AkiranBlade's Diary

[AkiranBlade]

A new day a fresh beginning!

A new day a fresh beginning!

Day One - 31/10/2007

OK, so, I've been around a while, I've played the game, the big game that is. That's big equipment and big(ish) skills vs. big mobs. It was fun... but... it cost me a packet.

With a few things happening in real life and my change in role at work, I've been forced to rethink my Entropian life. To Modify my 'experience.'

So what does this mean for "The Famous AkiranBlade" (as Aidan likes to say!)?

This means;

- Selling all my equipment... that's right EVERYTHING
- Buying an obscene amount of ESIs
- Chipping out all your skills
- Realising the obscene amount of ESIs wasn't enough!
- Finishing off the chipping
- Selling all the chips
- Starting fresh on a new day one with a new goal

That's right, I am officially an 'elite noob' now. Elite noob? What the heck is an 'elite noob'? you just made that up Blade, you loser!

Actually, I did. But it's befitting the situation. Having skilled very hard over two years, my core stats enable me to have a nice amount of health despite chipping every bit of skills I had!

​

Now, it says 94, however it was more like 94.8-94.9 because literally one hour of skilling it notched to 95 Not bad for a nooblet eh?

And so the hard road of skilling back up begins... but... why? WHY?
WHY????

Reason is simple, this time around, I intend to be as economical as I possibly can be. I frittered away PED after PED and now it's time to do things sensibly!

And so I embark on the journey, once again!

 

[AkiranBlade]

Day Two - 01/11/2007

So day two sees me truely hitting the land with my trusty M2100. I left myself a budget of 500 PED plus equipment expenses. So in the "plus expenses" part I bought the following equipment:

- M2100
- Kobold Armour (sans foot-guards)
- Vivo T1
- Lesser Teleport Chip
- Some ME

Why Kobold? Well, I felt this would be a good armour for me, I can handle, eventually, Argonauts, Molisk and Feffoids. However, for now I need to get over the initial skilling hurdle.

Right off the bat I have 3.6/10.0 Hit ability on the M2100. So I need to spend my time on much smaller prey.

This was typically done around Atlas, concentrating on Daikiba, Exarosaurs, Snables and Kerberos.

My first 100 PED hunt yielded me 77 peds TT value loot, unfortunately my repairs numbered 33 PED so making my losses quite significant for the evening. But this was to be expected. Starting at level 0 for all professions and ending at Level 1 for several and Level 2 for Laser Pistoleer it was going to cost me initially.

On the start of my second 100 PED run, I deviated a little to go and visit the Tantillions and Tantardions on the West side of Atlas Haven.

I had no intentions of starting any trouble with the Tantardions however the Tantillions were just too much trouble for me to cope with using the little T1 FAP!

I had a rest from that to meet my good friend Tai (CAC) as I wanted to add him to my newly created Society "Shadow of the Beast." More information about that in another thread later on!

After successfully adding and promoting Tai to Captain rank within the society, he then relayed to me he had some noob weapons I could make use of! I was delighted to hear about the Ukash Pistol he had in his posession. I gladly took that one of him for a mate rate of TT value

After that I decided to call it a night, was getting late!

 

[AkiranBlade]

Day Three - 03/11/2007

The saga continues....

Today's efforts were centred around Snables. After getting a feel for my avatar's abilities, I felt it was best for me to stick to the basic, the humble snable.

In order to do that I had to first purchase a full set of Goblin, which wasn't difficult at all Also managed to source the Kobold Foot Gaurds I was after to complete my set .

I had fired a few shots already in the direction of some Exars and Daikibas so finished off the large quantity of my ammo onto snables.

On this particular hunt I managed to be able to notch up to Level 3 Laser Pistoleer. The loot wasn't overly special in fact the same as the previous hunt, however my repairs were substantially less at 13 PED!

Things seem to be improving!

After that hunt I felt, it was time to break out the recently acquired Ukash Pistol and whack some Corns. Boy, what a change , and a welcome one at that. The M2100 is painful, to say the least, however the Ukash/P1a class of pistol is far superior a low level hunting companion.

