Friday 19 November 2010

[OOC] Can it be done?

"Real stupidity beats artificial intelligence every time."
-- Bursar 1 - Hex 0
(Terry Pratchett, Hogfather)

Someone over at Ars Technica's gaming forum aka Gaming, Extra Strength Caplets' EVE online thread asked this question

What I'm trying to ask is if a mostly solo PVPer can enjoy Eve?

This was my reply:

Solo PvP/Piracy is very viable but you have to be dumb as me to enjoy it :)

Edit: To expand a bit, solo PvP/Piracy has been the single most challenging and rewarding gaming I have ever taken part in. It takes a lot of skill to be successful and a fuck ton of luck, you also rely on your opponents being dumber than you are (Which is not actually that difficult)

Starting out you are going to spend a lot of ISK, to the point of bankruptcy, you will get frustrated at the lack of targets and the fact when you do find a target, you'll get blobbed, more times than Oprah's been to the buffet table.

You'll roam countless systems for days, sometimes weeks, without nought to show but a pretty light show when you click 'systems visited' on the IG Map.

You'll eventually find someone, go through the mantra "Lock, scram, web and unleash hell" only for him to warp away, get used to it, also get used to screaming "STAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAABS" like Kirk shouts "KHAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAN"

You'll find a lone frigate in a belt, you'll engage him, he'll engage back, you think you have a fight only for him to decloak his Falcon alt and jam you, till you die, he'll then type GF in local as you warp your pod away.

You'll find a fight, a good fight, where every thing goes perfectly... And it fades to black.

Solo PvP/Piracy whilst frustrating and difficult is the pinnacle of EVE PvP, in my very humble opinion. It's ALL about the hunt, being able to use your scanner effectively, being able to narrow down a target sharply is one of the key skills you'll need to learn and it can't be taught, you need to practice, practice, practice.

The other key skill is patience, patience, patience and just when you thought it was over, more patience.

There's a reason I've been so successful, there's a reason that even though I've been out of game for extended periods this year my BC rank is still under 230.

The reason...

After almost four years of soloing in EVE Online...

I'm still an idiot

Kane Rizzel > you know it's bait, everybody know's it's bait, even the bait knows you know but he still wonders why the fuck you're attacking... and that my friends is when you have the upper hand

Also, it is good sometimes to have friends, just saying :)

I apologise for my absence recently but I've been out enjoying my hard earned leave with flashes of Real Life™ and Black Ops.

9 comments:

Arrhidaeus said...

Really depends on how much they mean "mostly." Soloing is fun because of its change of pace as compared to being in a fleet (for the reasons you mentioned), but having a group of people to bounce fits and ideas off of, as well as just to hang out with and do some good ol' fleeting is essential to enjoying EVE.

If someone asked, "Can I play EVE basically always by myself and just do solo PvP?" I would argue the answer for more than 90% of people would be "No."

Nashh Kadavr said...

i support this post!

Theo d'or said...

As a fellow SA'ain I endorse this product and/or service. Eve solo is very fun, even if you're as terrible at it as I am. Small gangs are enormous fun too. It's huge blobs that make the game tiresome. That and too much hurf durf in local.

P.S. RL is enjoying my company a lot more currently as well. Oh well, next year then.

-- Bomberlocks

Memoocan said...

I have yet to truely solo in pvp, but if it is as appealing as small gang, it'll be well worth it. Of course, when there's ppl like you making it look so easy...:P

Ilik Tanikalot said...

Well spoken. There is no greater joy than roaming solo and being patient, waiting, stalking and finally getting the kill. There is no greater sorrow than when you get blobbed.

I really enjoy small gangs but sometimes it's just the one man act you need to enjoy yourself.

Panthe Tek said...
This comment has been removed by the author.
Panthe Tek said...

You're into BlackOps too? Well besides the PC version's client lag slash CPU bottleneck fuckup at release it's a pretty okay game.

The pew pew in Eve still feels like being worth more though :)

Don said...

I realize this is a little late in posting, but I only recently restarted EVE again. Trying my hand at solo PvP/piracy. It seems that I read this post at the proper time, I was getting frustrated with the lack of suitable targets, Since I can only fly a frig class, love the Rifter. Thanks Kane, best regards

Kane Rizzel said...

You are most welcome, good luck and good hunting :)