70 Mil down the proverbial drain...

I felt like I’d arrived.  The Dram’ was fitted out and even though my skills were sadly lacking I was cruising in Low-sec looking for targets.  It’s not fair to say that I was getting desperate for a kill but I was definitely looking forward to it with enthusiasm.  Being new to the lark I was jumping between safe spots and the gates and spamming the directional scanner just like I’d begun to pick up from speaking with others who, unlike me, were used to shooting at things that shoot back.  After quite some time of lonely bouncing I got a Badger on scan – then I could see it!  Now – being new to this I didn’t get that sense of ‘Hmm this is unusual – why would he warp to me in an Indy?’  No No – I was pretty sure I was sitting on a safe spot and just assumed he’d hit the same bookmark – now we all know that the odds on that are slight in the extreme but hey, I’m new to this.  So – adrenaline pumping I thought about how silly the Badger pilot would feel and began to lock him up – then opened up with auto-cannons and drones.  THAT’S when it became clear that I was NOT in fact at a safe spot at all.  Nope, I was sitting on the gate and, for the second time this week, I lost a ship to gate guns.  This time though it was 80mil worth of Dram’ not just a Rifter.  So, another lesson learnt on my quest to experience something new.  At this rate I’ll need to mine non-stop for a month to replace my losses!!!!

The following night I was sorting out fittings and wishing skills would advance just that little bit more swiftly whilst sitting in the station.  Other corpies were out on patrol when the shout came up that a target was locked in the system.  I jumped in my Rifter (note I no longer fly the Dram’ as I am NOT feeling flush anymore!) and undocked.  I admired the sun glinting off the T2 200mm auto-cannons and fired up the DCII.  I plotted a course for the gate and jumped into the system.  Already fleeted up I warped to the point and locked up the target – it was nothing less than a Rupture with drones out.  It was already into structure as I opened up from well over my optimal range.  Within a few rounds it was exploding in a cloud of shrapnel and I began to clear up the drones.  I had made it onto a kill-mail!  Ok only for a very small amount of damage but there I was in black and white as an involved party.  Finally I had achieved my first step in the world of PvP.  Now I need to aspire to a final blow and a solo kill.  Those are some way away looking at my skills but I’m getting there.  I’ve got Mechanic 5 in the tubes now which will help along with maxing Electronics to up my cap time (from a matter of seconds!). 

This experimental sortie into PvP though has every potential to go horribly wrong.  By that I mean that the anticipation and adrenaline experienced during the hunt are really quite addictive.  I’m not sure that shooting rocks will ever feel the same again.  Once I get my skills up, who knows?  Perhaps I’ll step over the line and go outlaw…

On a serious note though I’ve heard much about ‘what’s wrong with low-sec’.  I think I understand in some small way now as traffic through the systems is extremely slow (where I am anyway) and for an aspiring true pirate (who would certainly honour ransoms) there are very sparse pickings.  I have wondered as have many others about how to make it more attractive to newer players and industrialists (I would certainly think twice about taking my mining boats into low-sec).  All I can think of is greed.  Make the ore you can find in there much more valuable than the high-sec cousins.  Match reward to risk.  I’m sure there are other more eloquent options which in my inexperience I’m not yet aware of but that’s just my first thought.

On another note again FlashFresh from that well know pirate corp has mooted the idea of a drunken roam with Tweetfleeters.  I’m up for that if they need gate gun fodder!

Until next time – fly safe!