Around New Eden - Day 14

REGION: GREAT WILDLANDS

F5-CGW

There weren't any anomalies here, and I couldn't be assed taking photos of planets this time around, so I decided to do something I've never done on this adventure before - take a photo of my ship!  So I found a reasonable backdrop, decloaked, and snapped away.

I think maybe I'll do this more often, but only if there's no one else in the system with me. You can't be too careful these days. You could be happily taking photos of some planet and then BANG! Someone drops a cyno on your ass and you're saying hello to a battle fleet dropping in around you.  I wouldn't like that at all...

H9S-WC

I had a nice chat with a pilot out here who ended up being interested in joining OUCH, so I gave him some instructions, wished him well, and went on my merry way.

I flew back to Y4-GQV and decided to rest here for a few days.



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Help me travel around New Eden

I was chatting with someone yesterday in my in-game channel, BLACK'S TRAVELS, and they suggested that I use a Tech 3 ship to travel around New Eden. Now, with me being a -9.3 flashy red pirate, I laughed at the idea, thinking that using a T3 ship would just make me more of a shit magnet than what I already am. Not to mention losing it when I enter highsec because CONCORD will toast my ass...

But they pointed out a few things that made me think.

• it's not affected by warp bubbles
• it can use a covert ops cloak
• it can fight battleship rats

Overall, it's a better ship to travel around nullsec with AND do some ratting to get my sec status back to normal, so that by the time I'm ready to enter highsec, I can do so without penalty.

In fact, the discussion made me think very hard.  But I can't afford to buy a T3 ship + subsystems + fittings. So my friend suggested I blog about this and get people to donate to help me with my travels.

I thought that's a great idea!  So he decided to donate some faction fittings for me, but that wasn't really going to work - any physical donations would have to be retrieved by me, and I didn't want to have to go galavanting around the galaxy to retrieve stuff for a ship to help me go galavanting around the galaxy.... If you know what I mean.

So it has to be donations of ISK only.  And that's when I came up with another cool idea.

I decided to make a large blank image that's 1,000 pixels by 1,000 pixels in size. For everyone who donates ISK to Black Claw (in-game), I will put a copy of their avatar on this image and, over time, fill it up with the avatars of all those who donated to help me around the galaxy.  

It's a bit empty at the moment, but this is just the beginning....

Those who have donated to help me travel New Eden

Click on image to expand to full size

CURRENT DONATIONS:

645 MILLION ISK

In order to ensure all avatars can be seen, the minimum avatar size will be 10 pixels by 10 pixels (eg. 10 million ISK donation). Of course, I'll accept all ISK donations even if they're only 100,000 ISK, but I will only place avatars on this image if they've donated 10 million ISK or more.

So if someone donated 100 million ISK, then their image will be 100 pixels wide.  If there's ever the unlikely event that someone out there that actually donates a billion ISK or more, then I will add 1,000 pixels to the size of the 'canvas' to allow for the expansion. As avatars are added, I will upload new versions of this image.

Note: if your corp or alliance wants to donate ISK, I would be very grateful!  In this case, I would use your corp or alliance logo as your 'avatar'.

This is my way of thanking and rewarding all those who would like to help me with my travels, who are expressing their generosity in donating ISK to help me buy and fit a T3 ship. Everyone who donates will be recognised and thanked by having their avatar placed onto this image.

When you send me ISK in-game, please have 'Around New Eden' as the reason for your donation, so that I know to place your avatar on this image.

I would also really appreciate it if you share this blog post with your friends.

Naturally, I will provide updates in this blog on the donations, and my progress towards getting and using a Tech 3 Strategic Cruiser. 

Thank you for your support!

Around New Eden - Day 13

REGION: GREAT WILDLANDS

PUC-JZ

After entering this system I made a bookmark, and while I was doing that I did a system scan. Oh, look at that, a new anomaly!

Angel Sanctum

This one seemed to have a huge pirate complex, with 8 battleships and 3 battlecruisers flying around it, obviously protecting it.

There was also a factory complex situated in a broken blue crystal asteroid... Fascinating!

5FCV-A

No anomalies in here, so have a planet instead....

