There are times when I attack another ship when I know the odds are stacked against me. And yet, I go ahead and do it anyway. Why is that? Am I crazy? Do I not care about winning? Am I just being reckless? There are a lot of questions and over the years I've talked about this many times here in these pages. But today I want to take a look at a few recent examples and give you a sneak peek behind the scenes of each one. What led to the decision to go forward on a path that might very well lead to my destruction.
But first, two quick points. Eve Online is a game. And I've said it before, but I prefer to play it like one. I wish more players had this mentality. I'm in it to have fun and get better at my craft. In order to do that I often enjoy taking risks. Without risk, what is the point? I could easily engineer my play-time around scoring wins and mitigating my risks to the point where they would rarely happen. But why? That sounds boring as Hell to be honest. Secondly, I do actually manage my risks somewhat. I do strive to secure more wins than losses. Over the years this has also become easier and easier to do. Doing so allows me the room I need to take risks from time to time. This is all on purpose. This month, for example, I've already secured 90 wins to just 5 losses. And we are only half-way through the month.
On my way home the other night I spotted a Thorax running a site. I was in a rail Comet. Right away I knew my odds of winning that fight were extremely low. But not impossible. The Thorax would most likely be PvE fitted, possibly with T1 drones. As always, it was entirely possible that it would also be horribly fitted. (That is always possible) In addition, up to that point, my potential engagements had been extremely limited. Trust me, boredom also plays a significant part in these decisions. Killing a Thorax with a Comet would be awesome. But sadly the Thorax was not poorly fitted and had T2 drones. And I got my ass handed to me.
Another time I was out in my Rifter. I had just fought off one ship (who ran off) when I spotted a Worm in a plex. Now, let's be honest here, a Rifter has almost no chance to win against a properly fitted and flown Worm. And yet, I wanted to try it. How often will I get another chance to fight a 1v1 in a Rifter against a Worm? Probably never. I will say that the fight was a lot closer than you might imagine. I almost broke his shield tank. I have some regrets in my positioning during that fight, but otherwise the outcome was better than I thought it might be. Lessons learned.
Sometimes it isn't about the fight itself, but the message that fight sends. Some fights have a meta value beyond the fight itself. There was a ratting ship in a system near us that had been going about his business for hours without opposition. This is because the group he belongs to is known to drop the hammer whenever they get attacked. So I made the decision to risk my ship to change that. Sure enough, while we did kill the Vexor Navy Issue - they also brought a Gnosis and a Curse along to ensure I didn't survive. But I wouldn't change anything. Now they know a crazy person lives nearby and maybe they'll think twice next time.
82% of the time this all works out just fine. And I have way more examples of it working out than I have of it not working out. Point being this - try. You never know what might happen and you might even find it fun to try. Nothing bad will happen. You can always get another ship. I've been throwing my ships at other players for a very long time now and nothing bad has happened to me. I explode sometimes and yet I always win in the end.
I love this damn game.