On my hunt I managed to bump into Razorfire and Night Slick Shadow's wife Princess, who actually managed to eek a global out of the corns, despite me having grabbed myself a mini to the tune of 30 PEDs

At the end of this hunt, I managed to see a return of TT value to the tune of 82 PED with repairs in at 7 PED. Things are improving drastically! Let's hope subsequent hunts will continue on this trend!

 

[AkiranBlade]

Day Four - 03/11/2007

Day Four starts off with a little society hunt. We're out to get some Shogun boots for one our soc mates so Molisk was the mob of the day.

We meet at Limnadian, team up and head out... not before realising I had totally the wrong armour for the job on! "Hang on lads...brb!" lol.

On this occasion I am utilising a Breer P1a. I felt this was close enough to the Ukash pistol but didn't want to use up the remainder of my Ukash pistol on this team hunt. Well, what can I say, it's a little disappointing compared to the Ukash offering. Too slow and not quite enough damage.

Unfortunately, at my skill level, I can't grumble as it's all I'm within range to use, otherwise it's back to the painful M2100 or go for a PED wasting non Limited weapon (or non-SIB.) That's plainly not an option in either case for me.

We got to hunting and 101 decides he hasn't brought any ammo for the required weapon!! D'oh. 50 PED of ammo lighter off we continue .

After a while, 101 states he has to leave and to be honest, I'd had about enough of the Molisks too, not very economical to hunt for me at the moment... give me a week .

This hunt of 50 PEDs ammo yielded me 43.22 PED of TT value loot and cost me 11 ED in repairs. So a net loss of 18 PED non inclusive of non-repairable decay. Not too bad to be honest.

At this point I felt food was necessary... a quick trip to the Pizza Cafe in a neighbouring village sorts that challenge out.

I'm back, back for skilling. I hook myself up with another 100 PED payload of light ammunition and head out to my killing fields... Rogue Plains. Because of the Ukash pistols great noob-friendly abilities I am able to hunt Cornundacaudas without any real issues. During this hunt I managed to hit Level 4 Laser Pistoleer!... already!

Loot breakdown was 113.37 of TT value loot and just under 8 PED of repairs.... OMFG ... I just profited! OK so it's only around 5 PED, but hey this is effectively only day 3 of actual skilling!

I head back to Argus again, this time I spot an old EU friend, Wildman of Alpha WildDa3mons. We have a bit of a chat, where he tells me of his troubles IRL atm. He doesn't realise we were in public chat for a minute though lol! ho-hum. I bid him a farewell and wish him some luck and a HoF as I embark on yet another 100 PED ammo run.

OK this time, I am finishing off the P1 I purchased earlier. Unfortunately I managed to break the Ukash pistol already, such a shame, I was really getting quite comfortable with that weapon.

As I had feared, this weapon is a little on the frustrating side due to it's reload speed. I can see why MindArk would make so many slow reloading weapons but jeez, they really make the blood boil, especially when they miss. I remember this from my ML-35 days. Missing 3 times when an Atrox Old Alpha is inbound is totally the last thing you need!

Wilst hunting away I am having to put up a handful of true noobs who seem to think that there's nothing wrong in aggrevating a whole bunch of mobs in the vicinity. OK for them, when they almost always run for me! In the end I got fed up and utilised my 'elite noob' status (yeah, the bit where I actually have decent core stats! ) So I rounded up the plethora of Corns in the immediate area (about 10 or so) and started running them around Eventually they started to run for everyone else... job done! Back to the skilling.

During the hunt I managed to hit Level 2 Paramedic and at the very end I managed to get Level 5 Laser Pistoleer... that's right... Level 5 WHOOP WHOOP. Things are moving along fast!

Until...

I get back to the terminals. With 100 PED ammo spend I've only looted just under 50 PED of TT value items and incurred costs of around 15 PED in repairs. This is my worst hunt so far in my re-birth with a NETT loss of 65.20 PED. I'm forced to reflect on this and the hunt, racking my brains for my mistakes. I guess I will just have to hope the next hunt will be a lot better.

