Retrospective. pt2.

My last post finished with me telling you that in the opening stages of my career I was poor, lonely, and hated. Not the most appealing of traits for anyone. So how did i got about resolving this? Well i began by creating a Caldari alt to run some missions when I'm all out of isk. After the slow burning hurdle of level 1 missions, I moved onto level 2's and 3's where I made sufficient isk to keep Kor anon in business. I had to log on to my alt on occasion, but usually not for longer than an hour or so. The trouble is with having an alt on the same account is that it steals some training time away from your main. So Kor anon lost a month or so of training to get my alt on its feet. Nowadays I rarely use my alt, as I tend to stick with cheap ships. As such my alt has not advanced further than low grade level 3's but I still keep him around, just incase.

The other problem that needed to be resolved was the fact I was still in my starter corp. So over the next few months I jumped from corp to corp, even trying out 0.0 again. I tended to apply for local pirate corps at this time. I made a few acquaintances, but usually pissed off the CEOs for not sticking around for longer than a few weeks at most. Corp and alliance drama really did not appeal to me, and to be perfectly honest I didn't like them ordering me around. I got fed up with the constant do this, do that, be on at this time crap. Though through experience I have come to realise those kind of corps are the oddity. Recently had the good luck to be in corps who are not extremely serious when it comes to a game, and where generally real life is considered to be more important than EVE (who would have thought?).

So with the first failed experiment of trying to find a decent corp to stick with, I resorted to once again solo pirating in a noob corp. However this was actually quite the blessing as it gave me time to learn the ins and outs of every ship I could fly, what I could take down, how to survive in lowsec with a bad standing (-5.0 and below). I occasionally got the odd ransom here and there, usually when I was thinking well enough to deactivate my guns. I usually didn't get much, but every little helps.

So I spent more time in the piracy business, flying better ships, getting tech 2 gear for my ships, the usual routine. When I had enough isk and felt confident of my abilities I decided to take the next step, cruisers. Now you might be thinking 'A few months before he gets into cruisers!?' Yeah that's about right I think. Being poor all the time made me realise that to get into a ship before you are ready is a bad financial move. So I waited until all my gear was tech 2 and all my relevant skills were at 4 or 5.

Now it came to the dilemma of picking a ship:

Arbitrator - Generally regarded as the best Amarr cruiser. However it is a drone boat, and as of yet I still hadn't put a single skillpoint into drones (even today I can only use EWAR drones). So unfortunately this was not for me.

Augoror - No, just no.

Omen - I think the omen is best used in gangs where it can act as a bit of support, like a weaker zealot. Soloing in an omen is unfeasible, as it lacks any significant damage and has no tank. There was the possibility of nanoing it before the nerf, but then again my navigation skills were pathetic.

Maller - And thus my soulmate was found. This was the only ship left, and wasn't held in high regard at the time nor at the present. It was generally used as a mission boat because of its tank, but it could not lay down any significant dps.

So with my choice pretty much made for me I bought my first maller. I had yet to work out a setup, so I tried all sorts of fittings (sensible ones mind). A 1600mm rolled tungsten plate was almost a given, and was the essential module for all of my test fittings. I experimented quite a bit, debating the merits of autocannons over lasers and vice versa, or whether or not to go for a MWD or AB or nothing. I lost plenty of ships, gained local recognition as the idiot who flies mallers (even called a noob by those who I managed to kill, lol what?). Then one fateful day while messing around at my college library, I stumbled across a maller thread on the eve-o forums. This piqued my interest, so i opened it up and had a look at all the wonderful suggestions. That was until I laid eyes upon the Dura-maller. When i first looked at it, I thought 'No way. Two 1600mm plates?' Yet I plugged it into EFT and lo and behold it fitted. Shocked and somewhat turned on by the principle of unbelievable stamina, I immediately went about working to find an effective setup that encompassed the dual plates. So I went back to the drawing board and after about a week I found the perfect setup for me.

Thus the maller of doom was born, and those who found themselves killed by my hand no longer laughed, they cried.

End of part 2.