EVE-Mag.com

Painful Lessons

Published on 06. Sep, 2008 ... written by Sam Guss, Tags: Articles

by Sam Guss …

The past couple of days have been painful for me as a newb pilot. At 3 months old as a player and a month old as a character, the last couple of days have been a harsh reality check for me. Good news is that despite the last couple of days I still feel as strong about the game of Eve as I have since the beginning and despite the hurt, still enjoy the game. This article is about warnings to other newbs, and how to avoid the mistakes I’ve made. Please note, I only offer these warnings to newbs, as they may or may not apply to more senior players.

1. Never, ever feel that you are completely safe. This goes even further in low and null sec space. For the past week I had been operating out of a series of low sec systems that have been “safe”. I’ve transported goods in and out of the systems, did my share of low sec mining and had a great time. Due to a wardec, my corp had been called back to our home system and so in the wee hours I loaded my hauler and started home. I felt safe, after all the systems had been quiet and just a few minutes prior to the “incident” the systems I would be traveling through were completely empty. Then with a full hauler of about 75% of my goods and 150+ million in blueprints, I jumped into a system that was gate camped and lost nearly everything within seconds. This leads to warning number…
2. Never, ever transport a majority of your wealth in one transport unless you have full security and scouts ahead of you. The above gate camp only cost me about 250 million ISK, but when your characters net worth is only about 280 million ISK, it is a crippling blow – or at least for a couple of weeks (as a newb) to recover.
3. None of this action though had to do with the WarDec that is upon us though. It was just your standard run of the mill gate camp in what had been a quiet neighborhood. This wasn’t all I’ve lost in the last couple of days though and so the next warning is this: Never, ever jump out of a system if you don’t have intel on the other side if your enemies are online. While we’re on the subject of warnings during a WarDec…
4. Never, ever go out on your own when the enemy is known to be out hunting. Your at War, and while as a newb you may feel invulnerable (especially when no war targets are in system), they can be on top of you in NO time and if your out of station when they come into system? You have mere seconds to get safe, i.e. dock.

The last lesson I have for you today doesn’t need a number. Should go without saying but I will for sake of clarity and just in case you don’t understand yet. There is a ton of risk in Eve, in just about everything you do. More so, the lower security you go. Understand that while you may go weeks unscathed and indeed feel adequately safe, don’t ever let your guard down. I did. Undoubtedly the older players at one time or another have to. Chances are despite this warning, someday you will to. When that time comes. Remember: Eve is a game, which means that it can be frustrating at times but the joyful times always outnumber it – especially if it’s a game you like. Just be better prepared next time. In the meantime, I am back off to Eve, I have a lot of work ahead to undue these losses. In the end though, I have a list and one day I will be old enough to make ‘em pay! Yarr!!

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