I decide, before logging off for the night, to wander over to Twin Peaks. I used to love to hang out there, when I had the skills and equipment to pK. However, I am not able to do that with any affect now so I don't bother. I happen to bump into Sarah. As I stand patiently waiting for the trade session between Sarah and some dude to end I realise, what the heck am I waiting for, I have Sarah on FL...wakey wakey Akiran! I managed to broker a deal on some paints I had acrued over the past 3 days. This gave me a nice little sum of 35 PEDs to help bring my balance back up a bit.

And this is where I leave things for the day... Level 5 Pistoleer, Level 2 Paramedic, Level 2 Evader and 96 HP already... blisterin' considering I'm using eco equipment

 

[AkiranBlade]

Day 5 - 04/11/2007

Well, another day another dollar... out of my hand and into EU ... I guess :/

Today has been both uneventful and eventful. How so you ask? Oh you didn't ask... but hey, here it comes anyway

Uneventful... well, loot has been pretty dire to be honest. Even minis weren't appearing. My first hunt using the P1 and 100 PED of ammo yielded on 'ok' 82.20 PED with decay in at under 6 PED (non-inclusive of limiteds.) It has to be said I've started to use the Adapted Vivo T5. This little addition to my equipment allows me to get 10+ heals instead of the occasional 10 from the T1. All in all the first hunt was a 23% loss.

My second 100 PED hunt, again using a P1 resulted in a dissapointing figure of 65.03 return with 7 PED in for repairs. This ends up giving me a 41% loss. That's not good. At this rate my 500 PED stake is going to be depleted in the next day or so.

So now for the Eventful...

Well, firstly came my first 1000 skill. The lucky winner was Laser Weaponry Technology...

​

The next item on the eventful list is... yet again I was being bothered by aggro'd mobs from reckless noob miners. In the end, I'd had enough of these tykes so I decided to get my own back....

​

How d'ya like them apples, eh?

(That's me dead there by the way, I merely left the corns as a little gift at the end of my hunt )

Next Eventful thing was hitting Level 6 Laser Pistoleer, it won't be long until I'm into Korss territory, then things can really get moving!

​

And last but by no means least, I just ticked over to 97 HP too!

​

My HP ticked over on my last trip out for the night, where I have now decided to recoil a little and hit Snables again. I can only put down the consistently bad loots on Corns being due to me not being skilled enough for them yet. I'll have to watch closely for the remainder of the hunt tomorrow night to see how it pans out.

And that's about it really

 

[AkiranBlade]

Day 6 - 05/11/2007

Not a great deal to report today, being a school night n'all. I finished the M2100 hunt on Snables, but there was a definate slow down in skill gains now. I know closing in on a rank will slow things down but even when past the rank things were not speedy.

Anyhow, I was hoping for better results as I was hitting within my means as it were and I was sorely dissapointed. What I had done was purchase an XR40 amp just to try, which promptly ran out after only 20PED of ammunition had been used!

So, now for the figures... 80.97 PED in TT value loot... not bad you're thinking, eh? Well, now for the repairs... 9.08 PED... so, you're still thinking, where's that bad in that. Well now add the 11 PED (TT and markup) of the XR40.... a further 11 PED down the drain. This gave me a percentage loss of 39%. Not good at all, despite looting a whole bunch of armour and an Emik S30, their markup is so negligable it's not going to help matters. Ho-hum.

So I head back to manage my chip sales in auction and I decide to make a stupid purchase. I don't know what came over me. I saw the Adj. M2722 in auction a couple of days previous and it's been in my mind since. I've been thinking will it work out or won't it. Yes it's non-sib, but then it's dmg is low.

I only hope I don't regret the purchase too much, but only the hunting data can tell. I did, in fairness, purchase it with the understanding that it only did a few more points of damage than weapons I can use with SIB and an amp. Add to this the fact that using this weapon, hunting corns naked is possible too.

So now for some initial results on a 100 PED hunt using the impulse purchase! :/

44.69 TT value loot and repairs to the tune of 7.06..... wait for it....

ROFL​

I guess I'll be keeping that ped eater in storage from now on!

