fleet Issue for some reason and after a bit of interesting back and forth, he finally exploded. Since then I've added five more for my current total of 2,005. Including a truly great fight in which I exploded a Firetail and a Comet in the same engagement. I love 2v1 engagements in which I win. To be honest I prefer all the engagements in which I win. Those are much more fun than the ones in which I lose.
2,000 solo kills is not a lot compared to some players. My friend Cervantes has over 7,700 solo kills in Stay Frosty and there are plenty of examples of other pilots with much more in my own corporation, much less in the rest of Eve. All of us have our own story and our own goals, and in that context it is a milestone worth mentioning. For me 2,000 is a moment in time worth remembering.
Mostly I fly small gang. As you can see I do that about 77% of the time. As CEO of Stay Frosty I generally play as a content creator for my corporation. Organizing roams, making heroic tackles, and getting people into fleets on a daily basis to drum up content for us. My favorite moments are flying with 3-8 other players. Sometimes with more. And sometimes with less. But solo does provide a break and is a profession I also enjoy for completely other reasons.
Flying alone is the most challenging and ultimately most personally rewarding play-style. That doesn't mean I'd want to do it full-time, or that other things don't interest me. I enjoy doing a lot of things in Eve and that diversity keeps me interested in the game. It's a balance that I've discovered over the years that has kept me playing this game for over 12 years now.
I still remember my very first solo kill. Which was 12 years ago TO THE DAY from my 2,000th. Both happened on October 16th. That first one I had no idea how it happened or what I was doing. It was a confusing, complex, and weird moment. I was two months old in Eve at the time. Everything was like that back then. What is happening!?!
I sucked at solo fighting for a long time. Some days I still suck. Some days I still fall for obvious bait, or get myself into a bad corner, get blobbed, make bad decisions, lose ships I shouldn't have lost, and often find myself scratching my head over a fight I think I should have won. I often take fights I shouldn't take because nothing truly matches the feeling of winning a fight you had no business winning.
My next milestone will be 10,000 wins. I should be close to that goal sometime around October 16, 2021.
After that? Who knows. One explosion at a time.