The Battle Before the FFA- The Saga of Being Me. (Plus an IMPORTANT NOTE at the end ^.^)

Hehe. I know a lot of people complain about the Tuckers Frigate Free for All, mostly the people who get podded the most, or the ones that get blapped by the against-the-rules-smartbombers, but I had a helluvalot of fun myself! But before the event... it was a saga in itself just setting up. Here's the story of the last 24 hours of my life (as of 24 hours ago! haha) :P

Moving ships over into the Jovainnon area from Molden Heath was just almost too much trouble. Like literally, too much trouble. :P I did almost give up before the event had even started. It was an event in its own right. I initially had forgotten about the FFA altogether. My good friend reminded me a little more than 24 hours before the event, so I figured there was heaps of time to move stuff..... ahh yeah.....

Noobness is my middle name!

Moving 6 Slashers to Arnon (the nearest high sec system) in my carebear alt (cause I don't wanna jump into low sec with an almost defenceless Hoarder)- a total of 72 jumps- was a boring nightmare in itself. I even set autopilot for a few jumps while I went to go make toast!  All through high sec systems in a high security status character- so all good, but boring as anything.

I managed to move the ships to Arnon without any annoying events, got excited I was done moving and promptly swapped to Naughty- who was still in Bos. I chose my trusty, starting-to-rust-Thrasher sitting unused in station as my transport vessel (figured I could use it in the event). Eagerly undocking, I made the 18 jumps again, much quicker, docking in the lesser used station in Arnon, because for Naughty, the Sister of EVE station would be just asking for trouble. Of course, I wouldn't wanna be jumping in and out of high sec for the whole event, so I looked at my ships and decided that maybe they'd be better in Adirain. I have an undock for the CBD station in there, and figured its only a couple of jumps out of Jov... how hard could it be?

So I - still eagerly- fitted up my six ships and started jumping them into Adirain one by one (the low sec system next to Arnon), which just happens to be one of the main bases of R1FTA- my ex corp (and seemingly the majority of my readers :P). It was only after moving these ships that I decided to chat about my strategy in Free Molden Heath (FMH) channel, and asked- rather foolishly in hindsight- whether it would be better to move the ships into Jov itself instead.

Umm.... of course it would be the smart idea. *facepalms*

By this point, I was sick of moving ships. It was getting later in the evening, I'd been doing the trip for approx 2 hours straight and considering the event was at 4am that morning- in about 5 hours from then, I was bummed. But it was because of my own silliness.. so I sucked it up. Then noticed Groggolog in system.

Now good ol Grog is an awesome guy in R1FTA, and I wondered if maybe... just maybe.. he'd be willing to help. He was always one of the people I got along with, so why not. :P Turning on the charm (because it just works better :P) I asked if he wouldn't mind helping (among mine and God's Apples friendly bantering). It was only two jumps, and the system in between Aeschee, wasn't so bad. And I promised I'd buy him a whore at the end of it (which I did do, I just need to get back there to move it to Adirain), which is just so worth it methinks ^.^ Hehe. So he was very nice (as he is) and helped me move two of the ships, jumping them manually into Jov... still while bantering with God's whenever we popped back into Adirain. hehe.

(AUTHORS NOTE: I didn't know at that point that the ships would be supplied at top station, so in my infinite wisdom, I moved them all into the bottom station.... -.-)

That done, I decided to do the important job of setting up an undock with one of the slashers in the new base of operations. There was one problem with this though.... other people were moving ships into Jov weren't they, and I'm a flashy red character, burning away from station to make an undock. Foolishly, I look away for a few seconds once I'm about 40km out, and don't notice the Condor that just warped in behind me and decided I looked suffiently juicy. Blap. End of that slashers. One of poor steeds had been rudely shot in the back. Yeah it was my fault, I noticed quick enough to get the pod out, but it was no less annoying. 1 of my precious slashers down, 5 to go....

Deciding to set my clone base to the area of course was also very important. I knew podding was against the rules, but you can never quite trust those damn pirates completely :P And I didn't want to end up all the way back in MH from some unpleasant surprise. It was while I was looking for the station in Aeschee (the next system over) with the medical clone base thing that I noticed Arianne Stone (another R1FTA members and a fellow female to boot) talking in the FMH channel about how she'd jumped into a clean clone just in case....

I felt my stomach drop. Honestly, I didn't know whether to cry or laugh. Looking at my character sheet to confirm the inevitable- and in a desperate grasp at hope- I groaned when I saw the implants. Good God kill me now. And where was my clean clone....? In Klingt. Even further into Molden Heath than Bos from my location.

