Sunday 12 January 2014

The Snare


Quote #595.

The world is made up of four elements: Earth, Air, Fire and Water. This is a fact well known even to Corporal Nobbs. It's also wrong. There's a fifth element, and generally it's called Surprise.
-- (Terry Pratchett, The Truth)

Hunting and trapping are the bread and butter of lowsec Piracy, over the years it has become more difficult but none the less still remains one of the most rewarding endeavours in the universe, not so much financially any more but more from the perspective of job satisfaction.4


One of my favourite past times has always been taking on opponents under gunned, by which I mean I take something that is obviously inferior and then school the opponent on the error of their ways.

So when a Manticore is spotted dropping combat probes in the area my interest is piqued. My associates had already probed most the area except Auren. SO when the Manticore is reported jumping there one of my associates quickly heads over and probes the system. Only two data sites but one of them contains a Gallente frigate wreck.

I start to operate under the assumption that the Manticore is lying in wait for some unsuspecting explorer to try hack the site, where he would then uncloak and rain down destruction on the defenceless ship. I quickly look around my hangar for something that would fit the bill.

Enter the:

 Probe

 

The Probe is a Frigate designed for exploring the depths of space.
Traits
Minmatar Frigate skill bonus per level:
7.5% increase to scan strength of probes
5% bonus to Salvager cycle time

Role Bonus:
+5 Virus Strength to Relic and Data Analyzers

Development
The Probe is large compared to most Minmatar frigates and is considered a good scout and cargo-runner. Uncharacteristically for a Minmatar ship, its hard outer coating makes it difficult to destroy, while the limited weapon hardpoints force it to rely on drone assistance if engaged in combat.


A few of you will know the Probe is my favourite brawling ship, and a very effective one it is, but it looks so innocent and it's bonuses make it a perfect explorer.

I warp to the site, but I know just sitting there isn't going to spring the trap, so I gingerly place the bait, I activate an e-war module on the data container to make it look like I'm attempting to hack.

The snare is set, now it's just a matter of time...

It takes no time at all as the Stealth Bomber drops cloak and engages.

I light up my propulsion mod and close the gap, overloaded web and scram glowing green, my usual tactic with this ship won't work here so I go eyeball to eyeball and vaporise the Manticore.

An insignificant fight, but it was the build up that made it worth it.

And now a question:

Is blogging about EVE still relevant?

My thoughts have been veering towards this more often as EVE streaming picks up steam, eve videos have become almost the norm, is it human nature to pick the easier, more bling route of entertainment? All flashy lights and for the most part crappy music.

Is blogging, like solo piracy becoming something of myth and legend?

9 comments:

Sugar Kyle said...

No. If anything we have more younger bloggers then ever and some older ones hanging up their hat in boredom and bitter. The cycle is still going on.

If you are writing for an audience you still have one. If you are writing for yourself your audience never left.

Druur Monakh said...

No. While blogging is no longer the hottest thing on the 'tubes, there will always be people (readers and authors) who prefer the written thought-out word over the stream of consciousness that streaming is.

And of course what Sugar said.

The TuT said...

No. I love the read your blog rather to see a pvp video on youtube.
Because everyone can see a movie. but the best is the imagination people have when reading a blog about a fight.

Miura Bull said...

Nice manticore hunter killer fit, hue. :)

I enjoy reading blogs over all the other stuff to be honest. I think I might have only ever listened to a couple of podcasts ever and pvp videos I enjoy but in a different way to blogs.

As for streams. I think I have watched Sard's quite a lot when he was prolific with being live. I enjoyed that, but haven't watched any of the others.

MB.

Anonymous said...

I'd much rather read your blog than watch a video, its much more enjoyable and interesting to start reading something and then engage with and enjoy it at your own pace than it is to sit through someones video - particularly as you say large parts of it are shitty music. If you find yourself reading badly written prose you can just skim through it, rather than committing to the whole thing. Also the written word still offers a far greater creative scope than does video.

Raziel Walker said...

I am not really interested in streams, I'd rather play the game myself in that case.

I am interested in reading about EVE though and the list of blogs I follow is only growing.
New blogs are added a lot faster as old ones disappear.

Kelleris said...

For me blogging is relevant because I can use a blog reader (feedly, farewell google reader) to keep track of and catch up on the blogs. Also, watching videos isn't really something I can do at work (where I do most of my blog reading). Blogs are unobtrusive and I can read them in public without attracting notice or using headphones. Plus I have 3 Eve accounts and 2 monitors, so screen space is at a premium. The best part about videos is that if they are well nararrated, I can get the content in the background while I play eve or do soemthing else on my computer.

Kelleris said...

For me blogging is relevant because I can use a blog reader (feedly, farewell google reader) to keep track of and catch up on the blogs. Also, watching videos isn't really something I can do at work (where I do most of my blog reading). Blogs are unobtrusive and I can read them in public without attracting notice or using headphones. Plus I have 3 Eve accounts and 2 monitors, so screen space is at a premium. The best part about videos is that if they are well nararrated, I can get the content in the background while I play eve or do soemthing else on my computer.

Sard Caid said...

I layed out a lot of my response over at my blag, but here's a few more tidbits. I feel streams are more analoguous to TV; for EVE streams especially, I have it on as background noise, that I pay attention to when the content gets interesting. Also as mentioned, blags are easier to access on all devices, in most venues, notably while at work.

I haven't updated my blag list in a long time, and honestly had just assumed blagging is less of a thing now. I guess I should spend a few hours and see who's writing these days.