Extravaganza Recap
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Well, as is often the case, even though I had lots of free time, I didn’t get to do everything I had hoped to do during my “free time.” There never seems to be enough hours in the day.
One thing I did accomplish was playing a lot of golf. I got in 45 holes in a 24 hour period. That’s a lot of golf. I golfed some of my best golf, which always makes the rounds that much better. I had two chip-ins for birdies, which for me is a rarity to do it once, so doing it twice in a weekend is close to golf Nirvana.
As far as gaming goes, I got some time online with Halo 2, finally played Brinstar for our STOB match (I won 0-(-1), not very convincingly) and I picked up the New Super Mario Brothers (more on that later). One game that I didn’t play, surprisingly, was EVE-Online. I think it’s time that EVE and I start seeing other people. I may go back to it, but currently there are other games I’d rather play, which means EVE goes into hibernation. I’m not giving up on it, it’s just no longer a priority, and if I don’t plan on paying for something I’m not playing.
So now the family is back in town, bringing this year’s extravaganza to a close.
EVE Online, 90 days later
I’ve been meaning to start a new thing here at buttonmashing.com where I expound on my initial impressions. I’ve posted a lot of “first impressions” but I don’t follow up as often as I want to. Often, those initial impressions are the “honeymoon” stage and you look past flaws. Now that I’ve been well past that stage with EVE, I thought I’d share a little more on my experiences.
Back from the dead
I have returned from my long weekend of family visits and no internet. As I’m sure you’ve heard before, disconnecting for a while feels great. I didn’t completely disconnect, though. I took my Xbox to the in-laws since the brother-in-law loves NCAA Football and his wife loves Burnout 3. He also had never experienced the Halo/Halo 2 experience, so I took that along to show him there is life after football games. I also played a little Splinter Cell Chaos Theory to further my point that there are games that are fun to play that don’t involve Heisman Trophies and Maryland-I formations. He was impressed.
This gave me a chance to go back to games that I had neglected since I started my EVE binge. The long weekend (coupled with losing my partner in EVE-crime) hasn’t lessened my desire to play EVE, it will just be on the back burner for a while. I think I’ll be doing a little AFK mining while I play some of the games on “The Stack.” I think the first order of business will be finishing Splinter Cell. I forgot how enjoyable putting bad guys in the choke hold was.
On the buttonmashing.com side of things, I noticed the site was down today for most of the afternoon. I don’t know what caused the problem, but whatever it was seems to have already been straightened out, so yay for that.
Subject: Clone Activated
Body:
2006.03.31 04:52
So you died? Well you have a Clone Grade Iota at Hulm VIII - Moon 2 - Republic University School Station. Enjoy your afterlife.
Yeah, so this is the cute little EVE Mail message I’ve sent to myself after I was podded (killed while trying to flee in my escape pod). How quaint.
EVE had seemed unstable all evening, but I found a sweet spot to mine some rare asteroids and no one was bothering me, so even with the constant disconnects I was hauling in some good ore. After a couple more disconnects, I logged back in and found myself targeted by two pirates. They didn’t seem too far out of my league, so I started lighting one up when I noticed two other real players in the same area. They decided I was to be their Minmatar red-headed-step-child and they unleashed a fury on me. I frantically tried to warp out but was unable. I think they had something to do with that. After my ship was destroyed (fully insured) I tried to make tracks in my trusty pod when it received a volley of thorn rockets that sent my poor character on his way to EVE heaven.
Dead. In space. What a horrible way to go.
A lot of things went wrong here. I probably shouldn’t have been in 0.4 space by myself, even if I was fully armed. I only had a couple cannons mounted as I was busy mining, so I shouldn’t have been so careless with that. At the first sign of trouble I should have bailed but I stuck around a little longer than I should have. Above all, I shouldn’t have been playing when EVE was acting so wonky.
So I have started “the list”. “idimmu69” and “golddiger” and the Corp, “Arcana Imperii, Ltd.” have just made themselves the first entries on “The List”. Fear the list!
Since I really don’t gain much from not revealing my identity, I’ll let you in on the gory details of my death. You can see them here and here.
(Let me just add that the amount of non-CPP EVE content out there is pretty impressive)
Related Posts:
EVE Online Impressions
Learning the ropes, the hard way…
Daddy’s got a new ship
EVE and Me
What I’m playing
I’ve been pretty busy lately and it’s been cutting into my gaming time. We traveled home to my parents house this past weekend for the buttonSon’s first birthday and we’ll be heading to the button-In-Laws this weekend. What’s a gamer to do when he’s busy and on the road? What games should he play? That’s a great question. And the Nintendo DS is a great answer.
This past weekend I had some time to play a little more Metroid Prime Hunters
I’m also still working off my Nook Loan. Thanks to my helpful commenters, I have been regularly opening my gates and increasing the value of my turnips. I have a flea market coming up this weekend, so I’m starting to hoard the expensive fish.
