The thin green line

Log Entry for April the 27th 2014

I spent the weekdays on Calypso where I spent my time hunting drones, a total of 6 hunts with a loss on all but one of them.
On the Tuesday I placed on auction a Leaf Beret (F,C) that had been in storage for a long time. The Beret is green with a light trim and was one of a pair, there used to be the (M,C) version as well. Back in the day, when the Soc. was the Guardian Tigers and was run by Tiger Master Lee, the Green Beret was awarded to the winner of the monthly Soc. event. The winner wore the Beret for the month and gave it up to the winner of the next event. For that month the wearer received praise from other Soc. members. A bit daft really but good fun. I have not see the (M,C) version for a long time, I think Tiger sold it but I could be wrong. Anyway, not having both of them it was time to move on from this so it’s on Auction, I’m not expecting it to reach a good price as it’s full TT.

Saturday morning and Nocturaline and myself headed to Arkadia in my Quad, Wolta was already there, she had taken the ship last weekend. There was an Oratan Invasion event in progress and we all wished to stand in the thin green line to defend the forts. The journey was uneventful, seeing only 1 pirate at Calypso Space Station who tried hiding in his back seat but when he realised he had been spotted legged it pretty sharpish. No others were seen probably due to our approach vector to Arkadia.

We met Wolta at Courageous (I think) and all 3 of us stood with others against the massed ranks of Oratan who could have easily swamped us if they had attacked en mass, they seem to have a culture of individual prowess something akin to the iron age Celtic peoples of mother Earth. Which is extremely fortunate for us the new Romans.

I had prepared myself with 500 PED of ammo, my plan was to use my NIP against the smaller Oratan and the Karma Killer against the larger, those with area effect attacks. Using this method the 500 PED would last quite a long time, I would be able to tier the NIP and would hopefully get a decent sized reward when I was using the Karma Killer though an ATH had occurred the previous night I was still optimistic when it came to the spoils of war. My 500 PED came to an end and my return was about 80-85% but I had gained quite a few skills especially in evade so was quite happy with this.

The attack was far from over, a further 500PED of ammo was acquired and I returned to the line, this time I got lucky on a big HoF my share of which was about 1450 PED and after I had used only about 100 PED of my ammo it was time for Space Skilling Saturday so I stored and headed space-wards.

Sunday I was back on the surface and headed to Repulse (The Oratan had moved to attack there at some point yesterday), again 500 PED of ammo was acquired and using the same tactics I stayed in the line for much of the day, this time I came up with a considerable loss but did not mind, I had got an extra level of evade (lvl 34) in the 2 weekends I had been doing this, though both Wolta and Nocturaline seemed to get considerably more than that, I had also tiered the NIP. During the Sunday the lag was so bad there were times when I could not even fire my guns, this was particularly the case when a large Lancer was the target of many defenders and was somewhat frustrating.

I counted the number of times I died during the weekend, not including Space Skilling I managed and impressive 57 deaths (noob) though I may have forgotten to count a few.

Over the course of the week I gained 3 skill levels, the Karma Killer reached tier 4.6 and my return was about 140%, all things considered a good week in the Entropia Universe.

 

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The thin green line

Log Entry for April the 27th 2014

I spent the weekdays on calypso where I spent my time hunting drones, a total of 6 hunts with a loss on all but one of them.
On the Tuesday I placed on auction a Leaf Beret (F,C) that had been in storage for a long time. The Beret is green with a light trim and was one of a pair, there used to be the (M,C) version as well. Back in the day, when the Soc. was the Guardian Tigers and was run by Tiger Master Lee, the Green Beret was awarded to the winner of the monthly Soc. event. The winner wore the Beret for the month and gave it up to the winner of the next event. For that month the wearer received praise from other Soc. members. A bit daft really but good fun. I have not see the (M,C) version for a long time, I think Tiger sold it but I could be wrong. Anyway, not having both of them it was time to move on from this so it’s on Auction, I’m not expecting it to reach a good price as it’s full TT.

Saturday morning and Nocturaline and myself headed to Arkadia in my Quad, Wolta was already there, she had taken the ship last weekend. There was an Oratan Invasion event in progress and we all wished to stand in the thin green line to defend the forts. The journey was uneventful, seeing only 1 pirate at Calypso Space Station who tried hiding in his back seat but when he realised he had been spotted legged it pretty sharpish. No others were seen probably due to our approach vector to Arkadia.

We met Wolta at Courageous (I think) and all 3 of us stood with others against the massed ranks of Oratan who could have easily swamped us if they had attacked enmass, they seem to have a culture of individual prowess something akin to the iron age Celtic peoples of mother Earth. Which is extremely fortunate for us.