Previous to this, I had given my PED stake a top up in the form of a pseudo deposit bringing my running PED balance to 1100 PED to be getting on with. I think I will give the Adj. one more hunt's chance to come good. Failing a good result it will be stored for later use or maybe sold on again. I haven't decided yet, as it is an awesome weapon for a noob and a good emergency weapon.

But for now... shame on me and my putz like impulse buying nature. lol

 

[AkiranBlade]

OK OK So I didn't leave it in storage after all!

Day 7 - 06/11/2007

Well, like I eluded to in my previouse entry, I did say I was going to take the Adj. M2722 out again for a bit of a run before stowing it away. Good job I did as well, because on a 300 PED hunt I manage to eek my first ever global.... as an Elite n00b.

​

At the end of this hunt the results were a significant amount better than my previous efforts on Corns in a 100 PED hunt. I had been used to churning 400 PED over with the Modified EWE EP-40 Mercenary before, so doing 300 PED on this weapon was nothing new. At the end of the hunt the numbers came in as 300 PED Spend, 297.49 loot (inc. markup of Korss), 32.61 decay leaving me with a NETT loss of 29.12 PED. That's only 9%.

Now, I chalked this up to a little bit of luck as I had the global and several minis during the course of the ammo. So, like I said I would I stowed the Adj. in storage and bought myself a P2a from the auctions. I was 9.0+/10 HA on it, so I should have no issue using this. Purchasing it for 110% means I should be realising a good chunk of the 4.14 efficiency as stated on the wiki.

All I can say is... WTF. Another corn hunt and another 40% loss calculated from 129 cost, 82.66 loot, 7.08 decay and a NETT loss of 53.42. The pistol was decayed well before 100 PED of ammo had been spent as well.

My wonderful vision of eco skilling on Limited equipment is rapidly becoming a story of constant loss. Either that or Cornundacauda are just not geared to loot properly anymore, not like the old days of the full amp usage system.... *memories*

So, during the P2 hunt I managed to hit Level 7 Laser Pistoleer and by the end of the hunt I was a significant way though the level also.... what the hell... out came the Adj. again, 300 PED of ammo purchased and away I went again after Feffoids. 6 mobs in... Level 8 Laser Pistoleer and Level 3 Evader... w00t!

How d'ya like them apples?

I called it a day there though, as my sleepy time seems to be somewhat reduce with my new mission! Just before logging off however, a quick totalling of all my skills shows I'm not far away from the 10k total skill mark. Not bad for 6 days worth of skilling, let's see if I can hit 10 tomorrow and make it 10k in a week!

 

[AkiranBlade]

Day 8 - 07/11/2007

So... after my poor results using the P2a I decided to give the Adjusted another bash. Looking at the results to date, on average it out performs any Limited weapon I'm 10/10 or near on.

I decided to go and thwack Feffoids again, they're an easy enough mob and the Adj. deals enough damage for those little critters.

After what I felt was an average run save the Isis LR32 I looted, I was actually expecting a greater loss margin. In actuality the results looked a lot like the runs I have with the 10/10 equipment with data: 300 cost, 215.35 (Inc. Markup) Return, 35.23 repairs. This gave 119 PED loss on 300 but a percentage of 39%. On a weapon that my Hit Ability is less than 1 on!

During this run I managed to hit both Level 9 Laser Pistoleer and gain another health point taking me to 98 HP!

After this, I decided to go and hunt these new Kerberos creatures. I'd tackled a couple of them around Atlas but thought I'd try the East Scylla area now the Umbranoids seem to have vanished.

I have to say, the East Scylla spawn rocks (with a handful of hunters on it.) Plenty of the mobs to be having fun with. Again I used the Adj. M2722, fearing that on this hunt I would see a loss more like my initial hunt of 60%+.

After bashing several hundred of them and having a bit of a I tagged it first battle with Paolo it came time to reconcile the figures for the hunt. I was more than moderately surprised to find that I in fact manage to have less loss on this hunt that the previous Feffoid hunt. I was blessed with a small global along the way though...



