Getting to know your surroundings is crucial after a move!

Having recently moved about 30 jumps from Heimatar to the Tash-Murkon region, I'm now settling in to my new home base system of Pimebeka. It's where Phoenix Labs has made it's HQ, though we're still listed as being based out of Khanid Prime. A system and region I'm much more familiar with. Stuck between DOMAIN, KADOR and KHANID, TASH-MURKON is a region I've never really gotten to know, despite my 7 years of EVE. Getting my bearings quickly will be crucial.

That's something I always like to do when I establish myself in a new area of New Eden which I'm not familiar with. And whether you use the EVE Strategic Map like me, or @Wollari's DOTLAN EveMaps (which I also use by the way), learning all you can about the systems, belts, stations and surroundings is essential to safely navigating space.

I haven't had the time or opportunity to join any corp events since moving back to PPL, but I have taken a few trips beyond Pimebeka, learning various routes and getting to know a few agents. Hopefully, I'll get to know the neighborhood well rather quickly.

What about you? Have you moved around a lot, or have you stayed within the same region within New Eden?

EVE Online Postcard for the week of April 27th, 2008

EVE Postcard for the week of April 13th, 2008

Since my return to the Khanid Kingdom, I've been running missions and mining for the corp. This screenshot was taken while docking at an Royal Kahnid Nay (RKN) station while doing the "Pirate Intrusion" mission given to me by agent Umid Ashain. I'll have more screenshots of this particular mission soon.

Just so you know, that little dot on the top right corner is my Vexor on its way to the station docks!

Fly safely in the mean time!

Moving back to Khanid Kingdom to reunite with PPL

So over the last three nights I've been going back and forth between Inaro system and Khanid Prime, which is where the Phoenix Labs head-quarters is. I had to move several ships and items, all of which took a few hours.

The screenshots above & below were taken during this assignment. Over the next few days, I'll be reporting on our activities as we get ready to impact the manufacturing industry. Enjoy!




Fly safe!

Moving back to Khanid space to rejoin Phoenix Labs

Well, my stay in Gallente Federation was only brief. After a few weeks away, I recently got back in touch with a few corp mates from Phoenix Labs and decided to head back to low sec space and rejoin them in their manufacturing operation. Even though I had just joined their ranks recently, I left TAKAGI Corp on very good terms and look forward to staying in touch with them.

I traveled back to Badivefi a few days ago, and I'm giving myself a few days to get back into the beat, before going back to Grinacanne one last time to get a few items and my trusty old Vexor. Then it'll be back to normal, doing CAP for various PPL mining ops in 0.0 sec system. Just the way we like them!

Taken while flying back to Badivefi, in my Myrmidon.

Saying goodbye to Khanid and getting back home

As you read this, I'm on my way back to Gallente Federation space. Though I have not officially left Phoenix Propulsion Labs, I've cleaned out my hangars, sold what I need and could and packed what I could. On my way back out for a last trip, just as I was leaving the station in Badivefi I got podded by a gang of 6 pilots from PURE Legion, who were sitting there and not only lost a Dominix, but its full cargo! They'll pay one day, you can mark my words. Oh they'll pay.

I just hate waking up in a new clone. It's just so awkward and disorienting to wake-up in those clone labs. But ehm who am I kidding, I'd rather feel nauseated then be dead. I just never got used to it.

So I bought a shuttle and undocked. I was going to see if these PURE suckers were fast enough on the trigger. As my shuttle exited the station, I hit the engines full speed and as soon as I was clear I engaged the auto-pilot. They never had a chance to target me! But when I got at the gate, a little Pure party was waiting to say goodbye. This time they locked on me, and started bombarding me hard. Not hard enough though. And by the time I jumped, I had only lost shields and half my armor. These bozos couldn't even get a shuttle for crying out loud. "Les pourris!!" as grandpa used to say.

So now, I've got about twenty-something jumps left to get to Grinacanne, on the edge of the Federation. Dad's gonna be happy to see me! I've already dropped my Vexor and all that it could carry. So I just have to get myself there in one piece.