O-OVOQ

No NEW anomalies in here, so have a rat Dramiel instead...

SB-23C

As you marvel at this view, do you wonder if there's anyone on that planet, in this very moment, that's marveling at their sun rising on a new day?  I do.

And then I fly on to the next system...

92-BOX

Ooh, nice... an Abandoned Ship Wreck in this system!

"After thousands of years among the stars, the space lanes of New Eden have become littered with countless abandoned ships. The twisted and gnarled hulls of these empty vessels float silently, offering up no explanation as to their lonely fate."

Here was a sad monument to the hazards of space travel. Some ancient space shuttle smashed up against an asteroid, with debris slowly floating around, surrounded by cloud of gas that had long ago stopped expanding...

Y4-GQV

I was making bookmarks in this system while talking to someone in my chat channel (BLACK'S TRAVELS channel), and they were recommending I use a T3 ship to travel around nullsec. I scoffed at the idea, pointing out that I intend travelling into highsec and a T3 ship is likely to get attacked by CONCORD because I'm still -9.3 and flashy red.

They pointed out to me that a T3 ship will allow me to battleship rat, use covert ops cloaks, and go to warp while in warp bubbles. And with the ratting I can do along the way, I can get my sec status back up faster than I can say... well, faster than I can say some really long words for a period of time...

They even gave me a donation to help me towards getting a T3 ship, and after thanking them for their act of generosity, I got an idea.... but I'll discuss that in a separate post.

I went to the next system and then realised I'd forgotten to take photos of this system, so I came back....

WTIE-6

This was very pretty.... a system just FULL of gas clouds stretching dozens of light years across, filling space as far as you can see....

1L-AED

I found another planet in here that was on fire, and decided to take a photo of the surface of the planet. I love these planets...

1C-953

After taking a photo of a planet here, I again moved on to the next system...

1X8-JB

I found a nice water world here with a few storms active. That was pretty cool.

Y-DSSK

I decided to get a photo of a Customs Office receiving some goods from the planet it was above. I don't think I've been that close to those offices before.  Interesting... for a few minutes.

Next...

B-ROFP

I was able to take a couple of nice shots in this system.

There was also the first lone soul out here that I'd seen for some time. I waved, but he ignored me.  I felt sad.

But I also decided to call it a night. After doing 12 systems, I was exhausted!

See you next time!


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Around New Eden - Day 12

REGION: GREAT WILDLANDS

F8K-WQ

After looking through some Eve photography tips from the wonderful Katia Sae I did some configuration changes to my camera drone and tested it out. I liked it!  I think there's more sharpness to the image now.

I also tested out the difference between planet mode view and normal view. I hadn't thought about that until I saw Katia talking about it. Nice...

Planet Mode

Normal Mode

So yes, sometimes planet mode can provide a much better view of a planet. I like it.

Moving on to the next system....

YUY-LM

I think I must have been using the On-Board Scanner incorrectly over the early days of this travel, because I now seem to be picking up cosmic anomalies in every system I go through.

Angel Hub

Once again, the Angel Cartel is active in here - they seem to be everywhere - with another ship yard. There were also three Angel battleships, two battlecruisers, and 5 missile batteries. Definitely well protected.

AB-FZE

So I'm seeing that the various cosmic anomalies in the different systems are all the same, if they're named the same. This is good, 'cause then I just need to keep a list of the anomalies that I discover, and when I discover new ones that are the same names, I'll ignore them, and just look at the ones that I've never seen before.

I love the way you can see the sun shining through the atmosphere of the planet..

N-6Z8B

This system was huge!  I noticed upon arriving that the furthest gate was about 100 AU from my location. A long way!

Angel Haven

So the anomaly in this system was quite interesting... There was a chemical factory flanked by a couple Factory Guard Sentries...

Along with an entire fleet of battleships, battlecruisers and destroyers nearby.

I'm starting to feel that, at least for a while, I'm going to be taking lots of photos of cosmic anomalies - until they're all the same, and I've got nothing new to take photos of. Then I'll return to landmarks, planets, or other interesting objects or events.

