The music made me do it!
I was on iTunes purchasing a couple of soundtracks for my iPad when I noticed one for EVE Online. Ah EO, one of my favorite “Cerebral, I want to be alone in darkness” gaming experiences. I hadn’t played EVE since summer of 2009. Wow, time flies. I listened to a couple of tracks which immediately took me back to some of the more riotous adventures I had in the game. The memories and music were just enough to get me to re-sub. If I hadn’t re-subscribed it would have been the first time that a year passed without me playing EVE for a little while at least. I’m happy not to have set the precedent, I’m a fan of CCP.
I don’t have time for lengthy shenanigans in EVE. I was trying to think of something extremely passive that’s NOT MINING. I can’t do the mining thing, I really can’t. I wanted to find an activity appropriate for doing in the background of other things – waiting for a queue to pop in WOW, boring conference call, editing a document, doing some research, etc.. Visiting the forums I saw posts about Courier Missions. Hmm, I usually avoided those as much as possible while doing PVE because I like the combat but this time that might be what I’m looking for, except I want to do it for real players.
A Plan is Born
In that instant, a plan was born to start up a courier service in a transport ship. Combat PVE can be done if and when I’m in the mood but for a completely passive experience, I could run courier missions for NPCs. When I have time to be attentive enough to fly manually, I can shuttle cargo for players. I like the idea of trying something that’s new to me, can be done whenever I actually have time – doesn’t require constant or regular attention and can be a bit dangerous depending on the contracts I accept.
Based on the research I did, I’m planning to get into a Viator when I have the skills to fly and fit it. Viator is one of the fastest transport ships but still able to take a beating. Until I can fly one, I’m experimenting with doing small jobs in one of my Vexors. I’ve added cargo expanders to increase my payload. My fittings are focused on defense and run, using warp core stabilizer, inertia stabilizer, Nosferatu and EMC jamming Hobgoblin drones.
It's Never Simple in EVE
As anyone who’s ever played EVE knows, you don’t just hop back into EVE Online. It took my first playing session to complete a move I’d started last year to a new more central location for my level/experience, sort through and organize my entire inventory. Wow, I’d amassed a shit ton of salvage parts and ore from when I thought I wanted to do manufacturing. I have no plans to pursue manufacturing except that I might make my own ammunition and drones.
I also had a couple dozen ships with containers of PVE fittings vs. PVP fittings. Ugh - stuff everywhere but I sucked it up and slowly, trip by trip moved a majority of my assets to a new home base. I left two ships in a couple of high security stations, along with appropriate fittings and ammo just in case shit breaks out where I am and I need to be scarce for a period of time.
My second session was spent tweaking fittings on my main ships – frigate and cruiser for the occasional PVE mission, a destroyer for dedicated ratting / salvaging if the inclination hits, a couple of frigates for PVP if I’m seized by temporary insanity and lastly, a cruiser as a “let’s see if I really want to do the courier thing” trail. I repackaged all the other ships so they'd re-stack in order to remove some of the clutter from my hanger. I'm a "can't abide clutter" sort of chick.
And so it begins
So far so good, I’ve taken and completed three player posted courier contracts – real courier jobs. Yea me! Even though it’s not exciting per say, it was more fun than a mission because it was for real. If I failed, screw losing NPC faction, I’d lose my multi-million ISK security deposit! There are some scary contract jobs out there that I won't be taking – ever. That said, when I’m equipped with a larger ship and the skills to adequately fit her defensively, I plan on taking a few educated risks. If not, what’s the point of playing EVE Online of all games?
You may have some free Training Points if you ever trained any learning skills in the past as CCP has removed them from the game and refunded the points recently.
Posted by: Winged Nazgul | December 27, 2010 at 10:23 AM
Yes, I did. Woot! I saved almost of month of training time and then completing a couple days more netted me 7 certifications complete which was nice. It's all basic/standard/private level but hey, that's a lot for me. :-)
Posted by: Alysianah aka Saylah | December 27, 2010 at 04:19 PM
Also, they're promising an overhaul in the aging Contracts system in a month or so:
http://www.eveonline.com/devblog.asp?a=blog&bid=833
Posted by: Winged Nazgul | December 28, 2010 at 07:22 AM
Thanks for the link! I've been listening to podcasts trying to catch up things.
Posted by: Saylah | December 28, 2010 at 09:34 AM
Gratz on getting back in - I'm still on EVE break (although my main isn't - he's still training hard).
Re your Viator plans: Remember: cloaky goodness (this is a stealth vessel, not a tanked vessel). Also review how to make insta-undocks at any planned stations and for regular low sec work I also advise "gate observation points". When fitting, try to resist fitting for cargo capacity and fit for nimbleness (i-stabs and low friction nozzle joints) until you are confident in your "pirate avoidance skills". Learn/Relearn to use the d-scan if you didn't learn to use it before. You can now adjust your overview to see probes (although this is less of an issue with the Viator of course).
Posted by: Letrange | December 28, 2010 at 10:37 AM
Thanks for the advice. I'm not sure what some of that means so I'll Google it. :-) I was considering taking the PVP training course being hosted by Agony Unleashed but I will be out of town that whole week. I might check into EVE Uni but I have a few side projects going in EVE that I'll be posting about so my time is limite.
Posted by: Saylah | December 30, 2010 at 11:43 AM