Greedy Goblin

Thursday, December 27, 2012

Blood stained stars (and a weird scam)

I start a new "habit" this year: every Thursday I post a directly ISK-making tip. I'll also list them in the "ISK guide for newbies" permanent page.

The page is now updated and already should be a usable guide for upcoming traders. I will enhance it to be an all-around guide to riches.

Today I say a few words about the Sisters of EVE epic arc. It is a long series of missions, started at Arnon IX - Moon 3 - Sisters of EVE Bureau. Why should an aspiring trader care for these? At first because it's good money compared to other low level missions. If you want seed money, it's not a bad start.

More important is the standing coming from the end mission. You can choose which faction you want to work for and you get 0.84 standing for them. That's not bad at all, beats the distribution procced storylines.

No, I'm obviously not suggesting to delay other activities for it, it's absolutely not a pre-requisite. You can do it when you have nothing better to do or with a trader alt who yet lacks the proper skills and standings to start trading. Also there is no need to do the chain in one sitting.

There are choices during the mission chain. I suggest the "Tracking the Queen" branch as it's faster. At the second time you can choose between factions. Don't forget to choose the one you want rep with. I used a Cormorant on the missions, nanofiber + damage control in the lows, shield booster, tracking computer, afterburner in mids, the longest range rails, had iron charge and antimatter. Some of the drones aren't ignorably weak, if there are too many, you shall be able to kite them and kill them from distance, out of their web/scram. The nanos save you more time during movement than magstabs would during combat. Use high-meta modules, not Railgun I-s of course. Also, some items are in spawn containers that don't show up in default overview. Many missions can be completed remotely now, no need to redock, just start conversation with agent.

The hardest mission is killing Dagan. It can be done with a pair of destroyers, probably can be done by a single blaster-fit, webbing cormorant with meta blasters and faction ammo.


The below conversation makes little sense. I believe it was a scamming attempt, he wanted to lure me into his space to blow up some assets but even that would be of little income. If anyone could figure out what this bizarre conversation is about, please let me know:

15 comments:

Anonymous said...

xxPIZZAxx is group of trolls from 4chan. They killing TEST ratters in cheap ships. TEST can't do nothing about this. And that's all.

Anonymous said...

That reads to me like a genuine recruitment offer. Pizza love harassing test, they are great victims. "best tears are griefer tears" and test are some of the worst people in eve. I think hes right, just the fact you joined pizza would irritate alot of the people in test whom pizza prey upon. Still thats not your style is it? You'd rather just move on and be successful. I find it interesting though you continue to reject all offers to "be social" within eve. Shame you have no interest in small gang pvp, as from what I have read pizza are pro at ganking. Would be a good place to learn a side of the game that you already said your not interested in.

Anonymous said...

Your trading guide still mentions that an Orca can hide cargo... that changed with Retribution, didn't it?

Anonymous said...

I don't know wheniaminspace but I know some of the other pizza guys and imo that invitation is to be taken directly at face value.

PIZZA is mostly composed of former ESG (4chan alliance, held the Hophib end of Fountain as a TEST ally, imploded in drama and inactivity about a year ago) and draketrain (left FW to join TEST, tried to split itself between TEST and CO2/Paisti Syndicate, got kicked from TEST) members.

They harass TEST and other HBC alliances using a ganky roams (e.g. destroyers), cloaky camps and are best known for making ample use of awoxing alts.

At the same time they are a very laid-back group of people who still maintain friendly connections on a personal level with many current HBC members.

This and their hit-and-run tactics contribute to being unofficially tolerated by TEST (often seen as the hand of Darwin that culls the weak and careless from the flock).

At the same time many HBC members get extremely mad at PIZZA for their "unfair" tactics and constant harassment.

I guess that conversation focuses around the following points:

* Kudos for annyoing TEST enough to kick you. This makes you an interesting person.
Maybe you would like to join PIZZA?

* If you hold a grudge against TEST (or TEST holds a grudge against you) there would be no better place for you than PIZZA.

* Maybe you could rejoin TEST and go on a hilarious awoxing spree together with your PIZZA bros?

(* Monetary donations would certainly be welcome and may be somewhere at the back of wheniaminspace's mind. But I very much doubt that milking you is the main agenda.)

Now PIZZA is obviously not offering the type of gameplay that is currently appealing to you but I doubt that you did yourself a favor by crudely dismissing wheniaminspace's advances.
Remember that networking is a big thing in EVE (which can open many doors), that you currently don't seem to have any plan for your future that is set in stone and that your interests in EVE (and your perception of the various playstyles) have changed a few times already.
If I were you I would have aimed for getting access to PIZZA's jabber without joining them.
Can't hurt and you might have come to know some interesting people.

