Wednesday, June 10, 2015

Inching Along in EVE (and searching for a wormhole)

Inching along in EVE is probably the best description of how I've been playing EVE lately. Not only am I coming off a long phase of high activity, but I've had little free time to enjoy space even when I want to log in--changing jobs, moving (twice), not having internet for a while, and so on. When I do find time to log in, it is primarily just to relax and make a little progress on my projects.

The first thing I usually do after a period of inactivity is restock and update my market orders. Somehow, I don't find this tedious, even after almost 2 years of trading. It is always satisfying to see that I've made isk even weeks after I've updated the orders! :


I logged in during late May and early June to stock up on items but went through a 10 day spell of not updating orders, yet still managed to make a decent amount each day--albeit significantly less than when I am frequently maintaining the market hubs.

The second thing I do is a bit of casual exploration. I search for inactive POSes, wormholes to check out, mobile structures to blow up, and combat sites. Lately, I've enjoyed exploration in tactical destroyers. Not only are they one of the few ships that can fit expanded probe launchers fairly easily, but they are great for running low-end combat sites. This past week I've had some decent luck in the Jackdaw. Sharpshooter mode gives light missiles a range of over 70km--though it is still not as convenient as running combat sites with drones. I would love to have a drone-based tactical destroyer, if only for I. the expanded probe launcher and II. the fact that I wouldn't have to target NPCs while running combat sites, the most tedious part by far...


EVE's graphics continue to see huge improvements. The graphics team is certainly the MVP of the first year with EVE's new fast release cycle--if only the other teams worked as fast, maybe we would see all sub-caps balanced at this point (including some much-needed balance passes on links, assault frigates, and some under-performing individual ships...). But, EVE evolves at its own pace.

For the past few weeks--and, really, for the past few months--I have also been searching for a specific wormhole (or three). There are, as far as I know, three Sansha shattered wormholes in EVE: J005299, J010556, and J011195. These are shattered wormholes with Sansha combat sites and landmarks, and one of my goals over the next few months is to find one of these wormholes and live nomadically in one for a time, reporting on my experiences here. However, finding them on my own is no easy matter. I monitor EVE-Scout to see if they are connected to Thera, and I check every wormhole I find while exploring; but finding one is still statistically highly unlikely. As far as I know, each of the three has a different static: one has a NS static, one a LS, and one a HS. I would be happy to find any one of the three, though the HS static would provide more PVP opportunities. Someday, if I explore enough, I will stumble across one of these systems, but for any of my readers who happen across one (or have a character parked in one...) and would like to help, I would greatly appreciate any info on locations of connections! I would also be happy to pay a few hundred million isk for the location of a connection as well.

Finally, I did one other things while on break. CCP's PLEX for Good campaign ran an auction to raise money for the Nepal earthquake relief. I decided to "cash out" some of my trade profits, and won LOT#2 in the auction with a bid of 62 PLEX, winning:

1X SIGNED - EVE UNIVERSE: THE ART OF NEW EDEN STANDARD HARD COVER
1X SIGNED - EVE: SOURCE STANDARD HARD COVER
1X SIGNED - INTO THE SECOND DECADE COLLECTOR'S EDITION BOOK

In the end--as in, when I am tired of trading!--I will likely donate most of my isk to a future PLEX for Good campaign (assuming there will be one--which is kind of depressing if you think about it, since it would mean there is a new major humanitarian crisis...). The package of these books is with my family as I am in the processing of moving, and I likely won't receive it until late June, but I am extremely excited to check these books out (I did not previously own any!) and am extremely grateful that CCP allows players the opportunity to do some good--however small--with the isk they earn in game. After all, what else would I ever spend my isk on...?

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