The figures at the end of hunting were: 300 PED cost, 221.33 PED TT value loot, 22.73 repairs (no armour ). This gave a 101.40 PED loss which equates to 33% roughly!

With this information on board, and the understanding that I have more hunts to do for a definitive benchmark of my ability on the Adj. M2722, I am left asking myself;

"If I have the same kind of return using a weapon that gives me much better skill gains as I do with a 10/10 limited item, what is the point in Limited items with Skill Bonus?"

For now, I really can't see any point. The only thing that can contradict this belief is that fact that I am an 'elite noob.' Is it my core stats that are screwing with the results?

 

[AkiranBlade]

A Long Day of Skilling!

Day 9 - 08/11/2007

Well, I managed to get some time to skill long and hard on today.

Basically, I've been sticking to the same menu... Camp Pheonix, Feffoids and the Occassional Corn, Adj. M2722 and Kobold with a Adapted T5 for a side.

I managed to get in 3 hunts with figures as follows:

Cost..Return....Repairs....Loss/Profit..%Loss/Profit
300...247.54....33.81......-86.27.......-28%
300...231.02....31.84......-101.82......-33%
300...235.22....32.04......-96.82.......-32%

While not terrific results, every hunt yielded no globals and in the very least, it's an extremely consistant return rate.

The biggest news in this effort was that I made the grade...again, for Marksmanship. However, I was a little dissapointed by there not being an message to say so.



By the end of play, I had hit Level 11 Laser Pistoleer, Level 8 Ranged Laser and hit 10.5k Total Skill. I'm expecting a significant slow down in skill gain soon, however, I'm enjoying the rate of acheivement for now!

 

[AkiranBlade]

Change of Tack

Day 10 - 09/11/2007

I decided to give a P3a a trial. I've given the P1 and P2 a go and looking at the P3a Specifications, I thought I could do ok on it. But... what to hunt. I decided, I really wanted to get a Korss H380. This sealed the deal on me going after Faucervix.

I decided to tool up and head out to the infamous Faucie Island. It's a sad place, where many a Faucervix can be seen committing Hara Kiri, no-one knows for why, but maybe it's because they're all stuck on that Island and unable to swim?

After about 80 PED of ammo I was joined by a society mate, 101. We thrash through the agitated mobs with a below par average loot. Then Tai says he'll come along for the craic. But before Tai can get there, 101 has to go. It's not long before Tai and I are battling through the hoards when Gravaton logs on. One swift invite later and a few minutes of travel time later we are a 3 man team devastating Faucies.

Eventually... I manage to squeeze a Faucie hard enough for it to drop me a Korss... yippeee!



Due to not getting started until late and using a Limited Weapon using small amounts of ammo it takes all night to do this hunt. The figures at the end of play were:

Cost..Return....Repairs....Loss/Profit..%Loss/Profit
250...315.70....18.94......+46.76.......+18%

That's right, including the markup value of the Korss...this is a profitable run...at last! However, I'll throw that away as I'm going to be using the Korss...lol

Other key notes for the day are:

- Hitting 99 HP without realising.. lol!
- Hitting 2k LWT, my first 2k skill.

Until next time...

 

[AkiranBlade]

Fair to middlin'

Day 11 - 10/11/2007

Well, the last day hasn't been particularly eventful. I have pretty much stuck to hunting Faucies on the Island all day in Kobold using Korss H380s that I've looted. One difference I would say is I bought an ek-2350. I am still using a Vivo T1 between mobs, but when those Alphas+ jump on you it's ridiculous. Nothing like it to make you feel like a noob again! lol.

Anyhow, the hunt data for this day is as follows:

Cost..Return....Repairs....Loss/Profit..%Loss/Profit
200...264.03....16.43......+47.50.......+24%
200...176.23....20.17......-43.94.......-22%
200...193.79....27.14......-33.35.......-16%

The run with profit is basically due to picking up two more Korss H380s (no glowballs though.)