Sugar Kyle said...

This was the hand of socialization being held out to you. Gevlon.

I am mildly surprised that it took this long for someone to contact you. This to is part of Eve but it may be the part that you understand the least.

Anonymous said...

xxPIZZAxx likes to go afk cloak in Fountain as well as "small gang roam." Occasionally they pop someone who is careless or inattentive. We've picked a quiet part of the region, so they don't come bother us, although other folks do.

Normally when you gain standing with one faction, you lose some standing with their opponent factions. The real bonus from the Blood Stained Stars arc is that when you pick one faction to go up (7%), there is no negative standings with the enemy factions. So if you're staring at pages 186-187 of Isk The Guide (see http://www.isktheguide.com/ ), looking at the top row, if your Amarr faction goes up 1, then Amatar goes up .9, Gallente drops .2 and Minmatarr drops .5. So if you have been doing a lot of missioning with Amarr (for example), to avoid becoming KOS in Minmatar space, you'll want to pick the Minny branch at the end - this will raise Minmatar without reducing Amarr (or other) factions.

You can do the Blood Stained Stars arc every 90 days. So I do that to keep from dropping too low in some factions.

As for Dagan, and the preceeding Chasing Shadows, those 2 missions tend to be hard for low skill point characters. A destroyer with T2 guns and T2 ammo can take out Dagan pretty easy. I admire the guy who droped Dagan with an exhumer.

Gevlon said...

@Sugar: but why would anyone want to socialize with me?!

Alessandro said...

Usually, humans have fun socializing.

You're a very different person, and socializing with exotic/special humans increases the fun factor.

You're "exotic/special" in the sense that the majority of human population have a high social mind.

Also, you're very sincere and almost never do things considered "evil" by the socials.

And lastly, you're a (sub)celebrity.

Sugar Kyle said...

Gevlon,

You have an active sometimes chatty (I might be the culprit) chatroom. People log in to say hello, thank you for your blog and just to meet you.

When you formed a corp people joined.

Beyond your personal opinion and insistence on rejecting social habits they still go on around you.

You can continue to rebuff everyone. However, one day you may purposefully or accidently break down and make friends with someone.

People can be surprisingly accepting.

Alessandro said...

I - and your other readers - find your posts - and your personality - very interesting.

Extrapolating: Do you know about the TV comedy series "Big Bang Theory"? There's a fun character, named Sheldon, that makes the audience laugh by his lack of sociality and sincere remarks.

You're similar - to a less extend, and having your character in the alliance would be fun by itself - regardless if you socialize or not.

Anonymous said...

I've heard WhenIaminspace described as Eve's best tackle pilot by people outside Pizza, so that guy is probably no schlub.

Anonymous said...

@Anon

Space is one of eve's best tacklers. This can be inferred simple by checking his kb history and all of the solo/duo kills (duo being him and npc's). He has tackled an insane amount of ratters and carriers is one of the best interceptor pilots I have ever flown with.

@Gelvon
What space was offering you was a genuine offer to join pizza and experience our unique culture and to fly with us on some fleets. The only thing expected of pizza members is for them to be active.

We enjoy our own specialized gameplay which can be likened to pirating/griefing of major null-sec alliances. We take great pride in our small gang fleets and fast roams delving deep into hostile sov 0.0 and killing ratters/home defense gangs and the unwary while being chased.

summat said...

> confed of pizza
> good pilots
Pick one. And ONLY one.

That convo was brought to you by someone that just cloak afks half the time and the other half ganks random people who can't fight back.
5% of his time is spent on actual fleets. Which, might I add, require no skill whatsoever. Flying an interceptor is "Flight 102" in EvE, anyone with 2 brain cells that can solve "1+2" knows how to fly one efficiently and without dying horribly.

I say this from personal experience in fighting lolpizza members. However, they just do what any good ickly little high-sec alliance does. War-dec null alliances and wait to gank on stupid members in high-sec. It's a good tactic, but that doesn't make you good at PvP.

Yaggle said...

People who are not social but are highly intelligent and willing to share their knowledge are often highly coveted by socials. Sometimes a person recognizes that another person has some strength of character they do not possess and hopes that by associating with them, will become better themselves. Of course, when someone such as yourself socializes with them, you could find yourself becoming more like them. More is in it for them than for you.

gallego said...

Can blood stained stars be done in a battle cruiser (obviously with dones to take care of frigs)?