When I have a few moments to game at home, I’ve been playing EVE. I’m giving each of the “professions” a try. I’ve given manufacturing a try, churning out a bunch of small projectile ammo. I was hoping for a great “crafting” experience but it was a little too hands off for my liking. It still seems like a very viable way to make ISK so I haven’t sworn it off yet, I just didn’t get the crafting feedback I had hoped for. I upgraded my Probe for a Thrasher (pictured here) which was a big upgrade, fire-power-wise (even though it looks wimpy with those little turrets). With my newfound muscle I “ganged up” with BM reader Bobster for a little pirate hunting and that was a good time. Not entirely lucrative, but we weren’t going after the big boys. We’ll be trying some low-security mining soon, so we’ll see how that goes. I’ve also been running as many missions as I can.
Since I’ll be out of town again this weekend, I’m hoping to finish up Metroid Fusion
What about you guys? Playing anything new? Outside of GRAW and Oblivion, there doesn’t seem to be a bunch of new stuff out there. I’ve been eyeing Galactic Civilizations II but I don’t think I can take on another game right now.
Some thoughts…
I know blogging has been light lately, but RL keeps getting in the way. I’d like to say gaming has kept me away but sadly that isn’t the case. Gaming has been limited to EVE lately, with an occasional Animal Crossing break.
Even with the lack of blogging, I wanted to post a few thoughts I’ve had recently:
- Even with two AAA titles out in the past couple of weeks (Ghost Recon: Advanced Warfighter
and Oblivion
), I still find that I’m not really gravitating toward the Xbox 360. All the trimmings on the periphery (Xbox Live Arcade, Gamer Points) still intrigue me but the games don’t. I’ve never played any of the Elder Scrolls games (even though I own Morrowind) but I’ve been fascinated by the excited anticipation surrounding Oblivion. I’ll be watching Adam’s blog, since he’s in the same boat and will be playing an Elder Scrolls game for the first time. Even with all the excitement, I’m still content with the occasional Halo 2 match with friends and a little NCAA 2006. I’d also like to snag a copy of both Mercenaries and Forza since I never finished either of those. And I also have a stack of games that I’ve only played briefly that I’d like to get to. So yeah, I’m really not feeling the 360 right now.
So I’m not sure what will be the title that pushes me over the edge. Probably the next NCAA title. If not that, then certainly the next Halo.
- That being said, I am currently drooling over the DS Lite. I don’t know when it hits our shores, but man I want that! It just looks sexy (something the original does not). While I’d really like to get a black Lite, I think the dark blue (Navy enamel or something) will do. I’m also pumped about Metroid Prime Hunters. If I have a chance, I’ll be picking up a copy later this evening, but you never know how that works. I was a little worried about the control scheme, but after reading Tycho’s blurb about it you can color me excited.
- I’m really digging EVE-Online. So much so that I’m running a mission as I type. I never got around to Auto Assault and now I doubt I will. It’s not that I didn’t want to, but the gaming buffet is already overflowing. With Metroid and Tetris on the cusp, I just don’t need another time sink. It isn’t easy being a gamer.
- I have a bunch of posts that are in various states of completion that I’d like to get to at some point. I’ve got stuff on MMOs (Sports games in particular), video game music (and other music-related stuff) and whatever else fills the empty space in my head. I’ll get around to them eventually. Right now, someone is in dire need of Antibiotics and I’ve got to deliver.
EVE and me
[EVE-Online] My current gaming time has been monopolized by EVE-Online. EVE is going good. I lost my first two ships the other night (thank goodness for insurance!). I took on a mission that I wasn’t ready for and I paid the price. Literally. I had to rescue some kidnapped VIPs from a rogue group of NPCs. The mission involved multiple encounters. Each one increasing in difficulty, of course. I warped out and was able to take the first two groups of bad guys out, but the third group were waaaay too tough for me. I’d warp into their space and they were on me fast. Two blasts would totally drop my shields, another two completely destroyed my armor and two more smashed my hull to bits. Holy crap on a stick, it happened fast. So there I was, in empty space, sitting in my pod. I flew my pod back to base, bought another ship, and asked another player for some assistance. Someone flying a Gallente Vexor offered me a hand. I tried to hide from the bad guys while he took them out but still got blown up again. Even though I was trying to avoid the conflict I still got punked like a sissy. He wasted all the bad guys so I went and bought yet another ship. This time I was able to warp to the last guy who I had to attack twice to beat. He was pretty tough but I saved the VIPs and received a handsome reward.
