Worlds Collide… With Me

The EVE Online mission “Worlds Collide” and I have a history.

Almost two years ago, when I first started playing EVE Online, I was given “Worlds Collide” as a mission.

After running the old tutorial I was sent to my first agent, Purkkoken Honuken, located at the Caldari Navy Assembly Plant orbiting moon 4 of Jita IV. The very first mission Purkkoken gave me to run in my Ibis was the level 1 version of “Worlds Collide.”

That did not go well.

I ran at it more than a few times, but it just wasn’t going to happen. That was about enough to make me quit EVE, being faced with a mission that is pretty much impossible in an Ibis. The mission expired eventually. I buckled down and worked on getting a better ship by mining. Eventually I felt ready for another mission. I drew the first of many, many runs through “Avenge a Fallen Comrade.”

I ran across “Worlds Collide” a few more times. By the time I saw it again though, I was flying a destroyer and, while it still was not easy, it was manageable.

Then I started running level 2 then level 3 missions. “Worlds Collide” is only available as level 1 or level 4, so I did not see it again.

And even when I began running level 4 missions, I never seemed to draw it… until the weekend before last, which lead to last week’s “Vacation Cliffhanger” post.

The simple answer to the questions posed last week are:

• Will I align and warp out in time? No.
• Did I remember to insure the ship? No.
• How did I get in this position in the first place? Poor reading comprehension and being in a hurry.

Things went well to start with. I got on, accepted the mission, flew out, and cleaned out the first pocket of both factions. I even flew back to base, got out my salvage Cormorant and cleaned up the first pocket.

All that took more time than I thought it would. Things in MMOs always take more time than you think they will. So I checked the mission outline to see if there were any shortcuts I could take. The entry on EVE-Survival said the following for pocket 2 of the mission:

(Angel Base): Kill or ignore the two Angel Spy frigates & Angel Sentry Guns. Fly directly to the gate and activate gate.

“Cool,” I thought, “I can just scoot right through the second stage!”

And so I flew my Raven back out, took the gate to the Sansha Base, and tried to blaze on through to the warp gate.

The Sansha Base is a little tougher than the Angel Base. That would be my guess.

By the time everything in the pocket was aggro and attacking me, it was a bit too late to get away.

I busily tried to take down the frigates that were webbing and warp scrambling me. The ship went boom and I sat there in my pod feeling really dumb. Somebody commented on the other post about taking the time out for a screen shot. Screen shots only take a second. The agony of that death took a good minute.

2008.08.09 23:44:00

Victim: Wilhelm Arcturus
Corp: Twilight Cadre
Alliance: NONE
Faction: NONE
Destroyed: Raven
Damage Taken: 57651

Involved parties:

Name: Centus Overlord / Unknown (laid the final blow)
Damage Done: 57651

At least you get a booby prize for uninsured ships. I got a 45 million ISK pay out for an uninsured Raven. Who says EVE is hard core?

Now I had to get back there and pull out what fittings I could, salvage the ship, then start in on the painful process of fitting out a new Raven.

Time to compound my problems!

I got my trusty old Drake, fully insured still, out of the hanger and thought, if only I could sneak in there with the tractor beam and pull the Raven wreckage out, I would at least get something back.

This is where I discovered what sets the whole room on aggro. If you get within a certain range of the warp gate to the next pocket, the whole room lights up.

I got into the second pocket, pulled in the Raven, looted and salvaged it without a problem. A pile of my tech II fittings came through intact! All I had to do was warp out and things would be fine. I had actually knocked off a couple of the insta-aggro Sansha ships with the Raven, so things were going smoothly. they were going so smoothly, I thought I might as well salvage and loot the other wrecks as well. I just had to travel a little bit to get them in tractor range…

And then the pocket lit up on me again.

This time I really didn’t have time for a screen shot.

2008.08.10 00:16:00

Victim: Wilhelm Arcturus
Corp: Twilight Cadre
Alliance: NONE
Faction: NONE
Destroyed: Drake
Damage Taken: 41884

Involved parties:

Name: Centus Overlord / Unknown (laid the final blow)
Damage Done: 41884

Well crap. Down two ships.

Time to regroup and refit.

I found a Raven for under market price only a jump away. I found most of the fittings I needed close by as well. I had the salvage parts to make two Capacitor Control rigs. And I had a tractor beam sitting in storage. I put it all together and headed out again.

This time I grabbed the Drake wreckage, hauled it in, looted it, and got out with my missing tech II fittings. That put me back to about 90% of the capability of my old Raven.

Then I went back in and did the mission by the book, carefully peeling off each group, keeping them at maximum range to minimize the damage they could inflict, and generally doing things the way they should be done when you’re not in a rush. It took time, but dying took even more time.

I got to the third pocket, fought the one aggro group, rescued the crew from the damaged Heron, and headed home.

With the mission payout, with time bonus, the bounties, and the insurance payouts, my bank account ended up with about as much ISK in it as when I started out. I was just short a fully fitted Drake.

Later that evening I went back to the agent looking for another mission. And wouldn’t you know it, I drew “Worlds Collide” again.