So, in the last 24 hours Noir. Mercenary Group have taken their first outpost in 0.0, in the war torn region of Providence:

This is a step which is bound to raise a number of questions which we will start to address for those interested in knowing more.

The initial reactions to NMG’s move were comments referring back to the time when MC (Mercenary Coalition) the famed largest Mercenary alliance in EVE’s history first took to 0.0. In their sovreignty plans for 0.0, named “Tortuga”, the MC, who had lived in Period Basis for a while, aimed to make the region an area “unfettered by the agendas of foreign powers”.
This however didn’t work out quite as planned with the then Band of Brothers alliance, who were uneasy allies of MC at the time, ending up spoiling the party by driving conflict between the two entities.

In the end MC had to spend greater and greater proportions of their time defending their space and their mercenary work became a secondary concern behind securing their space.

NMG are very cognisant of the lessons that history teaches and have no intention of falling into the same trap.

Above all else, NMG is an entity which defines it’s raison d’etre as the ability to take on contracts which require finesse and precision. Being tied down to one spot in space could put this in jeopardy and would prevent NMG being the active roaming alliance that it has become known for.

In addition, NMG pilots on the whole are not interested in sov warfare and the mechanics that go with it. They yearn for the open roaming fleets and small gang warfare that is synonymous with the name Noir Mercenary Group.
So…where does this leave us then?

Well, the answer is that it’s business as usual for Noir. and GIS…and that if you are looking for NMG capital fleets defending areas of space then you will be disappointed. That is not where our strength lies, and we know that.
0.0 space for us is a training ground, and an area that we’ll be populating with those who are interested in an expansion into null sec, it is not somewhere you will always be able to find us. Rather, it’s a place where you will see us when we are off contract, honing our skills and experience in order that we can still offer the best return on investment to our clients.

Remember that if you have someone you’d like to have a really bad week (or more) then we are still one of the best choices around.

…and yes, we are still neutral.

If you are interested in cheap access to 0.0 and don’t want the hassle of holding sov for yourself then talk to Asuka Smith for more info.

For more information and pics see the blogs for other Noir. pilots:

Prometheus09 – A Captains Log
Hallan Turrek – A Merry Life and a Short One
Mynxee – Life in Low Sec

Kan3r Blaze

Its been quite some time…

Since I last posted anything here, in fact I might even cross the line and say I almost forgot about this completely.

From now on however, that will not be the case, and I shall once again make the false promise to consistently update this blog with my latest escapades and shenanigans.

Quite a lot has happened since my last post, I have since left my previous 0.0 corp and moved back to empire for some bearin’ love, only to have a director pull some cloak and dagger crack and disband the corp… good times. Anyway, since I’m now on the lookout for a new 0.0 corp, it seems prudent to revive my blog about the great adventure that is 0.0, something which I hope you will enjoy reading as much as I enjoy experiencing.

Every. Lagging. Minute. Of. It.

Stay tuned.

Greetings, salutations and welcome.  Actually, the more accurate statement would be, “Hi”.  As you probably notice, I am not Ancy Denaries.  No, I am not his twin brother nor a clone version of him. I am not nearly that attractive.  (lol).  My in game name is Isaac Starstriker.  I am a college student with a job that is trying to fit in Eve somehow.  I am best described as a “Industrialist with Teeth”.  I like to play in both worlds.  I like mining, ratting, PVPing, R&D, production and exploration.  I dislike blobbing, carebears with unjustified egos, failfits (though the lols are always nice =D), missioning, cursing and etc.

Now while many blogs will give you the very boring and dry background of the blogger writing their particular blog, I will not put you through that torture…much.  I will strictly give you a background of my Eve time.  Want the rest of my life story (dunno why, its really boring), all I can say is…another place, another time.

I started Eve Online now two years ago earlier this month.  This is 1 of 2 “official” characters I have in Eve.  I started at the request of some old college mates that were playing it.  I was, at the time, playing World of Warcraft (yes, I am a retired vet).  My first player corp was called Amarr Sisterhood of Galactic Sirens.  It was a corporation run by a Lalani Nehai that was in Amarr High-Sec early on. Read the rest of this entry →

Catch up

Finally, my holidays have begun!

Since its been a while since my last post, quite a bit has happened. The campaign against W.I. and the North with our allies Atlas and COW (and friends) has begun, and is going very well – there are daily ops, and much success to be had. If only the server could keep up with us, we’d be able to lay that decisive blow – we’re crashing nodes nightly!