I had prepared myself with 500 PED of ammo, my plan was to use my NIP against the smaller Oratan and the Karma Killer against the larger, those with area effect attacks. Using this method the 500 PED would last quite a long time, I would be able to tier the NIP and would hopefully get a decent sized reward when I was using the Karma Killer though an ATH had occured the previous night I was still optimistic when it came to the spoils of war. My 500 PED came to an end and my return was about 80-85% but I had gained quite a few skills especially in evade so was quite happy with this.

The attack was far from over, a further 500PED of ammo was aquired and I returned to the line, this time I got lucky on a big HoF my share of which was about 1450 PED and after I had used only about 100 PED of my ammo it was time for Space Skilling Saturday so I stored and headed spacewards.

Sunday I was back on the surface and headed to Repulse (The Oratan had moved to attack there at somepoint yesterday), again 500 PED of ammo was aquired and using the same tactics I stayed in the line for much of the day, this time I came up with a considerable loss but did not mind, I had got an extral level of evade (lvl 34) in the 2 weekends I had been doing this, though both Wolta and Nocturaline seemed to get considerably more than that, I had also tiered the NIP. During the Sunday the lag was so bad there were times when I could not even fire my guns, this was particularly the case when a large Lancer was the target of many defenders and was somewhat frustrating.

I counted the number of times I died during the weekend, not including Space Skilling I managed and impressive 57 deaths (noob) though I may have forgotten to count a few.

Over the course of the week I gained 3 skill levels, the Karma Killer reached tier 4.6 and my return was about 140%, all things considered a good week in the Entropia Universe.

 

Welcome Home

Log Entry for April the 20th 2014

Slightly different format this week, I have had more time available to me and have been able to write most of this at the time as opposed to a week in retrospect.

Monday: Last day on Arkadia.
That’s not to say that I won’t be back. Wolta and I went hunting some Oratan slashers, lancers and miners as well as some Riptor. Wolta did not have time to complete the hunt, sadly she missed out on the two globals that happened towards the end. For me it was a good start to the week.

Tuesday: Calypso welcomes me back.
I arrived fairly early in the morning and decided to go and great the drones at Jason Centre, I had on me 100 PED of ammo that I had carried in space and was content to use that for a quick hunt. For drones I use musca armour, it provides no protection and takes no decay but it does let me wear some 6a plates, the weapon was my unamplified and unenhanced Karma Killer.
The first loot was in the 20 PED area which is a nice start, most loots were good and a little later I scored one around the 30 PED mark. The hunt was topped off toward the end with a 300 PED global from a gen. 1, clearly the drones were pleased to see me and we’re not just packing heat!

Tuesday: The move (day 1).
I began the process of moving the contents of my apartment to the new base of operation at Treasure Island Castle, doing this in several trips so as to remain organised in some way. After getting about a third of the way through I got bored.

Wednesday: The Drones want to have my babies!
The second day on Calypso and I again went hunting drones at Jason Centre, they were slightly less generous today but a 279 PED global is still very welcome, a couple of other decent loots and I reached the conclusion they are seeking some DNA, the horrors that stem from that are just not to be contemplated.

Wednesday: The move (day 2).
I spent a few hours stocking the shopkeeper I have positioned on the porch. Having never done this before it was quite a learning curve, I’m guessing the interface has not been modified since before there where Limited items as it only allows entry of MU in PED not as a percentage. The shopkeeper is now fully stocked and I look forward to selling something, I’m aware the location is not ideal and that there will probably not be much by way of passing trade but I’m going to try anyway. I was surprised by just how many items I have accumulated, I have more than can fit in the shopkeeper.

Thursday: The Drones are losing interest.
Another drone hunt, another global, this time for the minimum of 50 PED, no complaints here, I knew their generosity would not last but it was nice while it did and it has not exactly vanished. A second hunt later in the day yielded no global but I still profited so I was happy. A third hunt was pushing my luck though. Hell, it would have been one ugly baby anyway.

Thursday: The move (day 3).
I moved my knife collection and the second half of my mentor items collection, it was quite fiddly to put together and I’m not exactly happy with it. I shall have to revisit it after I complete moving. The lighting inside seems inconsistent, today it was much darker than previously, either that or I’m losing the plot, I decided to add some lighting to the hall using metal torches, this has made it much easier for me to find my way out. I have also used Halloween torches to cast shadows upon the walls in the office area, this has added some movement to the room and looks a little spooky. I repositioned the shopkeeper based on the idea that sex sells, the only disadvantage is that is now necessary to jump in order to gain access to the building, a small inconvenience.
I decided I should have an off-line record of what is in the shopkeeper so I spent some time creating this, I am planning on using it on the pathfinderxxxi site in a trade page, I would need to update it regularly of course. I’m sure it will have other uses.

