The third Blog Banter of 2010 comes to us from ChainTrap of the Into the unknown with gun and camera EVE Blog. He asks us: "Eve University turns six years old on March 15th; six years spent helping the new pilots of New Eden gain experience and understanding in a supportive environment. Eve is clearly a complicated game, with a ton to learn, so much that you never stop learning. So, the question is; What do you wish that someone had taken the time to tell you when you were first starting out? Or what have you learned in the interim that you’d like to share with the wider Eve community?"

298 days ago, we set foot inside wormhole space for the first time. Back then it was a group of 8 friends, most of us with less than 10M SPs at that time, that had absolutely no idea about wormholes, no idea about PVP (some say we still don’t have a clue), and had turned all the ISK in our wallets into a Medium POS, some supplies and fuel to last about two weeks.

We dared to venture into the unknown, dared to be bold and embraced the sandbox of the EVE Universe. In EVE – YOU – control your own destiny.

During that time, we managed:

…to make and burn more than 50 billion ISK
…to act as a fleet supporting each other instead of being a band of solo players
…to build capital ships
…to ride capital ships
…to self-destruct capital ships (damn you R&K!)
…to master the art of t3 production and make a fortune out of it
…to easily farm C6 plexes
…to have a show, podcast and blog related to w-space that acts as one of the definitive sources of information for EVE players
…to have played a major role into the CSM elections by hosting a series of interviews with Candidates
…to relay Alliance Tournament 7 for two weekends and commentate on the fights afterwards
…to fight alongside seasoned pilots
…to be considered celebrities and widely identified & to fight against (and win) against famous celebrities in planned deathmatches
…to organize our very own PVP tournament
…to lose ships due to friendly fire
…to strip belts out for vast amounts of minerals
…to mine mercoxit
…to keep losing ships and still have the "oh well.. no real harm done" mindset
…to manipulating wormholes and w-space as if we were the ones who designed it
…to see ships in directional and instead of cowering, head over to take them down
…to have a single monthly corporate meeting
…to kill a Rorqual 5 days into the w-space colonization effort
…to successfully ransom a ship for 1 billion ISK
…to take down and destroy a defenseless POS
…to take down and destroy a defended POS that someone else erected into our own back yard
…to participate into large capital fleet warfare
…to help destroy the ego of a large alliance such as the R&K
…to spend Valentine’s day fighting our most epic fight defending our home
…to spend Steak & BJ day self-destructing our assets and evacuating our Class 6 wormhole
…to grow our corp with valuable and trustworthy members
…to have the creator of EVE-HQ in our corp fighting and having fun alongside us
…to get QP’s brother to join EVE
…to make so many friends in the game
…to exploit what w-space has to offer us to the point that we’d grow tired of it
…to lose multiple billions in assets, ships, pride and not /emoragequit
…to make a lengthy post on how much we have achieved during the previous year

None of this would have happened if we haven’t dared to be bold!

This is our message to all new capsuleers:

Dare to be bold pilot!

Luminus Aardokay & Quivering Palm

List of Participants:

1. CrazyKinux: The Three Pillars of Wisdom
2. The Elitist: Helping the new guy/gal
3. Hands Off, My Loots: Nothing Needed
4. Rantuket: Blog Banter 16
5. EVE Opportunist: Nooby Cluey
6. Into the Unknown With Gun and Camera: EVE University
7. Zero Kelvin: We’re the young ones!
8. I am Keith Neilson: Set Your Destination
9. Prano’s Journey: Just Like the Very First Time
10. A Merry Life and a Short One: No Seriously
11. Yarrbear Tales: Nublet 101
12. A Mule In EVE: If I only knew
13. Diary of a Space Jockey: WTH did I get myself into?!
14. EVOGANDA: Why?
15. A Memoir From Space: 16th Blog Banter
16. Death’s Sweetest Kiss: Who What When Where Why How??
17. Freebooted: Beyond the Shortcuts
18. Learning to Fly: Noobing
19. Caldari Outcast: My First Blog Banter Post!
20. Roc’s Ramblings: Financial Survival
21. Diary of a Pod Pilot: Free Knowledge Inside
22. Nullsec Carebear: I could’ve been less of an idiot
23. Facepalm’s Ramblings: Something Smells Fishy
24. Kirith Darkblade: Do you wish to know more?
25. Autopilot Disabled: I’m still starting…
26. Finders & Keepers: Relax
27. Confounded Capsuleer: What have you got to loose?
28. Clan Oriana: Sixteen
29. Flashfresh: EVE Blog Banter #16
30. Rettic’s The Chronofile: You Make EVE
31. Diary of a Bored Spaceman: Past Imperfect
32. Chocolate Heaven: Known Unknowns
33. Zen and the Art of Internet Spaceship Maintenance Trust No One!
34. More to come soon…

A sort non-fictional story by Merinid Dormer

February 14th, Sunday. 19:00 New Eden Time.

