Profitability in Question

I like to think that after a long day of mining my ship is towed into station and given whatever the space equivalent of a car wash but college girls in bikini’s would be. Mining while my on-world counterpart is at work seems like it might be a worthwhile investment in time. 5.5 minutes per haul, with about 1.7 million coming in every haul for 8 hours is roughly a metric shit ton. Okay not really but it’s like an extra 150 million isk that wouldn’t have been in my wallet if I hadn’t done it. So yay! I’m making some money.

Now if I can just stop loosing ships…

One of the things that fascinates me outside of the pod is the ancient art of marksmanship. More specifically snipers. At first it was a fascination of just mastering the physics involved with launching a lethal projectile insane distances and hitting something the size of a small plate. But it’s become more than that. The stealth. The hunt. Observing a target hour after hour. Learning everything you can about them before making the kill. It’s fascinating. Whether you’re interested in the application of lethal force or not, it just speaks to me on some fundamental level I can’t define.

One of the things I’ve read about snipers is how they watch their targets and key in on routines. Whether we want to admit it or not, and seemingly no matter how vigilant we are; everyone falls into familiar routines. And it pains me to admit this, but I am no exception. Last night I had headed back out to my hunting area to see if I could scrounge up some pirate kills. The local authorities don’t pay all that handsomely for their deaths, but it helps get in with the local magistrates which in turn just makes everything easier.

My ishtar had parked itself 70km off a pirate hideout and was content to incinerate their ships from that distance with a mere click of a button. Unfortunately for me, the pirate hideout’s location was not as secret as I, or they I suspect, would have liked. I had noticed some new pilots on the local comms channel, but at this point the bounty killing was habit. It had become routine. A deadly word. As such my inner alarms went off, but were ignored by a bored brain that was content to just shoot the pirates, like I had done a thousand times without incident.

Instinct: “Dude, there’s a Stratios out there. We’ll never know if he’s sneaking up on us or not.”
Brain: “Aw come on, he’s passed through here 6 times already, he’s busy with his own shit. There’s only 2 more ships to go just wait a few.”
Instinct: “This ship far outweighs the bounty or influence improvement we’ll gain from killing 2 more ships.”
Brain: “But…we’re so close. You worry too much.”

It was about this time the Stratios uncloaked right next to me.

I sucked the sentry drones in and the Beserker II’s spilled from my bay in an attempt to destroy the intruder before who I’m sure were his friends could show up. The battle was bitterly fought. My drones tore through his shields and armor and were well through his structure before my Ishtar gave in. A costly lesson, but hopefully one that I will not forget anytime soon.

Empty Wallets

I’ve been on the front for weeks now. It’s time to take a small break and head back to safer regions and resupply. My industrial infrastructure is still in tatters from the move out here and I’m really hurting to get that income source back up and running. I grab my blockade runner and head back to hi-sec.

It’s easy to find a space to setup shop. Only 2 jumps from my lo-sec entrance, with plenty of industry facilities around. Not to mention a plethora of active miners that don’t mind striking up a conversation in local. It’s always a nice way to pass the time. I’ve been dabbling with the idea of making some higher tech drones, considering how much I seem to rely on them day to day. The lower tech version are incredibly easy to make, and if I take the time to setup some planetary harvesting teams I should be able to make what I need without busting the bank. Maybe I can even turn a profit if I haul them out to lo-sec hubs for sale.

But first, I need some mineral stockpiles. I dust off the ole mining Hulk. I’m always amazed I can fly one of these considering how much of my time is spent training weapon skills. I warp to a few belts looking for some promising looking rocks and setup shop. I’ll never get over how strangely soothing this sight gets…

Foiled Again

I’ve never been so unhappy to see Oz in my entire existence in New Eden.

I had just logged on to find Mel online but afk. I also find a Covetor by its lonesome in our system! I immediately start grabbing the bookmarks out of our hangar to load them into my nav computer. I jump into my Purifier but he has already jumped from the system. Drats! Well I see he has a can and decide to park myself on the worm hole to wait for him to flash back if he decides to come get it again. I should have been smarter and sat on the can and waited for the hauler, but what can you do.

Sure enough he comes through the wormhole, I warp to the grav site he’s heading to but end up 67km from his can and his ship. I can’t close that distance before he warps off and leaves the system again. Disappointed I warp out of the asteroid cluster and then warp back to it, setting myself up to approximately where I think his mining ship will park if he decides to come back.

Bob is really on my side today! the Covetor is back, but he’s still a little too far for a successful bomb launch or torpedo salvo. I start working my way towards him, my heart racing. The kilometers are ticking down. He has no idea what’s coming. My mouth is watering, I can barely keep from shaking with excitement. Finally my first bomb launch that might matter! 40km, almost there…

Oz logs in. I use the watch function to see what the miner does, he shouldn’t know Oz is on but it looks like he does as his propulsion systems immediately come online and he warps out to the wormhole and vanishes again. I curse Oz out for a good 10 minutes for ruining such a prime opportunity. It turns out that he had engaged the same miner before. He must have gotten Oz’s name and added him to his watch list. Too bad.

I scan down the system, now that the fun is over. Oz logs off shortly after showing up, but a healthy group from the corp logs on shortly after that and we get to work mining the grav sites from our system. There is something strangely satisfying about having a real mining operation going on in your home wormhole system.