Okay, so, on a whim early in December I went ahead and got a trial account for EVE Online. I'd heard Larraq talk about it IRL and how he used to play and some of the stories he had from it. He was off and on at best and didn't have a computer to play it now, but had been on the game since 2003 for the most part. So, after listening to him go on and on occasionally about it, here I am with a trial account.
First thing I know, I'm suffering from sensory overload. "What's this? What's that? What's this button? The tutorial is down here? Okay. Let's do the tutorial. Alright, so that's what this is. Is that my ship? Oh, that's my pod. What's a pod? Oh, that's a pod. This is how you close windows? Alright, simple enough. Like that? Awesome. Undock now? Okay. Where's the button? Crap! I closed out of the window for it! Where is the window opener thingy?! AAAAAAAAAHHHHHH I BROKE IT!!!! Oh, there it is. Mkay. Undocking... ZOMG WHERE AM I!? Oh, this is space. Okay, so this is the interface..."
And so on and so forth. After maybe... two or three days of figuring the whole deal out and getting the hang of what to do I decided to venture out on my own, helped in part by a generous donation of in game credits by Alli Wren. I started in a little low-end frigate and PvEed a bit. Then went and mined for a bit. Then I did a little exploring. Found a wormhole and went in. Scared myself poodooless from the NPCs there. Scared myself poodooless when a cruiser piloted by a veteran showed up at the exit. For the most part, it was mainly a good week and a half of me running around screaming like a small school girl while NPCs, anomalies, and PCs chased me around and terrified me.
And then... I broke down. They had a holiday special: three months for the price of two. After the lovely... fun of running around scared as hell, I figured "Why not? Running around like an idiot is kind of fun. Besides, all the articles I've read say that you have to play for a few months to really find the sandbox of the game anyways." So, I put the money down for the three months. From there, I fiddled around more with the game here and there.
I joined a Militia which was a terrible and terrifying idea. I had picked up a little Catalyst destroyer and was kind of derping around in it. Figured I'd pop on over and help some militia members in defending a system with few enemies in it to get the hang of PvP. Showed up and got to work.
Four Catalyst wrecks and one cloud of pod debris later, I realized that maybe my PvP skills needed a little more work before I dived into things. I then learned that because I was Gallente Militia, I couldn't go mine in Caldari space because we were at war with them. When my search to find the Leave Corporation Button failed, I realized that maybe I should try and find some Gallente areas to mine stuff.
Two Venture wrecks later and I realized that maybe I needed a way to defend my little mining frigate. From there, I got some drones and some tools and some odds and ends. I was introduced to the starter mission series... well, reintroduced. I did the mining ones and that was it, then went back and did the other stuff. After all of that, I joined a small corporation on a whim and got to work on where I could fit in.
Turns out, they're in Low Sec. For those not familiar with EVE Online, space is organized into a 0-1 system divided by decimals. For the most part, 0.5/0.6 space to 1.0 space is considered High Sec or High Security, meaning the EVE police will help you and may even save you before someone kills you. Low sec, or Low Security, is where the police are more interested in donuts and coffee shops than preventing you from getting murdered. Long and short, I decided that it was do or die time and, with the knowledge that dying was a pretty big risk in this situation, moved the 20+ jumps with a cargo hold full of stuff I had picked up or bought plus the stuff that Ayden Cater had given me. It took two trips.
So I show up and, lo and behold, most of the corporation is offline. Go figure. So, I get bored. I don't have a ship big enough to haul all of my ships that I had left behind, plus the ships that Ayden had given me. So, with my little Catalyst (my 8th one so far), I decided I'd go PvEing until I worked up to either pay someone or buy a cargo ship. Meanwhile, I trained up my industry skills to pilot said cargo ship if I went that way.
On a whim, in a nearby system, I found a Blueprint Original, or a BPO. It was just for a basic ammo type, but it was a type I used. Since I needed some and the systems I frequented rarely had it, I figured I'd use it to make my own since I had the skills and materials.
Nearly a month later and I have nearly half a billion ISK worth of BPOs. I moved from making ammo to making modules. I'd sell them and found that I could get Frigate BPOs, so I got them and made Frigates. I realized that I couldn't haul the frigates anywhere, so I looked for that cargo ship I mentioned before. Couldn't find one that was any good anywhere nearby, but I found a BPO for one. I got the BPO and made a cargo ship. Then I took the cargo ship and hauled the frigates out to the beginner area under the concept of selling low-end frigates to the newbies. Turns out, they sold like hotcakes. I then bought more BPOs and brought them back to make more stuff.
Eventually, I'm making a fethton of stuff from ammunition to fuel blocks to Cruisers along with a bunch of mods and ship upgrades. The corporation I'm with took notice and is getting me prepped to deliver a bunch of stuff to their second location out in even lower security space. The local crime bosses/mob, the CFC (I recommend avoiding them, honestly. They're kind of... douchebags. Pretentious ones at that), have taken notice and, for the most part, they leave me alone and buy from me. I've even had them watch a few gates on occasion to keep trouble away while I'm moving BPOs, goods, and materials, which was interesting.