52V6-B

No new anomalies in this system, so I had a look at the planets. I found another planet on fire, and decided to take a photo in normal mode and then experimented a bit in planet mode....  Wow. That's all I can say....

And this one, a planet with rings. Oh my....

You know, finding new things to take photos of, and even finding new ways to take photos of things that everyone takes for granted... This is becoming quite enjoyable. It's almost as if the travel to all the systems is almost incidental, and the real attraction is what I can find in each system.

Ok, that'll do for today. See you next time...


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Around New Eden - Day 11

REGION: GREAT WILDLANDS

I woke up to find Giribaldi still on the comms, teling me that he was waiting for me to do my blog post so he could read it!  Sheesh, talk about demanding fans...  But I couldn't disappoint him, so I did my Day 10 blog, and then started on my Day 11 travels.

QM-20X

I got bored with the planets in here, so I took a photo of the star instead. Yawn.

504Z-V

Every now and again I used the D-scanner to see if I can find anything random in space, but always with no luck. Not in every system, but maybe in about 10% of those I've passed through so far. But today, in this system, I struck it lucky!  I found 6 Cosmic Anomalys. They consisted of:

• 2 x Angel Forsaken Rally Point
• 2 x Drone Herd
• Drone Squad
• Drone Surveillance

I decided to take a look at them after I made a tactical bookmark.

Angel Forsaken Rally Point

"Operating from the heart of the Curse region, the Angel Cartel is today the largest and best organized of the space-based criminal factions. The Angels are divided into several groups, each with a very special function; it is commanded by the Dominations. In the century they've been lurking in deep space, they have stolen, plundered, or sabotaged countless number of ships and kidnapped, assaulted, or murdered thousands of people. The Angels recruit members from all the races, and are thus not bound to any one zone of operation; instead, their reach spans almost the entire known universe. Many believe that the Angels got their power by uncovering Jovian technologies hidden in their ancient homeworlds, now infested by the Angel Cartel. "

Now, I'm sure that many people have done these kinds of cosmic anomaly's, but I haven't, and I'm also sure many others haven't. So maybe you'll enjoy these photos.

It was an interesting graveyard of smashed up ships. Were they smashed up by the Angel Cartel ships, or by the anomaly?  I have no idea, but I moved on to the next one, only to find it was exactly the same as the first. So I moved on to the Drone Herd...

This place was fascinating. An old, ruined station of some kind had some fresh new drone installations, including bunkers and a goddamn drone elevator....  Fascinating!

I moved on to the Drone Squad and was presented with this message:

"Rogue Drones appear to have taken over this station ruin and made it their home. Your sensors pick up the faint signature of frozen bio matter, the remains of the station's inhabitants no doubt."

This was a station?? Holy crap.... It looks like some huge, freakin' starship that intersected with a large asteroid.  This would have to be one of the most amazing sights I've seen out here on my travels so far....

But I head on to have a look at the Drone Surveillance...

This was quite interesting. A whole bunch of drone bunkers linked together with long, spindly 'walls'.  At the top of each wall was a light missile battery. Drones are such interesting... what? Creatures? Robots? No idea....  (Unfortunately, I discovered that some of the photos I'd taken of the missile batteries didn't turn out, but at least I have one of the main structure.)

NE-3GR

I found some more anomalys...  This time an Angel Forlorn Hub and a Angel Hidden Hub.

I went to the Angel Forlorn Hub and wow! An ancient Space Stonehenge with a ruined monument, celebrating something that has probably been lost in time...

There was also an ancient, badly damaged stargate. It also reminded me of some kind of starship... I'm wondering if ancient gates and bases were also starships in some way, but have since been either so damaged that we can't tell, or simply had their propulsion systems destroyed or removed over the milennia...

Then I went to the Angel Hidden Hub and found a couple of shipyards, with lots of ships flying around protecting it, along with the mining colony setup on the nearby asteroid.

These Angel Cartel fellows are pretty amazing, I have to say.

Well, I've taken a lot of photos over these past few systems, and I think I'm going to have to spend some time processing them, so I'll do that now and then head off to bed.

See you next time!


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