My Very First Night Out - February 16, 2011

So I've been playing Eve Online for about a month now with several real-life friends and a couple of their in-game friends and they finally gave me permission to go out pirating with them.  My only other adventure into low-sec and nullsec resulted in me losing my very first Thorax before I ever fired a shot.  I would love to say I at least attempted to run or fight but I'd be lying.  I froze.  When I say I froze I mean I DID NOT M-O-V-E.  I didn't even click a button.  After hours of reading online articles/forums I've learned this is not how you react in a combat situation.  Lesson learned.

So here I am - and this time I made it all the way to nullsec where we were to gate camp.  All visions of glory quickly faded as I realized I'd been designated as "eyes."  Under no circumstances was I to uncloak and attempt to join the fray.  Most of the fighting occurred on the other side of the gate so I didn't even get to see the fighting for the first half of the evening.

In the second half, however, things got a little more interesting.  My first sign of action occured when my gang took down a Prowler as I was warping in.  I got to the watch the ship pop which still was enough to get my blood pumping. 

The next person to jump through was my first real taste of action.  "A Tengu!" everyone shouted in comms.  I had no idea until much later why they were so excited.  I've never seen a Tech 3 ship and I'm still very far from learning all of the ships.  A huge warp bubble flashed from the gate as Kraft tried to give the enemy pilot only one means of escape.  "Mystical get to the gate!" screamed Godfather and then all hell broke loose (mind you this is my first real battle so this is what "all hell breaking loose" is).  As soon as I hit the gate I had the Tengu webbed and my Tech I Hammerheads were all over him.  Our other three pilots jammed the Tengu pilot and slowly drained his shields.  "He's going to make it!"  "No he's not!!"  "BUMP HIM BUMP HIM!"  Not knowing what "bumping" means I continuously microwarpdrive'd (?) my Thorax into him over and over from under 500m.  Finally Balec screamed, "Mystical you're bumping wrong!"  He tried to explain how to properly bump someone while the battle raged on but adrenaline blocked out his instructions.  I zoomed past the gate and then zoomed back again right past the Tengu.  I imagine he was getting a good laugh in about the rookie pilot in the Thorax as it zig-zagged every direction but into him.

"It's too late!  He made it"  BOOM!  Balec slammed into the Tengu sending him soaring away from the gate.  "EVERYONE OVERLOAD!  EVERYONE OVERLOAD!" I pretended to overload every thing on my ship but to no avail.  I hadn't managed to squeeze the required skill into my 1.6m total skill points.  Again I zoomed right past the Tengu.  "ALIGN TO HIM AND THEN APPROACH!"  It sounds much easier than it really is.

Suddenly armor began peeling away from the Tengu and I can only imagine the desparation he felt as he inched closer and closer to the stargate.  "EVERYONE OVERLOAD!" again screamed Godfather......

..... and then a silence came over the group like a big thunderstorm finally passing over and turning into a light drizzle ....

"He made it..." was muttered by a few frustrated pilots.  "We were so close."

Had I known what a Tengu was at the time I imagine I would've been just as much or more frustrated than the rest of the gang but I couldn't help but enjoy the surge in adrenaline.  That's how my night ended.  I was now 1 for 2 in low-sec/nullsec voyages and my shiny Thorax was to live to fight another day.

So in summary - here's what I learned:

As "eyes" it is not always necessary to call out everything:
Mystical: "Four rats just jumped to gate."
Godfather: "What are there names?"  I didn't pick up the hint of sarcasm
Mystical: "Annihilator and ...."
Godfather: "Boy or girl?"
Mystical: "Boy or... what... ?"
Godfather: "BOY OR GIRL!?!" followed by bursts of laughter from the rest of our gang

But there are some things that you HAVE to call out:
Godfather: "Did someone just jump to me?"
Mystical: "Oh ya... oops.... he just jumped."

And timing is very important when you're "eyes":
Balec: "New in local - Raven"
*fifteen seconds later as I tab back to screen*
Mystical: "New in local"
Kraft: "Who the f--- brought this guy out here?"

The proper way to "bump":
1) Approach gate
2) Align to target
3) Approach target at 100m/sec and keep mashing
4) DO NOT zip past target - still a work in progress