Khanid was fun, and PPL was a great place to work. But home is home, and you can't take the Gallente out of this girl. See you on the other side!

The mission grinder

Well I'm at it again, working for a Royal Khanid Navy agent, who goes by the name of Toyosha Garana. A nice fella, who seems willing to give me interesting missions - and he's seems to have a lot on his hands these days anyways. All my missions were in Badivefi tonight, so I didn't have to leave the system; a good thing since our alliance, FIX, is at war again, this time against the Privateer Alliance.

So I was at it all evening, clearing drone infestation, retrieving stolen goods and information and executing known criminals. It feels good to be back home. Hopefully I have a few more days in Badi, before PPL's execs send me out again. Though fighting the good fight for FIX is always an honour!

A Vexor set-up for security missions

As most you know, I've been running a lot of missions these past few weeks, both for fun (isn't that the purpose of gaming) and also as per our corporate directives to increase our standings with the Khanid.

There are quite a few ships which I'm skilled enough to pilot, but I always tend to come back to my good old Vexor. I've gone through a few of them now having lost some to missions where the darn NPC pirates had the upper hand, or (usually) through unwanted PVP. But you learn and adapt (or die). Which is a great part of the fun I find in EVE.

I don't know how many hours I've spent with my ships in stations, reading through the EVE Forums, chatting with corp mates, trying different set-ups. Some poor, some fun. In some cases I'll go for speed and maneuverability, in others for a good tanking. Don't know what tanking is? You've tanked your ship when she's able to take a beating for a long time before Armor and Structure go. So you usually load up on Armor, Shield and Hull, and hardeners (Shield or Armor).



I've recently come up with a set-up (see above) for my Vexor which seems to be working very well for my current level 3 missions. I send out my Hammerhead II drones off to a target and stay at a range of about 22 km shouting down the rats. I can take a lot of beating before my shields go down (if I recall correctly they're at 3200 points! Yes that's on a Vexor!). If any rats get close, I'll shoot them down with the Dual 180mm Gallium Machine Guns, once they get with a good range (about 8500m).

Here's my current Vexor set-up:
High slots
2x 720mm Howitzer Artillery I
2x Dual 180mm Gallium Machine Gun
1x Micro 'Notos' Explosive Charge I

Medium slots
1x Medium Shield Extender I
1x Large F-S9 Regolith Shield Induction
1x Shield Boost Amplifier I

Low slots
2x Type-D Power Core Modification: Reaction Control
1x Reactor Control Unit I
1x 800mm Reinforced Steel Plates I

Drones
5x Hammerheads II

Now, eventually, I'd like to come up with the right set-up for PVP, though I'm far from ready for that. Having recently joined the Phalanx Division within PPL's Military Division, I'll get there pretty soon (more on that later).

Finally, here's a screenshot of a recent mission. Lots of action eh!

Running more missions in Khanid Kingdom

Spent the better part of last evening running missions in Kihtaled, in the Khanid Kingdom. I've got to seriously get going on this, since we need to get our corporation standing up to 4.0. The higher it is the more efficient and cost effective we can be at manufacturing, which is the purpose of PPL.

Here a few good screenshots from last night. I should have a lot more done by Friday evening, since Stephanie is out of town on business.

EVE Online: Mining the Khanid Kingdom

This week-end we received orders from command that we needed to do some mining to get our ore supplies a bit higher. So the for the last 3 evenings I've been mining with some of my corp mates (Malindah, Padyn and Paladyn). I was the one hauling the ore, with the help of Malindah.

In this screenshot above, Paladyn was flying CAP (Combat Air Patrol) in a Brutix while I was hauling the remaining containers.
It was a change of pace from the agent missions we had been running the last 2 weeks in order to increase our standings with the Royal Khanid Navy and the Khanid Kingdom.

I tried to get my Teamspeak to work, but without a headset it isn't worth much. Guess I'll have to get me one!