Lost in Space
I am Jorrien, a space pirate in the MMORPG Eve Online. I started my capsuleer career in 2010 as a miner and industrialist living in Hisec systems. Before too long the excitement of PvP in the more dangerous regions of space called to me and I began pursuing the more criminal aspects of New Eden.
I started learning the ways of combat with the famed Red vs Blue alliance. After learning the basics of PvP, I jumped straight into the deep end and joined a corporation with a few friends and moved into a C4 wormhole. The other members of that corporation eventually became inactive, and I lived solo in the wormhole for about a year until being evicted by Hard Knocks. At that point, homeless and without a corporation, I drifted through space for a couple years, doing mostly exploration of Nullsec data and relic sites to make ISK to survive. This was a low point of my Eve Online career. I took several long breaks and considered quitting entirely. I just needed to find my way and figure out what I wanted in New Eden.
Off to War
When the first World War Bee started, I decided to join the war effort. I joined Pandemic Horde and moved to Nullsec space. I credit this decision with saving my Eve Online career. Being in a large corporation during a time of war provided multiple fleets every day and opportunities to build and improve my newly developed PvP skills. I thoroughly enjoyed my time in Pandemic Horde, racking up thousands of kills and skilling up into higher classes of ships including capital ships. It was during this time that I obtained and flew a carrier class ship for the first time, which had always been a goal of mine. My PvP bloodlust was fully cultivated as a Pandemic Horde line member, but something was still missing.
Choosing the Solo Life
What happened next was a watershed moment in my capsuleer career. Two things were happening simultaneously for me personally which converged in a decision that completely changed the trajectory of my path in Eve Online. First, I had started watching a few Twitch streamers who streamed exclusively solo PvP content. These pilots, like Judge Sarn (has since switched from streaming on Twitch to Kick) and Joebane Maetheon were streaming themselves engaging in solo PvP primarily in frigates and destroyers in Lowsec Faction Warfare space. This was a different type of combat than the large fleet engagements I was currently experiencing as a Pandemic Horde line member in sovereign Nullsec space. The action was fast and exciting. The pilots manually piloted their own ships, with no FC to follow or give them directions. The solo pilot lives by their wits, learning what to engage and employing situational tactics, often fighting outnumbered or against higher ship classes. Solo PvP is high risk/reward and often results in ship losses. If you want to be a solo pilot, you can not be too concerned with your killboard stats, especially when you are first starting out.
The second thing that was occurring at this time was that Pandemic Horde was moving…again. I had gone through a couple of moves already and we were preparing for yet another move. As I was packing my ships and belongings into my suitcase carrier, I had a decision to make. Was I going to stay in Pandemic Horde and keep moving around Nullsec at the discretion of the corporation and alliance leadership, or was now the time to finally take control of my own destiny and head out on my own? Thankfully, I decided on the latter. Instead of jumping my carrier with my belongings to the new Pandemic Horde staging system, I jumped to Lowsec, and I’ve never looked back.
Into the Future
In the years since that decision, I have had some amazing experiences as a Lowsec solo pilot. My security status is wrecked (-10 for life!), but my enjoyment of Eve Online has increased one-hundredfold. I started out my solo career in the Caldari/Gallente Faction Warfare space in the Verge Vendor/Black Rise regions. I had the opportunity to meet and fight against and alongside those very streamers who had first introduced me to solo PvP. For a while I flew with Joebane in his corporation Average Pilots. Average Pilots is in the A Band Apart alliance, so I was also able to fly with the legendary Rixx Javix. Eventually, I formed my own Lowsec pirate corporation Space Nerd Ninjas. I am currently living in Amamake flying for the Angel Cartel militia in the Amarr/Minmatar Faction Warfare space. Recently my corporation joined the Sedition alliance. Being in an alliance provides the opportunity to participate in larger scale fleet battles, while maintaining my solo pilot roots. On any given day you may find me in a large battleship or capital fleet, a small roaming gang, or solo in a Fed Navy Comet or Rifter. I have over 4,000 solo kills and am working towards a goal I set for myself when I started to reach 5,000 solo kills. That seemed impossible when I was starting out, but now I am almost there and expect to reach that goal and beyond.
I started this blog to share my experiences and some of the things I have learned along the way as well as the things I continue to learn every day. My hope is that this will help more people decide to come to Lowsec and participate in solo and small-gang PvP. I look forward to discussing this game that I love with many of you. If you are looking for a home in Lowsec, Space Nerd Ninjas is recruiting pilots interested in solo and small-gang PvP with opportunities for larger alliance fleets as well. If this is something that interests you, you can convo or mail me in-game or join the in-game chat channel Space Nerd Ninjas. Or you can just come out to Lowsec and shoot me 🙂 Either way, Fly Dangerous! o7