I admit I may have jumped into Adirain, docked at the CBD in my pod, and had a tiny little rant of swearing in local- much to the amusement of my ex corp-mates :P But, deciding it wasn't worth getting too peeved, I just jumped, shutting up and appearing in Klingt.

I picked up my Jaguar in a moment of brilliance, figuring that my baby could make an undock quicker than anyone would catch me (which ended up working perfectly in the end- go figure), and started the trip back to Aeschee to set my now CLEAN clone to the neighbor system, which I did without hassle.

Now, by this point it was about midnight, and one of the downsides of living at home is not being in control of your life completely. My parents like the idea of a timer- the sort that sits between the plug of the selected appliance and the wall socket and decides to turn off and on again whenever its told. This thing is the bane of my existence. Tired and angry at the unfairness of the world and the evilness of my parents (after they refused to turn it back on, even though it was a Saturday night and I has ACTUALLY explained the event- or tried to anyways), I sat and moped for a bit, looking all pathetic and sad... until dad went to bed.

(AUTHORS NOTE: Hell forbid my parents see this.... >.>    <.<)

A quick wrestle with the timer- namely, ruthlessly ripping it out of the wall, I managed to log back on by about 12:30am, tired and a little cranky now though, lets be honest. I finished the important business of making an undock without anymore hassles- the Jag got it done so quickly- and made the decision to try and get at least a few hours sleep. It was that or pull an all-nighter- which I didn't feel so inclined to do. So after almost 18 hours awake and countless jumps (admittedly most due to my being stupid and not thinking lol), I fell asleep, setting my alarm for 3am- an hour before the event was due to start. I almost slept through it. No kidding... Gosh I would have kicked myself for that.

Now.... *deep breath* the actual event! The build-up was exciting, watching people I knew and those who I didn't and had heard of, and those who I had no idea about hopped into the rapidly filling system. I was half asleep for the first half an hour and I think I drifted in and out of sleep- I can't remember now. Either way, I was there when they told us top station would provide ships, how to get them, that we weren't allowed anything other than t1 frigs until they said, and then finally, after long last, the ever awaited... GO!

Everyone undocked- some eager ones starting as soon as they could, shooting wildly on station, while the rest of us warped to the top belt as was instructed. I chose to go in at 70km just to be different :P Then the madness ensued.

I couldn't honestly say what exactly was going on. I can't really remember now. In this newfound orgy of PvP (as I dubbed it), the sea of ever increasing wrecks surrounding me, I just found myself shooting at anything and everything in reach, seeing how many kills I could whore on before I got blapped myself. My slashers were gone in about 5 minutes, and I have to say, the Tuskers were very much on the ball with the frig handouts. X-ing up for a Minmatar ship got me one in about 30 seconds max.

It was madness- there was a smartbombing Thanatos that showed up unbidden, and a cruiser gang that crashed the party, claiming to be supporters of Rixx Javix, there to screw up the event. (AUTHORS NOTE: I'm not even getting into that madness. That drama can deal with itself XD If you wanna see it, find it :P) This all in the middle of all these frigates flying randomly around system, shooting everything in sight, just like I was, corp mates and blues alike fare game.

It was exhilarating, like starting my PvP life again- a new character in a t1 frigate, going out to try and kill as many fellow pirates as possible. Its intoxicating.. and fun as all hell!!! :D (And I totally ended up just casually shooting at the Thanny and a few of the cruisers just so I could get on the mails when the Tuskers blapped them :P).

In the end, I got on 42 kills in total. A wonderful number if I do say so myself ^.^  Hehe. It means something- 42. I win Life, the Universe and Everything now. ;)

I didn't get to shoot at Peri (dammit!) and I only got one other R1FTA guy (No hard feelings Daathen!!! XD :P), but other than that, it was epic fun all round :) I'm so gonna do it again. I'm just gonna be totally ahead of my own game next time :P And less likely to jump through gates over 100 times in the process.... XD

Every experience in EVE is a learning opportunity, and this was a big one. Particularly when I woke up the next day, after about 3 hours sleep and found out I'd forgotten to update my clone the two times I got podded by those annoying people breaking the rules, just simply undocked all excited to go and claim my next free frigate!

......... Yeah you read it right :P

One day I'll learn my lesson. Having to train Battlecruisers up to Level V AGAIN, might have that effect :P


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IMPORTANT NOTE!! My Dear readers, If you managed to get through this post, I salute you. It was long and I wrote it without proofreading because I am tired right now :P What I would REALLY love is for you- yes, you- to help me out, and vote for my True Stories when the voting opens (today at some point methinks). 

https://truestories.eveonline.com/ideas/768-the-big-cat-of-molden-heath

I'd very much appreciate it ^.^
FLY DANGEROUS MY FRIENDS! o7 ^.^

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