Since moving out to 0.0 nearly three weeks ago now, my perception of EVE has totally changed – its no longer the stale mission grinding of high-sec, its a dynamic changing place where decisions really do make a difference. On top of that, its nice to play in a part of the game that really has no rules other than the ones your alliance imposes, which for me (and most) is simply not to shoot blues – on top of this you can do whatever you want out here.

Since coming out here, I’ve taken part in countless alliance and joint ops, ranging from sov warfare to gate camping. DRAKE ARMY keeps its place at the top of my favourites list, although the hilarity of a gatecamp with Atlas and COW is nothing to sniff at.

When I was pirating in low-sec I always had to restrain myself from pod killing, the security status hit was unreasonably large, but out here in the wilderness I’ve been able to satisfy my hunger for pod goo. Of the kills I’ve made this far, 48.2% of them have been pod kills, I only wish I was a little better at decloaking ships on gates, although its something I’m working on.

There have been some amusing moments recently; I think most people would agree with this W.I. pilot that the most appropriate responce to a 40 man fleet warping into your mission area is simply “fuck.”

Gate camps often get a little tedious, waiting for the next target to jump in gets boring after a few hours, but thank heavens for ventrilo! Thanks to the conversations over this wonderful tool, I’ve picked up some fascinating facts; how to unclog a toilet, properly rear dogs, the best way to drink a pint of lager and realised that Americans mumble a lot.

Just figured I’d catch you up on recent happenings, I’ll be updating much more often after the christmas chaos has ended.

Happy holidays!

Downtime

It seems I’ve been falling behind on my pledge to keep this blog updated. This can be mostly contributed to the hectic time I’ve been having here at uni, my last exam is on Friday, and after that it’s the holidays.

Because of this, I’ve managed to miss the start of the alliance campaign – sad times. Although I did make time at the weekend to suicide a Retriever, just because… well just because I felt like it really. I think I’m starting to catch the suicide ganking bug, especially since insurance payouts are so juicy.

Rest assured that once I finish this last exam I’ll get back to the regular updates of shenanigans and escapades.

Very rarely have I ever had the feeling that I was somewhere I shouldn’t be. I was always in the presence of my friends, them ready to back me up, or relaxing and enjoying my free time, even when in the far reaches of the universe.

Today, I felt out of place.

Very rarely do I get nervous. I was always well prepared for a situation, ready to back my friends up, always calm and collected, knowing how to react to a situation.

Today, I was nervous.

“WARP WARP WARP, HOSTILE GATE CAMP ON THE OTHER SIDE!”, I blared. Why did I have to be the scout on my first flight in a stealth bomber through hostile null sec? Only when off a gate in an empty system, my Purifier nicely cloaked, was I able to control the shaking in my hands and the throbbing heart rate pulsing in the back of my head. It seemed those mythical camping fleets and destroying everything it could catch was not a myth. If the purpose of flying out here wasn’t to gain good favor with a potential friendly alliance, I would have definitely thought twice… no, four times about this.

“Ok, Masa, once you jump in system, you sit 30 clicks off the gate, aligned to a planet, I will do the same from another angle. You know what to do, uncloak, deploy, RUN” . Little did I know, my little dialogue would cost me my life.  ”Shit, Rifter on the gate, hes got me! I forgot to turn on my cloak. FUCK”. Now all I can hope to do is get my body out in one piece. Warp, warp, warp… Wha-?

“The little shit…”, I uttered as I ran out of my clone vat, grabbing the nearest robe and picking up the NeoCom on my dresser. “Masa, whats it look like out there?”. “The Rifter left and the CEO we came out here to meet JUST showed up. Let me wire you some ISK to jump into another bomber. How much do you need?”, he replied, supportive and helpful as always. No wonder I liked the guy so much, I really felt bad for what I was about to say. Checking my personal fitting files, “Ugh, 50 mil is what it will cost”. “Done”, he simply said, with my NeoCom giving me a notification of a recent deposit.

30 minutes and one trip to Jita later, I was back in a brand new Purifier and ready to go. After arriving at my recent death site, we engaged in our purpose for being out here. I left Masa and all of his charm to the diplomatic purposes of the trip. I kept my mind solely focused on the gate and my directional scanner.

Seconds went by. Minutes went by. Hours went by. At least, that is what it felt like. I swore I would start hallucinating if I kep-. Gate flash, back to reality.