The thing is, up to this point, I’ve been playing EVE casually. This doesn’t work. EVE-Online isn’t a casual game. That’s not necessarily a bad thing. The simple fact is that EVE is a very deep game. So I’ve actually started getting into EVE seriously. I started reading the Player’s Guide (I should have done this a week ago!) and I’m getting involved with other players. Playing with other players works pretty well. EVE is really starting to suck me in.
Related Posts:
EVE Online Impressions
Learning the ropes, the hard way…
Daddy’s got a new ship
Daddy’s got a new ship
Well, I’m still learning things the hard way. I’m not exactly sure purchasing a new ship (A Minmatar Wreathe) was exactly the smartest thing to do. It was the old “spend money to make money” situation, but I spent money to get money that was initially mine. Either way, this new ship is a beast. It comfortably holds my old Probe in its cargo holds with room to spare. It looks like a locomotive. Unfortunately, it runs like one, too. This thing is SLOW. But, I’ve been interested in exploring some of the industrial and manufacturing aspects of EVE and this ship should suit my purposes for now.
I’m currently on my way to deliver the cargo for the mission that I unwittingly got myself involved with that started this whole mess. It’s been an enlightening experience.
Please, kids, learn from my mistakes.
Update: This is what I’ve been waiting to see:
Now I can breathe a sigh of relief and warp to my home base. 37 jumps away. Sheesh.
Related Posts
EVE Online Impressions
Learning the ropes, the hard way…
Auto Assault
Has anyone played this yet? I received a Beta Code, but having just started up EVE, I don’t know if I have time to try another MMOG or not. I’ve been interested in Auto Assault for a while, so I may still give it a try, but I wanted to hear if any of you faithful readers have given it a try.
Since I have EVE on the Lappy, I could always put AA on the main PC. Whoa. Two MMOGs playing at once. That may go way beyond nerdcore. That’s uncharted territory.
(PS - That shirt? I want that!)
Learning the ropes, the hard way…
So things in EVE are starting to pick up. Problem is, I still don’t know what the heck I’m doing. There is an endless amount of information out there, I just haven’t taken the time to read any of it. I’m simply winging it right now. It has lead to some tough lessons. Two examples:
After having my fill of “Fed-Ex” courier missions, I decided to branch out and try my hand (and my ship) at a little space combat. One of my contacts had just what I was looking for — a Minmatar scout had his ship destroyed by some pirates in a region of dead space near the current base. This called for swift retribution, which I had been recruited for. The mission was simple: Destroy the leaders habitation and take out any pirates who got in the way. I was also told to leave the rest of their installation intact. No problem, nice and straightforward.
I head out to the area and locate the target. It was quite a distance a way, and there was a group of three pirates between us. I dispatched with them with impunity and headed to my target. Off to my right (or starboard, I’m not to sure about spacecraft jargon) was a group of more pirates, about ten of them. They were about a 100 klicks away, so I figured they’d ignore me. I locked on to my target and started blasting away. My little pea-shooter blasters were doing very little damage to the habitation. It was slow going and in the meantime, the pirates had taken an interest in me. Before I knew it, they had closed the gap and all had my targeted and were unloading their arsenal on me with abandon. I threw up shield booster and tried to warp out of there, but I didn’t have enough power to warp. They had taken my shields down completely, perforated my armor to nothing and were currently working on my structure when the warp drive kicked in and I flew outta there like some kind of bat. I made it back to the station with about 11 HP of structure left, nothing else. That was close. Phew. I would have been really screwed because I skimped on the insurance and would have been without a ship if they had taken me down. I repaired my ship, headed back and took out the pirates before I took out my target. It was a lesson learned.
I then decided to take it easy on the combat missions since my current Frigate isn’t really built for battle. Me contacts told me I could check any available missions from any station, so I decided to check those out. There are a ton of missions I could do. I picked one that seemed reasonably easy to do. The reward was 100k ISK for a simple pickup and drop off. No prob. It never is.
In EVE, whenever you take on a mission, they take “escrow” from you as a form of collateral that you’ll actually do the mission. For all the missions up until now, the amount of escrow was small, on the order of a few thousand ISK. Well, this mission’s escrow was 2 million ISK! I about crapped my pants when I looked at my bank account and I only had 80k in there. HUH?! This was not good. I needed to finish this mission ASAP and get my money back. So I look at the mission and set up my destination. It was 29 jumps away! I have my routing figure the safest path, so I turned off that and it would still be 21 jumps, going through some low security areas. So I switched it back and when on my way. It takes over a minute to do each jump, so it took my over half an hour, real time, to get to my destination.
I get there, locate my cargo and then my heart sinks again. My current ship has cargo space for 330 m
So I’m slowly figuring out the ropes. Slowly being the operative word. So while I’m mining tonight I’ll be reading up on anything I can find about EVE Online. I’ve got to be prepared for the wild world of EVE!
Related Posts
EVE Online Impressions
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