Eve Online - Slayfoe’s Bull

I have twice before opened a trial account in Eve Online (EO) and both times I have been fascinated by the depth of the game, the visuals, the excitement of a single server where players form power groups and exert real control.

So third time lucky! As both Slayfoe and Eirebull are now taken (attempts one and two) I went with Slayfoe’s Bull. You are very helpfully allowed to take two names in EO. I tinkered with a Minmater and as his first mission was World’s Collide (more anon) he met a very quick fate. So, as in the previous two tries, I rolled a Gallente. French, democratic, good looking ships, what more can a player look for?

The character generation has been upgraded since I last played. This time I chose to be a true Gallente Military Specialist with Special Forces training. Your insurance company no longer gives you initial training but rather you start in a deadspace complex and get right into the fray – damn pirate scum. The initial tutorial is quick and all the ones that follow are ‘optional’ – read them if you want a fighting chance. Your first agent gives a contact in the next system which has a very nice series of 10 missions. The rewards for these included an Atron that I fitted out as a close range blaster with a drone (this resulted in me running away a lot as I got blasted to bits regularly) and some skill books.

Day two
A quick browse through the forums pointed me towards the Tristan. At first the amount of information thrown at you is overwhelming and it takes a while to learn which traits are important. In WOW terms, the armour and hit points of the Tristan has twice the stats of the Atron as well as more slots for equipment.

There are three level of slots that can be equipped. These are high, medium and low. The high slots are used for guns, missile launchers, miners, nosferatus and other goodies. The medium slots seem to be about shield and capacitor boosters and the low slots appear to be about armour repairers and other specialist equipment. The high slots are specialised into either turret (guns) or launcher (read missile) slots. My character didn’t know how to use missiles so a quick trip was needed to a local university for the skills package.

So at the end of 2 evenings devoted to EO I am in a the best frigate money can buy for a beginner. Last night I even took out a Caldari destroyer, the antics of their navy in Gallente space are worrying but their midshipman insignia find plenty of buyers!