“Best I can do, mate; and even two days isn’t guaranteed.”
I grumbled to myself. My newly acquired ships, the Dramiel frigate and the Cynabal cruiser apparently weren’t sustainable with their current fittings. It looked as though I had been scammed once again. Jared Feint had disappeared off the grid with quite a decent chunk of my ISK. I wasn’t surprised really. I just liked to think I had grown smarter since the last time I was scammed (editor’s note: Fleet Issue Stabber).
I had managed to find me a somewhat reputable mechanic in nullsec who told me the ships weren’t a lost cause. He proposed some drastic changes to them, but in the end guaranteed I’d have fully functional ships that might even surprise me with their performance, should his intended modifications work out.
Really, I didn’t have a choice. And of course, the proposed changes weren’t going to be cheap.
As we flipped through pages of schematic modifications, I was impressed with the ingenuity of this mechanic. He had some radically aggressive ideas: increased drone bays, overcharged collision accelerators to increase damage output, and high sync velocity muzzles for increased volley damage to name but a few. There were some tradeoffs of course: decreased weapon hard points and slower rate of fire to name but two.
“Wait, what was that?” I asked as he flipped through a diagram. “Was that a Republic Fleet Firetail?”
“Yeah, haven’t seen one out this way in years. Was just a few ideas I had for how to improve them.” the mechanic replied.
“Add that to the list. If your changes work, I’ll buy that schematic as well. I have a few Firetails back home.” If his changes did in fact take, having a modified Republic Fleet Firetail could only be a good thing.
“Alright,” he said. “We’ll get started. Like I said, it’s going to take a minimum of two days, and you’re paying labour costs by the hour.”
He extended his hand, and I shook it firmly with my own. We had a deal.
All that was left was for me to figure out was what I was going to do for the following two days on a nullsec pirate station. Hmm, maybe I could find a poker table.
ROC'S RAMBLINGS 
Hey Roc, FINALLY got caught up on all of your ramblings, and enjoyed every hour of it! I would like to start writing my blog in character when recounting the events in game. Obviously they won’t be as good as yours, so do you have any tips for me?
Buy the next issue of EON. I am hoping to have an article about Role playing in there that should give you some good tips.
As for immediate tips:
– write about ingame events that happen to you from your character’s perspective, thinking about what your character would and would not know
– write about real life events that happen to you as your character, thinking about how you felt and reacted in a much bigger world you didn’t know fully about.
– read other blogs, the EVE Chronicles, the racial newsreleases, etc.
– have fun and be creative. Not everyone wants to read about ship kills.
As for being as good as mine, I take it as a compliment that you hold my writing in such high esteem. Thank you for that. Just write for you, assuming nobody will ever read your blog. I write for my own enjoyment. Others reading it just happens to be a nice bonus.
“Not everyone wants to read about ship kills.”
Fuck you man, explosions are shiny. And shiny is interesting, totally has mass appeal.
I figured as much of what you said until the writing about RL events in character. That might be an interesting idea… And I already read tons of blogs. All of the blog pack, as well as a few others.
And nobody ever reading my blog isnt too far from the truth, I would estimate 5 people may read it, but thats not why I write it. I write it because you write yours, personal enjoyment, but with the added bonus of having a nice log of events for me.
Thanks for the tips, and I’ll be sure to check your article.