The Cycle Continues

: : - I didn't know who she was - I had never met her before or heard of her name. But I knew two things: She was Gallente and she was firing upon citizens of the Caldari Sate. Though the majority of the students leaving the State War Academy station would most likely abandon the State and go on to become pilots in the great capsuleer alliances, some would stay true to Caldari patriotism and become fighters in the State Protectorate and Caldari Navy. Regardless, these were all Citizens, and it is my sworn duty to protect them from all threats.

: : - She sat there on the undock in an Incursus class combat frigate, using a loophole in CONCORD laws to open fire upon unsuspecting, unseasoned pilots. She herself had only been cloned weeks prior. Still, I had no idea what she was capable of, or what tricks she had up her sleeve. For all I knew, she had allies ready to spring to her defense. I would have to play this smart. I lured her into opening fire upon my Ibis. CONCORD cleared me to return fire for several minutes. Docking up and swapping my pod into a Corax class destroyer, I undocked, locked my target, and opened fire, hoping for the best...

: : - I webbed her at 10km, my twin webs slowing her frigate down to a crawl, my rockets slamming into her shields and armor from 8km, far outside the range of her blasters. She never got close enough to deal damage to me... When it was all over, her pod floated, lonely and vulnerable in space. It was then that I opened fire again and sent her on to her new clone. It was my second day as a capsuleer and I had scored my first kill against another demigod.

: : - YC114.13.05 Journal of Lysander Fairewell, Capsuleer

EVE Online is a game of the hunter and the hunted, the sinner and the saint - roles often played simultaneously by the same person. Today I encountered two players - one of which was griefing HiSec newbies, the other of which was willing to share his experience and knowledge with me in a private conversation.

The griefer, who was taking advantage of game "aggro mechanics" and the naivete of new players in order to score easy kills, became the target of my own guns, and my first ever kill in EVE Online. Her strategy was to drop "cans" on the undock of the station. When a newbie undocked and took something from the can, they would flag as a "suspect", allowing GiftSky to open fire legally, and score an easy kill. As you can see, her plans backfired upon her. I was really nervous going into this fight. I don't have a full grasp on ship fitting yet, or how PvP mechanics really work. All I knew was that she was in a frigate, and I had a destroyer, which normally counters frigates. She actually melted pretty fast, and I was surprised at how much her clone cost.

My 2nd day of EVE, my 1st PvP encounter. I have to admit it was really exciting, and I look forward to doing this more. In fact... I may just have to look into Factional Warfare. It seems to be a good way to make money and whet your appetite for destruction and killing other capsuleers.