Learning Logi

Tonight was an interesting night.  Whenever I log in on Grimmash, one of the first things I do is check the fleet finder to see if any gangs are out and about.  While I have been trying, and failing, to figure out solo pvp in my frigs and destroyers, I find small gang to be both more enjoyable and more effective.  By effective, I mean I might have to actually put more ammo in my ship at some point instead of learning if I insured it or not.  Tonight started slow, with a few losses to bring my ego in check.  Two destroyers and three frigates found the jump gate to the great FW hunting grounds filled with booze and good fights in various ways on April 1, 2013.  I mostly blame my poor choice in engagements.  I keep warping into plexes in situations I think I can handle and finding out the friendlies already popped, or that I misread the situation.

But that was not to be my only action on the Day of Fools!  After licking my wounds, doing some *real* shit, and trying to find PvP videos to learn something from, I hopped back in game.  It seemed some BC support was needed, so I quickly allocated and fit up a nice Myrm, only to learn that we were instead going for cruisers.  Doh.  At least I have a BC ready to fight now.  Then the FC asked if anyone could fly logi.  Lo and behold, I can fly any T1 logi cruiser, and I can even fly the T2 Caldari and Gallente versions.  A few minutes later I was sitting in brand new Augoror with a few ideas and another Aug pilot depending on me.

Our roam starts, and we try to engage the Caldari in a few places, to no avail.  I ask lots of questions on comms to try and not derp my way into a nice killmail for someone else.  I finally get the basics of cap-chaining, repping and spot-boosting cap in order, just in time to jump into a TEST gang in Kedama.  We did ok.  Unfortunately for that fight, I had not learned the protip of assisting my drones to whore on the killmails.  Cue the sad trombone.  I get many thanks for being a not completely stupid logi pilot from the fleet, which was awesome.  It's always nice when you help your mates kill stuff and then get some credit for helping out.

Edit: Someone else like this fight, too.

The next fight I had learned how to get a little killboard credit for shooting friendlies with concentrated armor beams.  We found a bunch of squids hanging out in a plex in Hikkoken.  I'm starting to really like Hikkoken.  Jump gate, warp to plex, warp the gate, get bacon.  Also, get on the kill mails this time to prove I'm doing something.

Finally we ended up back in Nennamaila, only to find out a large group of Tornados were making our life tough.  At this point we had three Augurors.  The we had two, and only because the Tornados primaried the first, then split damage on the other logi pilot and me.  Internet spaceship strategery ensued, and I called it a night, saving my blooded Auggie for another fleet.

Logisitics is fun.  I really enjoy it.  Although it may not have the satisfaction of making things pop, I get to manage a lot of things, and I get to keep my fleet mates in their ships.  It also makes the roaming part of the roam more active.  Every jump and warp had a little mental checklist to go down.  Lock logis, establish cap.  Am I anchor?  Yes, get range on the proper target,  No, get orbit range on the anchor.   Lock up ancillary targets in case of hostiles.  Repeat.  There is a bit more than just listening to comms and trying to keep up.

I've tried to play healers in other games, and found the process to be much more hostile.  In WoW, everyone was expected to just know a completely different play style, and the margin for error was nil.  In Eve, the fleet listened, explained, and coached.

This is an odd characteristic I have noticed with Eve players.  The gaming media loves to paint us as
 psychotic sociopaths who delight in the anger of others.  I have found, through most of my Eve career, that even your enemies are often willing to talk if you approach them the right way.  Your fleet mates often want ot actively help you get better.  Maybe this spirit lies the persistent world of Eve, maybe it lies in the fact that you are fighting other people instead of mobs, but there seems to be some sense of a desire to share knowledge with others in many aspects of the game.  I think we lose sight of this quite often.  We have all seen the learning curve of Eve.

But what we do not see written about is the vast amount of players who want to share the game with others and help them get better.  Many of us want to answer questions and help our mates learn how this whole thing works.  We may fight them in a few months or a year, but we can only do that if we help people keep playing the game. So my thanks go out to the FCs and fleet mates and corpmates and even enemies I've played Eve with over the last few years.  I've only gotten bored with the game when I let myself get bored.  I've always found players willing to help me learn things.  The more I learn, the more I enjoy the game, and the more I realize how much more there is to learn in Eve.

A special shout out to Kirith Kodachi.  I've greatly enjoyed reading his blog, and tonight I got to fly with him.  Even though he was apparently too busy shooting things to broadcast for reps.  You are lucky I had you on the watchlist, Kirith!  Name recognition has benefits in some cases.  Kidding aside, he helped us get some intel on the second fight, and helped make it happen.

A final note, this is the 100th published post here at Warp to Zero, which may be why I'm in a reflective mood.  I never thought I would get this far in blogging about internet spaceships.  In the next few days, I'm thinking of writing up a retrospective on my time in Eve so far.  I planned to do that for the 100th post, but the logi experience almost seems more fitting.  Regardless, thanks to everyone who keeps coming to read my ramblings.  I doubt I would have kept writing if no one had bothered to come.  Thanks especially to the sites who have linked me, and the readers who take the time to post comments.  It is often said that Eve isn't that great of a game, but the community keeps people coming back.  I know that is true for me.