To those who inspire me (or sleep is overrated)

Ok, as my corpmates know: I'm taking a short break from EVE. My terrible internet has finally pushed me over the edge and frankly I'm sick of losing ships (and even pods) because my shitty router/connection (not sure which) decided to cut out. Losing ships rarely bothers me, lets give an example I was laughing and mock-abusing Cyber as that thing went down. Why? Because I chose to fly my shiny ashimmu into an obvious trap. Losing ships when I disconnect makes me rage because I wasn't there when they went down. I'm not there to make a daring attempt to escape, or even to warp my pod out.

All this means I have to spend less time on the piracy I enjoy and more time shooting NPCs and other monotonous carebearing.

So yeah, on a break until I can get my internet working again.

Anyhoo, rage over and onto the topic of this post. Today children, at the expense of a nice sleep I'd like to talk to you about the pilots that I feel have shaped and influenced the pirate that I am today. This will take the form of a list and is in no particular order.

1. xxxrichierichnz

Richie was the ceo of my first corp and thusly taught me a lot about eve. Admittedly, most of it was to do with missions and mining but he did two things for me: Impart his love of ishkurs (which is enough to put him on this list by itself) but also that ships are only pixels.

Ok, so he taught me the second one by getting me blown up by the pleasure hub in damsel in distress... twice. But it was a valuable lesson in EVE and one that's lead me to taking some reckless actions, 'cus hey sometimes it works.

2. Wensley

The famous 'Rifter Drifter'. I'm aware that other people have made eve videos, and that other people are as good if not better at flying a rifter. However, I'm yet to see the two combined like he did in 'Rifter Drifter' and 'Inconceivable'. Seriously, stop reading and go watch them.

...

Ok, done?

For me, the best parts are when he tries things that shouldn't work. A cepter, as a t2 ship, should wipe the floor with a t1 frig. A myrm, as a drone boat should mince a frigate. And yet, he took them on and win or lose posted them in a video. Solo piracy at its finest.

I also have a quote by Wensley in my bio. Squealed like a little girl. Seriously.

3. Ga'len

My first encounter with Ga'len was what lead to me joining Hellhounds, my first pirate corp. As well as having a wealth of knowledge about ship fittings and tactics, I and other hounds spent hours listening to him tell tales of times past: the taking of Unity station and some of his past 0.0 escapades spring to mind as highlights.

Also, he got me into blogging. So yeah, blame Ga'len for your having to read this crap.

4. Kaal Redrum

I met Kaal as part of his application to join Hellhounds, I've watched him go from flying 'junk rifters' (his own words) to being one of the best pilots I know.

Now, you may be looking at his stats and thinking "But von, there's nothing really special there." however what makes Kaal special is that unlike your average Noob, he thinks things through. I've fought countless 1vs1s against him, testing out new fits and ideas. Many of the old Hellhounds will remember the 'drake debate' between him and Ulyster over webs on a drake. Turns out he was wrong, but what got me was that he not only asked questions, but did work to back them up. Its not "This is cookie cutter, therefore I will use it", its not even "Would this work guys?" its "I've worked out that fit X is superior to fit Y because of Z".

Kaal often says that I've inspired the way he flies, and maybe I have, but when we're both back actively flying again I feel that the student may have become the master.

5. Venom Orchid

Venom taught me the value of discipline in fleet and rather a lot about scouting and scanning. I actually flew with her only a couple of times, but one of those sticks in my mind as one of the most fun fights of my career.

6. Kishin Hattori

Kishin inspires me because he's an experimenter with fits and doesn't fly anything bigger than a destroyer. Like me he likes to do crazy shit in a frigate, however unlike me he's actually successful at it fairly often.

Anyhoo, I'm meant to be in a lecture in 6 hours time so I'll leave it there. Hope to be back flying in a week or so, until then o/