Training decisions

Dad Week is almost over, this weekend I got pretty much nothing planned, I’m off on Monday (except in the morning I have to be at work for the day’s new batch of low-lives… Municipal Court work is so awesome…), so that means I can actually spend time on some much-needed pew-pew action. And this time I’ll be a lot more active about it so instead of being part of wormhole ops I’m actually going to go out and look for it >:)

This will also give me the chance to do something I haven’t done in a while which is act as FC. In my time in Clown Punchers I was one of the least experienced pilots in the entire alliance, and though I did get some FC experience there I never took command of a big battlecruiser or battleship gang, though I admit I was all ears on those ops, and was usually one of the main scouts. But this time around I am one of the most experienced PvP pilots AMC has; a few others have as much or more experience than I have but me being born to PvP, so to speak, makes me one of the hungriest guys in the bunch. So in between ganking some Sleepers for their tasty loot and salvage I will try to find my own wormholes and try to find others in W-space who are after its goods and put some breaks on their operations!

But to come back on the title of my current article, I will soon have to make some long term decisions on where I want to take Cozmik on his skill training. As of now Coz can now fly and equip a Broadsword, though I still need some skill buffing to make sure he flies it right; I’m still a few levels away from the T2 shield hardeners which are mandatory on the setup I want, and some support shield skills would be more than worth it if I want to call my Heavy Interdictor « a tank ». This should give me the time needed to amass the funds required to purchase and fully fit and rig my first Broadsword, and also make preparations for the eventual loss when some gang will have the better of mine and I’ll become Primary.

So having acheived this benchmark it will be time to make some decisions. Sure some support skills will get some love but I mean longer term. Here are the ones I’m thinking about :

The HAC path

Before Quantum Rise was announced I was heading squarely towards flying a Vagabond; not because I knew it was an awesome and feared ship, but because even before I knew what the ships were like in EVE I had described what I wanted in a ship to my great buddy Letrange and apparently I gave him the description of the Vaga. But with QR came the dreaded Speed Rebalance, and the Vaga pilots were screaming for CCP blood. I decided not to panic because I was too young SP-wise anyway so I could redirect my career pretty easily. And being a tackler at heart I went the Interdictor way. But that’s done and not only am I now close to the Vagabond and Muninn, I have done some good Gallente cross-training so I wouldn’t be too far from the Ishtar and Deimos either.

The Recon path

When I was finally done training for the Covert Op frigate I did a quick check on my EVEmon plans and they told me I was 3 weeks away from a particular Rapier fit. Rapier anyone? The Huginn can be a pretty nasty surprise too, and following what I covered in the HAC paragraph you can slap in the Arazu; I’m not so sure about the Lachesis though... I’ve almost never encountered them and there must be a reason.

The Battleship path

This is a big step I could have taken a while ago but I’ve always held back. Had I stayed with Bozo I would probably be well on my way to an RRBS by now instead of the HIC, but the latter is also almost always welcome in any gang. Well, the time could be soon arriving. It will eventually open the door to the Capital Ships but I’m in absolutely no hurry to get into those.

The Command Ship path

Now THAT is also a big one. Before I can effectively fly a Sleipnir, a Claymore, an Eos or an Astarte (yes I could get into all four at once) it will take a short part of Forever before everything is up to snuff to make this worthwhile.

The Industrial path

Yes, you’ve read correctly! The PvPer talking about industry. Not industry the way my alliance mates are into it though, that is just nuts (sorry guys!). But I do like the abiblity to make my own cheap stuff either for myself or to sell on the market when the profit margin is good. Getting some efficiency and material use skills would make it better, but I’ve always put it off because there was, and still is, always something I had to train for The PvP.

So this is where I’d really like some input from the Veterans of EVE. What do you think is a good long term path? What was your own path to get to where you are? I know some players who have been in EVE pretty much since Day One but what I don’t know is what meandering path they took to end up where they’re at, either in capital ship warfare, mass T2 production and uber industrialism, piracy, or litterally bored of the former three and now strictly into skirmish warfare.

I’ll be waiting for your suggestions and until then, fly dangerous and watch out for sentry guns when popping cyno ships (see blog header) :)))

o7

Edit: I've changed the comments settings so anyone who reads this can post. Flame away !!!