In the end, there's two sides to being an arms dealer in the location I am. The plus side? The Mob likes me. The downside?
The mob likes me.
First thing I know, I'm suffering from sensory overload. "What's this? What's that? What's this button? The tutorial is down here? Okay. Let's do the tutorial. Alright, so that's what this is. Is that my ship? Oh, that's my pod. What's a pod? Oh, that's a pod. This is how you close windows? Alright, simple enough. Like that? Awesome. Undock now? Okay. Where's the button? Crap! I closed out of the window for it! Where is the window opener thingy?! AAAAAAAAAHHHHHH I BROKE IT!!!! Oh, there it is. Mkay. Undocking... ZOMG WHERE AM I!? Oh, this is space. Okay, so this is the interface..."
And so on and so forth. After maybe... two or three days of figuring the whole deal out and getting the hang of what to do I decided to venture out on my own, helped in part by a generous donation of in game credits by Alli Wren. I started in a little low-end frigate and PvEed a bit. Then went and mined for a bit. Then I did a little exploring. Found a wormhole and went in. Scared myself poodooless from the NPCs there. Scared myself poodooless when a cruiser piloted by a veteran showed up at the exit. For the most part, it was mainly a good week and a half of me running around screaming like a small school girl while NPCs, anomalies, and PCs chased me around and terrified me.
And then... I broke down. They had a holiday special: three months for the price of two. After the lovely... fun of running around scared as hell, I figured "Why not? Running around like an idiot is kind of fun. Besides, all the articles I've read say that you have to play for a few months to really find the sandbox of the game anyways." So, I put the money down for the three months. From there, I fiddled around more with the game here and there.
I joined a Militia which was a terrible and terrifying idea. I had picked up a little Catalyst destroyer and was kind of derping around in it. Figured I'd pop on over and help some militia members in defending a system with few enemies in it to get the hang of PvP. Showed up and got to work.
Four Catalyst wrecks and one cloud of pod debris later, I realized that maybe my PvP skills needed a little more work before I dived into things. I then learned that because I was Gallente Militia, I couldn't go mine in Caldari space because we were at war with them. When my search to find the Leave Corporation Button failed, I realized that maybe I should try and find some Gallente areas to mine stuff.
Two Venture wrecks later and I realized that maybe I needed a way to defend my little mining frigate. From there, I got some drones and some tools and some odds and ends. I was introduced to the starter mission series... well, reintroduced. I did the mining ones and that was it, then went back and did the other stuff. After all of that, I joined a small corporation on a whim and got to work on where I could fit in.
Turns out, they're in Low Sec. For those not familiar with EVE Online, space is organized into a 0-1 system divided by decimals. For the most part, 0.5/0.6 space to 1.0 space is considered High Sec or High Security, meaning the EVE police will help you and may even save you before someone kills you. Low sec, or Low Security, is where the police are more interested in donuts and coffee shops than preventing you from getting murdered. Long and short, I decided that it was do or die time and, with the knowledge that dying was a pretty big risk in this situation, moved the 20+ jumps with a cargo hold full of stuff I had picked up or bought plus the stuff that Ayden Cater had given me. It took two trips.
So I show up and, lo and behold, most of the corporation is offline. Go figure. So, I get bored. I don't have a ship big enough to haul all of my ships that I had left behind, plus the ships that Ayden had given me. So, with my little Catalyst (my 8th one so far), I decided I'd go PvEing until I worked up to either pay someone or buy a cargo ship. Meanwhile, I trained up my industry skills to pilot said cargo ship if I went that way.
On a whim, in a nearby system, I found a Blueprint Original, or a BPO. It was just for a basic ammo type, but it was a type I used. Since I needed some and the systems I frequented rarely had it, I figured I'd use it to make my own since I had the skills and materials.
Nearly a month later and I have nearly half a billion ISK worth of BPOs. I moved from making ammo to making modules. I'd sell them and found that I could get Frigate BPOs, so I got them and made Frigates. I realized that I couldn't haul the frigates anywhere, so I looked for that cargo ship I mentioned before. Couldn't find one that was any good anywhere nearby, but I found a BPO for one. I got the BPO and made a cargo ship. Then I took the cargo ship and hauled the frigates out to the beginner area under the concept of selling low-end frigates to the newbies. Turns out, they sold like hotcakes. I then bought more BPOs and brought them back to make more stuff.
Eventually, I'm making a fethton of stuff from ammunition to fuel blocks to Cruisers along with a bunch of mods and ship upgrades. The corporation I'm with took notice and is getting me prepped to deliver a bunch of stuff to their second location out in even lower security space. The local crime bosses/mob, the CFC (I recommend avoiding them, honestly. They're kind of... douchebags. Pretentious ones at that), have taken notice and, for the most part, they leave me alone and buy from me. I've even had them watch a few gates on occasion to keep trouble away while I'm moving BPOs, goods, and materials, which was interesting.
In the end, there's two sides to being an arms dealer in the location I am. The plus side? The Mob likes me. The downside?
The mob likes me.