“Wait for target to decloak…. Rupture, he warped off… Damn”. I don’t know what this pilot’s agenda was for today, but he decided to visit my gate a good 4 times, never wasting more than a second to warp off.

Back to waiting for the seconds, the minutes, the hours to roll by…

“Hey, TMS, someone jumped”, Masa reminded me. “Yep, its a Rapier, align to it and- damnit, jumped back. When are we going to catch any luck?”

I have never been startled so throughly by what occurred next. Our friendly neighborhood Rapier had friends. LOTS of them. Thirty, forty,  eighty, one hundred and fifty ships jumped through local. “Masa, should we engage? We could take a good chunk of them out.” “Yeah, lets do it, deploy in three…. two…”

They were gone. We had missed our chance. Or had we? I was not going to miss the fun in this!

“…Masa… Lets follow them”, a grin spreading rapidly across my face. “Entering warp, dropping out 30 clicks short of the gate…. Dropping…. FUCK”. My hear sank at the sight ahead of me. A full on gate camp with a bubble dragging me behind the gate. Luck was not with me that moment, as I decloaked, but I kept my senses together and had Aura align for the quickest route  outside of the bubble, immediately activating my microwarp drive. The moments dragged by as Auro notified me of dozens of target locks being initiated. Had I not been inside my pod, I would have been drenched in sweat by now.

My shields vaporized, my scant amount of armor peeled off into space. My pod barreled out  of my exploding ship in  the exact velocity that I was heading. Perhaps luck was with me, my ship’s explosion thrusting me out of the warp bubble, and before I could even thank the Gods, I was safely in warp, carrying my tail in between my legs.

Too bad things were not going to be getting better for me anytime soon.

Server failscade

Alright, everybody hates server crashes.

They interrupt our valuable playtime, set us behind in our 0.01ISK wars, and cause unparalleled frustration when it happens during a skill change. But the absolute worst time for the server to crash is when you’re camping an enemy outpost waiting for a fleet to undock.

Hopefully when we log back into 04- there won’t be a 50 man fleet sniper fleet waiting for us 200km off the undock.

The good news is, I’m currently in Alliance ventrilo during US prime with a bunch of Americans – none of which I can understand a word of. Apparently ‘queue’ sounds like ‘quay’ to them.

I guess its a cultural learning experience none the less.

Alliance roam #2

Another day another roam, since we’d already hit Wildly Inappropriate recently, this time we decided to head down to CVA space and HED-GP. Whilst I’m still waiting on that carrier jump to bring my ships out to KZF, I jumped back into my Raptor again.

I decided to make a bit of a change to my fitting this time – rather than a short range point and a web, I’ve started fitting a long range point and a sensor booster. While it’s not as good at catching small MWD fit ships, it makes it much easier to catch Cruisers and above on un-bubbled gates when they try to get away. I’ve certainly noticed the difference, as I was able to lock and catch a Falcon before he could cloak and escape.

On our way to HED, our scout reported he’d found a Tengu ratting, which he had engaged and aggressed. The fleet commander gave the order to burn to the scout’s location, but by the time we got there, he’d already solo killed the Tengu, who’s pilot had ejected to prevent skill point loss. The pilot was kind enough to send us the kill mail later, as he was killed by the belt rats, after his tank had been broken.

Only minutes later we had a report that our scout had been aggressed on a gate by a Loki – determined not to miss out this time, we arrived, bubbled and proceeded to melt the Loki. Both killed dropped some seriously sweet faction/deadspace loot, which was promptly scooped by the fleet members (some of it was stolen by a fleet member who logged off with it, the new loot logging system helped to confirm this – not cool).

Once we arrived in HED, there was word of a 100 man CVA gang going around. The FC instructed us to hold on a gate, but numerous fleet members fail jumped through right into a bubble camp. Some good calls by the FC kept the rest of the fleet safe, and we were able to escape. Local jump bridges helped the chasing gang get ahead of us, and we were cut off in F-Y. I lost my Raptor and Pod whilst trying to help free one of our logistics ships from enemy tacklers.

All in all it was good fun, despite losing my ship – Interceptors are pretty cheap, and I bought a few when I returned to KZF. I think I’m getting better at catching pods, I just need to practice decloaking ships faster.

In other news…

I left a can of Fosters in the fridge last night which I was going to crack open after the roaming op. I was rather annoyed to find that one of my flat mates had drunk it without asking me.

Rest assured, this will be dealt with.