The Importance of Effective Communication

It's one of the biggest aspects that differentiates business as a whole, piracy in EVE can be consiered a business and therefore I would say that this topic title is appliicable and it is just as critical here as it is in the real world.

It is also an aspect of EVE that has provided me with much consternation since my return to the game.

As a corporation, The Tuskers use a mix of verbal communication through Ventrillo, and written communciation through corporation channels. The preferred method of communication being over ventrillo and it is insisted upon that if you are online in EVE then you should also be on vent. An excellent rule.

This morning provided me with a superb demonstration of why this is so important when I logged in to update my skill training to find an Armageddon in a belt in Hevrice. I had no intention when I logged in to undock, but curiosity bit me to see who was this other person in local. I should have logged into vent to advise my corpmates but I didn't. There is more than one reason for not doing so, the first was not really a good one and the second, well I'll come onto that in a minute. Ultimately I undocked, warped in on the battleship and sprung a trap. Losing a Hurricane, an avoidable loss had I advised my corpmates I am certain and we probably would have come away with the big "W". Once I was engaged, I put some comments in a text comms channel but these were too little too late.

Over the last couple of days I've seen this sort of thing happen a few times, admittedly this is the first time I've done it myself. I don't know the reason for it, or why there is a reluctance to use vent as its such a powerful asset, not using it costs iskies and pride. I imagine part of the reason for not communicating about targets, and I know I am guilty of this on rare occasions is the desire to get the solo kill. But really, we're a corporation and a team who should be working for the "greater good" and not individual benefit. I know for one that I should listen to my own lecture here. Today is the marker in the sand for me personally, and I want to rid myself of this bad habit.

Unfortunately for me, and the second reason for me not being on vent is that I seemingly have developed a technical issue since re-subscription which prevents me being understood by everyone else when I speak on vent. Don't get me wrong, I don't speak swahili or anything and my communication skills are very good, they have to be in my job. My vent is normalized and connected/logged in just fine. I can hear everyone else clearly, however when I speak a proportion of people can hear and understand me just fine but a bigger proportion of people say that either they can't hear and/or understand me. It's doing my head in to be honest and I wish I could fix it. It is having a detrimental effect on my ability to work with and effectively contribute to my corporation and is just completely doing my fruit in! I'd love to hear any suggestions on how it could be fixed. For the record, my headset is just fine.

Back to what I enjoy most in EVE

Long standing blog followers may remember that I used to have a knack of finding and destroying poorly fit Battlecruisers with my humble Rifter. Well earlier this week I managed to lure one out to fight me after scaring his Scythe in a belt. After a little banter between us he was convinced that his Hurricane would have no problem destroying my Rifter and warped to the belt I remained in. It soon became clear once we were committed that he had underestimated the power of the little Frigate. I offered him the chance to pay a ransom to keep his ship, he declined saying he didn't have enough isk. Of course that meant that I had to destroy his ship. Snagging his capsule afterwards he was in no mood to pay a ransom on that so I transported him back to the clone vat. Apparently he's going to quit EVE don't you know?

Well, he didn't as since then he appears to have lost even more ships.

On unrelated news today I took delivery of my new Battlecruiser stock, Seven new hulls and fittings for six new and untested loadouts. Four Drakes, two Cyclones and one Hurricane. I've now fit them all and look forward to taking them out.

Also, given my new fitting ability post learning skill removal I've bought a single new Rifter with a untested fit to have a play with. Grumblecub will see you in space soon.

Settling Back In

This weekend I've been online a fair bit both days whilst my girlfriend has been at work. I'm glad to say that I've gotten a few shots off in anger this weekend, which has been very satisfying and helps in blowing away some cobwebs. I really need to rid myself of the newbie nerves and as much as the adrenaline high is and was a great thing, the last thing I need right now is anything to distract me from performing at optimal.

I'm not sure if it's me or the times at which I have been online, but the space lanes have been very quiet with few potential targets to be had. I have managed to probe down a few vessels but they were very alert and either warped out as I arrived on scene or cloaked up.

Saturday was the more lively day for me, even though it commenced with me getting bored enough to get GCC for popping a Velator & Pod on the high-sec gate in Hevrice. In the afternoon a bunch of us formed up in BC's to spoil a triple battleship group running a site in a nearby wormhole, though sadly they had left by the time we were ready. Deciding against wasting the small gang if BC's we took a short jaunt towards Intaki managing to catch this Hurricane on the way out, and this Arbitrator on the way back.

Sunday was a much quieter day, albeit the day which I managed to probe down some nice targets I only managed to lay waste to a ratting Caracal. There was an afk Hyperion, again on a high-sec gate who unfortunately woke up while we were bumping him off gate.

Hopefully next time I immerse myself I'll see some more action. I've decided against going for a Heavy Interdictor for the time being, sticking with some of my existing plans for now.

Having undocked and flown my Drake & Canes around over the weekend I feel that I'm getting a nice feel for them and am enjoying them. I was a bit disappointed with my Drakes tank against sentry guns, expecting it to be rather uber. I'll be looking to create a better fit for this purpose.

Time for my dinner, so I'll speak to ya'll again soon.

Ringing the Changes

Well well well, so as you know from my last post I'm back in the EVE universe. Last year saw me go cold-turkey overnight from EVE and adjusting my real life priorities and how I spend my time, including of course what proportion of that time gets invested into computer games. Things are now much more settled and I feel ready to pick up from where left off, if such a thing is really possible. Now I am back I intend to play casually and not be bound to routine or a commitment to play.

I have reactivated Kirith and I have also reactivated my alt account. Whilst my focus is Kirith the alt account allows me to meddle with Trading again during opportunites where I cannot shut everything out, get on vent immerse myself in piracy.

Coming back to the game the first thing I had to do before I could enter it was to create myself a new avatar, I have to say that I did find it a bit tedious. Though for a first attempt at throwing together something similar to my previous image I am happy with the end result.

So I'm in game, everything looks a bit different. I have yet no idea what AUR are and I can no longer spin my ships :(! Oh and I apparently have 2.8m SP to spend as learning skills are no-more, well that's kinda cool I guess.

To decide where to put my 'free' SP I consulted my corpmates, and was given many good suggestions. I think I settled on AWU5, Surgical Strike 5 and Heavy Missiles V along with a few bits here and there. I've had to reinstall Evemon & EFT and throw together new skill plans as everything got deleted last year. I hope to return to delivering a monthly character update, much as I used to. And yes, the Rifter plan still lives and runs alongside my other plans!

So, what's in my hanger? Holy crap I've got 71 ships in Hev 5, I don't remember having all those! Aside from about 10 ships they're all fit and ready to undock too. I have I think reacquainted myself with my ships, the basics of flight, settings & shortcuts.

It seems that when I left the game last year I did so with Battlecruisers V in the skill queue, couldn't have asked for better! So it was a very nice surprise to be able to fly these mighty gunships now, hopefully you'll hear of my exploits as and when they occur.

It is fabulous to see that there are many familiar faces still in The Tuskers, I've said hello to many of them. There are though many new names who I have yet to get to know. I'm looking forward to catching up with Kishin soon, not seen him yet and I've missed talking with him alot.

Last night was my first real opportunity to get back into space for a few hours while the girlfriend was out. A medium sized Tusker gang was abroad and I elected to abstain due to my limited time commitment. I set about solo roaming in my amazingly long surviving Jaguar and as much as I'd love to regail you with stories of great deeds I didn't manage to find anything to engagein the whole three hours. Hopefully next time will be more fruitful.