On another note, using my 'other' budget, I managed to get my Rage pants coloured by Sarah and the rather good result is below. That in addition to the fact I am quite happy about my new look avatar. I've heard people are not happy with the regen. that happened, but to be honest I felt there were more than enough controls to manipulate my appearance. I do feel though that I would have like a lot more variance, there was a look I wanted to go for, however, I feel in no way that the system was 'lacking.'



That's pretty much it for now, see you next time

 

[AkiranBlade]

And here's my chap's face!

 

[AkiranBlade]

Errrm.. Dude, where's my H380s?

Day 12 - 11/11/2007

OK, so, I had gotten used to things on Faucervix Island... hunting with Korss, looting Korss... it seemed all was going generally ok with a minor margin of expected losses. Unfortunately, my fear of a 'no H380 in my loots' run came to life today.

Whilst hunting the Faucervix though, I was able to notch up to Level 13 Laser Pistoleer and get to the milestone of 100 HP. Not bad not bad



Question is, what should I do, go and whack the Faucies with the Adj. so that they drop me Korss again, or aim a little higher for a short time and power level into the Korss 400 Zone?

Well, answering my own question I decided to take a run at Feffoids again. Loots were kind of ok and I managed to yield myself another Korss H400. I'm selling these at the moment, as I am unable to wield them. Selling them helps take the edge of any losses experienced whilst hunting Feffoids, particularly as I'm using the Adj. M2722.



My Run Breakdown is as follows:

Cost..Return....Repairs....Loss/Profit..%Loss/Profit
200...211.44....32.01......-20.57.......-10%
200...174.43....21.19......-48.76.......-24%
300...362.44....42.13......+20.31.......+6%

That's all for now folks, look out for my next instalment tomorrow!

 

[AkiranBlade]

Shhhhhi..... rubbish loots

Day 13 - 12/11/2007

Well, another day of really quite rubbish loot. I logged in and began out whacking Feffoids in normal form, but when several society members were online, we decided collectively to go out on a quick hunt. I shouted Argon00bs.... which seemed well received, so off to Twin Mall we all headed (except for 101, who was already out bashing the Args there.) Set up the team and headed out into the frey.

We were slaughtering mobs left right and centre, having a bit of fun... dodging the odd Argonaut Hunter swipe. Eventually 101 had to leave, then Cyco, leaving Tai and I to 'clean up the mess' as it were. We eventually called it a day at nigh on the end of my ammo. I didn't have a good feeling about this hunt, many many no looters in a row... and as I was vacating the mountain ... whoosh 6k+ PEDs to some guy in the area... typical.

The TT terminal revealed the extent of the damage before even going to the repair terminal, it was ugly. . RIGHT! I thought, it's just a minor set back, let's repair, tool up and hit the Feffoids again, that'll sort me out!

Things seemed to be going pretty well actually, bash a few, bunch of no loots, then whammo a nice mini...bash a few, bunch of no loots.. whammo... you get the idea. I thought, I might even be in with a chance of profit on this one, even without any Glowballs. How wrong could I be. Yet another not great TT terminal looking back at me... insidiously laughing... a vision of a uncommon smiley.. .chuckling at my noob ass.

I've been reflecting on my past week's exploits lately, I feel, certainly in comparison with my very first days on Calypso 2 years ago, that I had been playing a much more economical game. Looking at (L)imiteds and even picking up what is actually a very economical weapon. I've also been understanding my fellow society mate's loots. They had been doing pretty well, even if it was just the one day. I look at my data sheet (a bit of papaer I use to write down all my hunting trips and is ultimately written in my diary,) to find that I can count the profitable runs on one hand with one digit to spare, compared to 27 total runs I have made since starting out again.

Why is this so, I know plenty of other people, low skilled an' all who have a lot more positive variance than I do. Using Limited equipment I am still continually at a negative 20%-45% average range.... why is that even possible when I am 10/10 or near on on this equipment?

I know one thing is for sure, I will be sweating if this continues.

Run data for the mathematically excited is as follows:

Cost..Return....Repairs....Loss/Profit..%Loss/Profit
300...172.90....39.06......-166.16......-55%
300...240.56....39.18......-98.62.......-32%

Let's hope my luck changes...