The rakeriku corp was getting a bit rusty though, and a lot of people either left or didn’t log on anymore, new leadership and some diplomatic actions got us a place in Wicked Creek to liven things up a bit. This was in April. Quite a few members logged on more and we got some new ones as well.

Life in Wicked Creek was nice at first, but it got ugly pretty quickly. The novelty also wore off, as 0.0 isn’t that exciting, if you don’t pvp a whole lot. It’s good for the wallet though, made quite a bit of isk out there. Until it was too unsafe to undock and found myself spending most of my time in empire again. I think by july or so we pulled out. Haven’t kept track of the situation there at the moment, but I doubt it has improved. Missioned quite a bit after that and started to do more invention around the summer.

Also my alt Qanatas joined the Factional Warfare ! For a few months this provided quite a bit of enjoyment (general Beanflicker deserves a mention here, he setup quite a few nice fleets and was a very funny FC). Flying in fleets for the first time was interesting. Roaming about in small gangs was nice as well, somewhat more stressful as you had less people to fall back on.

Unfortunately the amarr enemy was hard to find at times, and the whole complex capping mechanic is so boring you want to pull your eyes out. The people I usually flew with started to fade away, and the whole concept got a bit boring. The FW alt is now retired for the time being. CCP doesn’t seem to be interested in this side of the game anymore. Even though it was touted at first that this was just the start, there is no indication anywhere that they will be expanding or changing the factional warfare concept…

Fall of this year saw the definite demise of the Rakeriku corp. Just about everybody has left or stopped playing. I don’t play a whole lot any more, have the feeling at the moment that there isn’t much new I can do, and  I am a bit bored with what there is. I am not interested in some pvp 0.0 corp, with obligatory mining ops etc. Have plenty of ISK so no need to mission or mine at the moment.

So I am not sure what to do at the moment. Maybe tech 3 stuff will be interesting, and that should come in the march expansion. Though on CCP’s timetable it might be later. Hopefully it doesn’t need some extremely rare 0.0 components and it will be doable for regular empire dwellers as well. The wormhole exploration might be nice to do, but we’ll have to see how that game mechanic will be implemented.

But over the past six weeks or so, the situation worsened. There are now continuously gangs coming in and out. Clownpunchers, Bob, Pure, Goodfellows and what not, can come and go as they please. TCF defense is nowhere to be seen, and the locals aren’t strong enough to take on these organized gangs. And then there is also a few Goons from time to time, who are blue to TCF but red to most other people, which is then cause for lively debate on the security channel.

To make things worse, last month or so (or the month before) the rent was upped. From 200 to 250 a month. Plus you also have to rent an office for 100 mil a month. Our corp isn’t very big, so this was straining the corp wallet a bit. As paying 350mil a month for space you can hardly use doesn’t make a lot of sense, we decided to bail out a few weeks back. The carriers took back most important stuff (ie. nice loot from ratting etc) and we all sold off our ratting and mining gear. I guess we’re not the only ones, the market has taken a tumble now in Wicked Creek. Lots of other people leaving the area as well I assume, so no more 350mil a month for TCF.

All in all it was an interesting experience. To be honest 0.0 is not all it’s cracked up to be. I might make a blogpost about that soon. I especially find it very annoying that other people (ie. mainly the Reds) can dictate what I can and cannot do in game…

So where do we go from here ? I am doing missions, invention and some exploration in empire at the moment, and factional warfare with an alter ego. The corp is scattered about in empire at the moment, with most people doing their own thing. We have been looking into other 0.0 rental options, but haven’t found a very appealing one yet. So if you know something or can make me some sort of offer, I am all ears .

I have been mainly flying my Cerberus, and a Domi as well, but my skills arent geared towards that Domi so it was only a bit faster than the Cerb. Having a tractor beam is convenient though, the salvage is good. You get tritbars from the Angels, and I have been able to produce one Cargo Optimisation rig, and I am almost ready to make another one.

All in all, 0.0 is certainly growing on me, it has got me playing quite a lot more, though it’s getting a bit busy in our region now, so I am going to have to find a few more backwater systems for the ratting. Also there are still roaming gangs about. As I am writing this we have a DOOM gang outside the station .

Went back to Empire this weekend for some invention and mission running. In the weekend the number of hostiles increase exponentionally in 0.0, so might as well dwell in empire and do some business there.

I am starting to like invention quite a bit, I am now looking for other T2 modules besides drones and BCUs that I might want to invent and was thinking Large Shield Extenders II or X-Large shield boosters. Or maybe T2 guns ? Will have to look a bit more into it, to see what’s profitable.

What they do is trying to catch you in a belt with an inty or a rapier and then out of nowhere the rest shows up, blowing you to pieces. We’ve had a few skirmishes with them, but if you’re not jammed, your missiles hit for like 9 dmg, as they move so fast. I made a bit of money ratting, but that was offset (and then some) by the loss of a HAC, that Bela my alt was flying.

So for the weekend I am in Empire, the gangs get worse in the weekend as we saw last weekend. Just doing some trading and missions. If I go down there again, I am only going to fly something I can insure and equip it with some cheap looted modules, as you’re bound to loose your ship sooner or later.

What I don’t like at all in 0.0, is that you basically have to dock up as soon as there is a neutral or a ‘red’ in your system. He might be harmless, sitting in a safespot while making coffee, or he might be part of a larger gang out there to hunt you down. Other people dictating what I can or cant do in a game is no fun, so I wonder whether I am cut out for this. It’s been an interesting experience so far though.

The ceo of Rakeriku and Otaku Invasion Carv stepped down due to being to busy a while back and the new Ceo Rag, wanted to blow some new life into our corp . The best way to do that was to go into 0.0 ! We have a close group of people in Eve, very skilled and knowledgable as well, but everybody was getting a bit bored and the corp was slowly dieing. So the move to 0.0 seem to be a logical one. Some people already had 0.0 experience and they’re helping us 0.0 noobs along, answering all our questions.

So yesterday we moved some of our stuff over by carrier jumps. I now have a sacrilige for Belautis and a cerberus for morph in 0.0. Have only done a little bit of ratting, and it looks good so far. Already made a few million and got my cargohold filled with loot (which isn’t too hard today). Wicked Creek has Angel rats, so explosive ammo seems to work best. Though on the cerb, due to bonuses, the kinetic missiles are nice. It takes a bit of time to take the big BS’s down, but as long as tanking isn’t a problem, it’s not too bad. Luckily Bela can help me out if I step into a 3 BS spawn, like I did today, they spawned right on top of me and had my heart skip a beat .

Ofcourse playstyle is a bit different out there. You have to keep your eye open on the security channel and local. And because you’re renting space, that doesn’t mean there are no pirates or people with ill-intend around. Already yesterday when I was just going to put up a Cyno for the last jump, two hostiles got into the system. But luckily they buggered off, so I was able to put the Cyno up in the end.

I am sure i’ll keep you all up to date on this new step in my Eve Career !