Thursday: A little crafting.
I had noticed how expensive Warp Drives had become, I already had enough materials to have an attempt at making just 1, I also had a BP with 2 goes left on it. Needless to say my first attempt failed, undaunted I purchased an additional 2 Generic Fuses and tried again. I have a new Warp Drive 1, full TT, good job I remembered to use residue.

Friday: I think the drones are faking it but I don’t mind.
A couple of hunts, a couple of globals. Nothing spectacular but I turned a profit both times so I’m happy. Definitely seem to be having a much overdue run of luck, I’m tempted to try some bigger mobs just to see if this is limited to drones. On the other hand because they stay as ranged targets I get the best advantage from my sights. Guess there is only one way to find out. I completed the Iron Challenge Drone Stage III and took the 7.75 PED handgun implant as a reward. Before taking the implant my Laser Pistoleer (Hit) Skill was at 52.3640% after it reached 52.4560%, a nice increase.

Friday : The move (day 4).
Basically this is done, my old apartment is empty, all the items have been moved and positioned in the new house. It was sad seeing the apartment empty, not sure what I’m going to do with it yet, it’s not like I’ve left it for the last time.
I bought a few extra items to improve the look of things at Lakeside, I’m particularly pleased with the use of shadows thrown by Halloween torches, some of them are quite spooky. I added some torches outside but unlike Arkadia, Calypso never gets very dark so the effect is limited, I will have a think about using them elsewhere.

Saturday: The drones are no longer trying.
A couple of hunts again, both of which provided returns in the 50-60% region, not a good start to my weekend, I wonder if it is because it’s the weekend or because I completed the Iron Challenge. Probably neither but I will persist with them for a while, I don’t want to give up on a good thing.

Saturday: Additional.
Weekends are normally busy, more people on-line, more interaction:-
Wolta scored herself a Rare Item HoF, an  Omegaton A102 from and Atrax, this while completing her 5k Atrax Iron Challenge.
I added a pair of low TT Rutuba footguards to the Shopkeeper, makes her feet look a little smaller.
Space Skilling Saturday occurred in Calypso Space for the first time in a while.

Sunday: The drones are just stringing me along.
3 hunts today with returns between 64-73% so an improvement, maybe things will improve during the week. I will persevere.

Sunday: Additional.
Wolta has a strange tale to tell of her sub-warp journey to Arkadia in the Pathfinder. Thank you for writing of your experiences Wolta.
Vinge has almost reached 34% of her discipleship, nicely done Vinge.

 

And that was my week, only one skill gain, I guess low level drones do not provide a lot and no tier increase for the Karma Killer. A busy week though and one I came out of with a profit from hunting so I’m over the Monria.

 

Evade mania

Log Entry for April the 13th 2014

I began the week by completing the IFN Ostelok 5k kill point challenge, not much of a challenge but not an expensive one either. I also tried Kadra and Teladon during the week but Arkadia was unkind to me, sadly I’m getting used to it.

The Oratan Invasion began at the weekend. This was an event organised by planet Arkadia and thoughtfully included mass healing supplied by some of their representatives, just as well, without it I doubt there would have been so many participants.

There were several types of Oratan (shared loot) invading Courageous Firebase, the most interesting of which being the big Lancers which had an area effect attack, this gave a lot of evade skills and there were many who stood around just gaining these. Too boring for me though, I had to shoot. A lot of the time I was just using my NIP as I was being killed very frequently but when the area effect attack mobs showed I switched to the Karma Killer and a good job I did. One of the kills was a 36k PED with some change, I managed to get nearly 600 PED of that which made my week. There were a lot of people complaining about various aspects of the event but I thought it was great and not just because of the money. The only issue I had was the number of crashes to desktop it seems the software is still not stable when there are many avatars to be displayed. There were an awful lot of crashes and some of them occurred between me entering my password and my security code! No idea there. The most annoying ones caused me to be off line when a large HP mob I had been involved in killing was finally killed, I have no idea if I got the loot that was my share, I expect I did but I do not know.

I managed to gain about 60% of an Evade level, not bad considering I only gained a level last week. The Karma Killer reached tier 4.5 and the NIP got to 0.8 but I cannot remember where it was when I started. Talking of the NIP, I learnt that Wolta had never been to Next Island so we are going to make an excursion sometime. I also upgraded my Herman CAP-TT R to tier 1, bit of a dumb thing to do perhaps.

Only 4 skill gains this week, must admit until the invasion I had not played much, sometimes the real world just gets in the way. Vinge is doing well with her discipleship I suspect there were many more skill gains for her, reminds me of the old days.

Space Skilling Saturday 13 went well although most of us would have preferred to be gaining that Evade it’s really good that everyone showed up, nice to know people are committed and that we have had no interruption in this since we started, its a quarter of a year now.

I end the week next to broke but with more enthusiasm than I have had for a while. I need to sell some stuff and head to Calypso to set up the new home/office, I’ll be there for a few days at least.