Right, so I know it has been a while, and I’m sorry for the delay and apologize to my avid reader(s?). The cause of that was a move from UT to TX which was well, somewhat of a taxer on the whole internets thing.
However, despite all of that, I have finally moved into an apartment and got my desktop set up once more, which allows me to play Eve once more and gather all kinds of interesting tidbits to fill this barren blog with sweet delicious fruit. The worms come free.
Anyways, the topic for today is ‘the shakes’. Everyone gets them, when that neutral lands at 0 on you and you see the locking symbols appear, or when your prober calls you to warp in on them, and you realize you’re about to enter into combat where the only probably outcome is destruction, possibly your own. Your pupils dilate, pulling in as many photons that pour from your LCD monitor as possible, your heart begins to pump harder and faster, your skins tightens up and the blood flow to your muscles is increased, ready for action.
Too bad the best you can do is click click click tappity tappity. However, the effects of the shakes are real. The addition of hte adrenaline allows you to react faster, causing you to be more alert and your brain work more efficiently, unfortunately this extra blood and sugar are meant for your muscles, not your brain, as your training and habits will kick in once things hit full speed. No one notices the shakes at full speed, when they are commanding that fleet of 250+ jumping through a gate into a close range RR blob of death, or running their interceptor headlong into a mixed gang, attempting to grab tackle and hold on, piloting at their very limit in order to survive.
It’s the slow times that the shakes effect me, I’ve had them so bad after a narrow battle that I was having a hard time typing, let alone clicking. I eventually ended up going to get a glass of water and doing some jumping jacks and pushups to work off the energy in my arms. My jaw hurt too, and that’s when I realized I clench my teeth when I get the shakes, and apparently it was clenched the whole battle.
When I was an FC back in the day, fighting nearly daily the edge of the shakes had worn off. I remember them coming on for the bigger battles, especially if capitals were involved, but otehrwise it was almost routine. However, with this last break of a few weeks I had apparently kicked the ‘adrenaline’ habit.
We’re exfiltrating assets out of our C4 home, my ships being the last due to my absence. As I was making hauls back and forth I stumble upon a Sabre as my pod enters our home system. I grab my Falcon and get eyes on him at 100km. Sasha was coming to haul so I bring in the prober alt, he doesn’t react when she jumps in, so I assume his scout is not watching the opposite side. Only other place is that the scout is on the POS, watching the Impel. Fair enough.
Sasha brings in the Legion and holds one jump out, I swap for my Broadsword. Here is where the shakes take hold, not on warp in, not on engagement, not even when he shot my covops cause I suck at MWD+cloak trick, no, they take hole right after I grab the Broadsword and hold position to recharge shield a bit. Strange, no? I took that time to scout out the other WH and check for any of his buddies, which I found none. This was good but I still couldn’t help but clench my jaw and listen to my heart pound.
At half shields I warp in, Sasha hit the hole from the other side. Long story short, Sabre outruns us like no one’s business and gets away, obviously we didn’t have a real chance. I knew it would be a long shot, and yet I still have my heart pounding and hands shaking.
Clearest remedy? More PvP. And luckily I got time on my hands now.
For those of you who failed chemisty (me) that chemical is commonly known as adrenaline.
Fly Dangerous o7
~HQ
Hels
Steph Wing