Yesterday evening we got treated to a perfect example of exactly "What not to do when you're new in EVE". As we were fooling around with some straggling reds in our new home system, we got together a small gang of frigates, interceptors, bombers, and even Velators in what was probably the loosest gate camp ever. As we were trying to tackle a Thrasher just after we had killed a Kestrel, a pilot sitting in the neighboring system called that an Incursus followed by a Rokh were going to jump into us. In comes the first one, who warps off almost as soon as he decloaks, but as he's aligning we get the second gate activation so we all stand ready to tackle the decloaking battleship. When this happens of course we call for every able pilot to bring DPS to our gate but then we notice something. We're not just killing the Rokh, we're tearing it to pieces. And it's not because we had tons of DPS on it; the highest damage ship was a Taranis with just over 9000 HP, followed by my experimental Gank Claw at 6000-something, and 2 bombers with just a bit less than me. In all the Rokh tanked just under 40000 HP of damage. That's it. And this on a ship that when fit and skilled right is supposed to tank more than ONE HUNDRED THOUSAND hit points. When we saw the killmail we had our answer: this ship was piloted was a brand-spankin' new pilot who had made a beeline for battleships and could barely fit the mods on it, and you can forget about support skills...
After the dust had settled one of our guys got into a private convo with the now dispossessed and podded pilot who was saying things like "why did you have to kill me?", "I put all my money into this ship...", and "I was on my way to meet my buddy so I could apply for his corp...". The entire episode brought back many memories of a former Bozo pilot who was obsessed with his Apocalypse, lost it mere minutes after undocking, and then rage-quitted the game by deleting his character. I don't know yet if the Rokh pilot will or has done that, but from what I got of the convo the possibility is very strong. Let's look at the three comments one by one and let's dissect them:
"Why did you have to kill me?": we now know that either the Incursus had nothing to do with the Rokh, or if he did he was a very very bad scout. The ship died because the pilot is in a noob corp and trespassing the space of an alliance with NBSI policy, and in 0.0 space to boot. Question answered.
"I put all my money into this ship...": in EVE Online this is the single worst thing any pilot can do. Even if I had just enough money to buy, fit and rig a carrier or a dreadnought, I wouldn't for this simple reason: NO SHIP IS INDESTRUCTIBLE. Fly something in PvP and eventually you will lose it. That simple. The rule of "fly what you can afford to lose" is there for a reason, and it applies to all ships, regardless of how a pilot is skilled. I know at least one pilot who is skilled enough to fly Ragnarok titans, but I don't see him running to Mr Chribba to buy one. That said, even if the Rokh was uninsured (which seems likely in this case), the basic amount of money the pilot will receive should be enough to keep him well supplied in Kestrels, Condors, and maybe even Caracals. Serves the pilot well.
"I was on my way to meet my buddy so I could apply for his corp...": when I heard that one I nearly fell out of my chair. What sort of "buddy" is someone who lets another someone who's supposed to be his friend fly solo in enemy territory of lawless expanses of space? This one made me seriously think that the preceding Incursus had nothing to do with the Rokh. If the BS pilot just got a few vague orders of "meet us in XYZ system and put in your application" by some unknown corp/alliance in-game then he was stupid to follow them blindly. If on the other hand the "buddy" is actually someone he knows personnally, then it's one of two things: The Rokh pilot was badly misinformed, or the "buddy" forgot to mention a few things about 0.0 space.
Message to mentors of new pilots: TELL YOUR RECRUIT TO READ, READ, AND READ SOME MORE !!! There are countless guides on how to start a young character in EVE and if you follow them something this bad should not happen. Noob error happens and we all learn from it, but it should never be something of this magnitude.
Message to new pilots: FOR THE LOVE OF JEMINI H. CRICKET, FLY ONLY WHAT YOU CAN AFFORD TO LOSE !!! This rule is not only for your early days, it is a mantra that you should follow during your entire career in EVE.
Now you all understand why my 13+mil SP character cannot fly battleships or T2 cruisers, right? Right.
Fly dangerous, but cheap
o7
5 comments:
Looks like you and I are around the same age, SP-wise.
I was pissed when I lost my cane, but I could afford to replace it. That was the first rule I learned.
Amen X infinity +1 ! As a 20M SP toon, I follow this rule and I LOVE to fly new ships I have learned through errors and destruction not only should you not fly it but damn you better have all the module skills up to snuff as well. i.e a Rokh with no modules is worse than useles, hell I would attack him and I am +5.0 to concord...he has a stupid friend to say the least.
The only thing I can think of it that he was on his way to a goons system and they were scamming him. Otherwise the lack of common EVE sense is stagering....
I don't what the Goons would gain in that kind of scam, unless they sold him the ship.
Anyway, I added the killmail to the text. Feast your eyeballs on it.
Damn dyslexia...
I don't KNOW... ffs
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