Vessper was sitting in his Thanatos. “I am aligning and waiting for instructions” he said.

“10 more minutes to go” said Nictutu.

Quivering Palm with a steady voice continued, “ Guys, this is it. It’s now or never”.

“Let’s secure that tower and the stuff we have in it”, I added with a bit of a doubt in my voice. Hopefully no-one had noticed. Morale was not on the highest levels. Some minor fleet changes of the last minute, nothing i could notice while i was shacking. My fleet fight experience wasn’t helping either. All I could think were the Blueprints, Components and Minerals behind the damaged force field of our Production Tower, sitting just 0.54 AU away. Those were what I’ve been working on for the past few months. All the research and effort Eowarian and I have put on these…

“Everyone who has a cloak jump in, the rest stay in place”. He sounded confident. He was Alekseyev Karrde. The CEO of  one of the most notorious and experienced mercenary corporations in New Eden. NOIR. When a mercenary, like his kind, is in your side your only fear is that he might get more money than you gave him from the “enemy”. Alekseyev and NOIR weren’t  like this though, they had the reputation of honoring their contracts, regardless of money. “ Members of SI Radio Corp. you don’t have to worry about anything. We are here and we know how to do this. Follow our lead and we will secure your system again.

TechPalatinus was patient. He and his 30 pilots were ready. All of them, well trained and experienced pilots. “We are in place and waiting for orders as well”. Wormhole Space colonist feared his corporation. Capital Construction Research members were ruthless. They were known for destroying Towers and stealing whatever valuables they could find. They were on our side. They have been friends for quite some time now.

“1 minute 30 seconds” said Nictutu.

“TeaDaze jump in” Quivering ordered. Orders is not something that TeaDaze is supposed to take I thought. The guy is a legend. He was always in our side. What a pilot. He was a daredevil.

“There is a command ship that we can provide for you to fly TeaDaze” said Luminus Aardokay. “Well thanks a lot man” answered TeaDaze.

“SI Radio Corp. members, are you ready?” asked Quivering.

One by one, Luminus Aardokay, Nictutu, Vessper, Estar Tarns, Sengiria, Verona Black, Eowarian D, Viscious Hunter, Sir Keldron, Drapetis and myself replied “Here”. 20 seconds of silence followed, or was it like an hour? At that point I couldn’t make the difference.

“Mr Deaker reporting movement in the enemy tower”

“Reinforced is down in our tower” said Nictutu.

“Vessper you are clear to warp” went on Quivering.

“I see an Armageddon Navy Issue, 3 Proteus, 3 Legions, 2 Bhaalgorn, 2 Thanatos and one Megathron moving & aligning towards planet VIII” continued Mr Deaker.

“Let us know when they are on grid Vessper” said Alekseyev

10 seconds afterwards Vessper was already repairing the Shields of our Control Tower. “They are on grid. I got hostiles all over me.”

“Everyone jump in. Quivering move your fleet in.”

TechPalatinus followed. 20 of his best pilots inside Strategic Cruisers.

Rooks & Kings have failed to spot the trap. And they paid the price. The day was to be remembered as Valentine’s Day Massacre.

The fight over our system was over. We were once again the ones to control it. The Siege was over. Things were getting back on track. But I was left wondering. What was to come next?

It was clear to me that Wormhole Space systems are special. Not just another part of space just recently discovered, but the foundation on which the world we live in is going to grow into something greater. The 3rd generation of Cruiser Construction is the present. But scientist are working on different aspects of any technology discovered in wormhole space. Rumors are traveling about 3rd generation Frigates and Battleships. If those rumors are close to being truth one thing is for sure. Wormhole space is the future. This is where new challenges arise. Where money is made. And day by day more capsuleers dare to be bold. More people pack up their stuff and search for glory,  money inside wormhole space, setting up colonies. 3rd generation production is profitable. Scientist of all major factions are paying good money to get their hands on items saved from Sleeper wrecks. They call them “Blue Tags”. A single Anomaly once gave our corp “Tags” that worth more than 700 million ISK, the salvaged wrecked provided us with enough materials to build 2 3rd Generation Cruisers.

Pirates, Mercs, Spies, Industrialist, Mission Runners, Miners, Traders. They all want their cut. They will come to take it. And to do that they will need to take control of wormhole systems.

The Era Of Capital Fleet Fights Over Control Of Wormhole Systems Is Upon Us

Are The Colonies Prepared To Defend?