Station Games! Who's The Real Culprit? Part 1

A couple of blog post caught my attention this month! Both post coming from Rixx Javix at Eveoganda with the original topic being HERE and the revisited topic HERE! These post, imho, are good post but shine light on a small portion of a bigger picture! That picture being the all but elusive station game! I'm gonna focus on the the dockers this time around but part 2 will cover the station campers! Ill attempt to play devil's advocate and give insight to both sides of this "game!"


We've all been there! Whether its on the inside or outside. Group A jumps into system and group B goes to station! Group A camps station and taunts group B for docking while group B points the station game finger at group A! I've seen both sides be blamed for station games, but who is the real culprit? Today we will focus on the dockers.


Rixx's opinion is, as most other hardcore pvp'ers, is that docking is cowardice! Others say docking is a viable tactic in Eve! Now Rixx, obviously being more intelligent than most his critics, has put up a good argument about his view and states that there are times when docking is logical but most of the time its cowardice! Imo this view is very...small minded for lack of a better term!

Quote from Rixx

I've given this some thought. The only time I can think of when docking-up is a proper tactic is immediately after undocking. In the face of overwhelming station campers, war dec'ers, or bubbles, it is completely proper to simply re-dock. In fact, you'd be an idiot not to. There is also one other time when docking up is actually a tactic of combat. Sometimes, and this is rare, docking and then immediately undocking can give you a tactical advantage over someone on station. Either that or provide bait on the undock. These instances don't really count here, since the intention is to immediately undock again.

But to say docking is a combat tactic is beyond silly. In most cases it is cowardice, pure and simple. Being actually "in" space is the only place from which tactical advantage can be gained over space combat. You have to be in space to fight in space

Any person familiar with war understands that you don't have to be on the field of battle to gain a tactical advantage! Yes, fighting 1v1 would require you to be on the field but from my understanding we are talking gang/fleet warfare! Tactical advantage for your gang, fleet, corp, or alliance can come from many places!


Personally I believe that any and everything in Eve can be used to someones tactical advantage! One personal tactic I have with docking is chatting up local for 1v1 against reds (knowing they wont agree or honor it) and forming a fleet in intel channels at the same time! Obviously I don't dock up right away! A few scans to get ship types and hold on a station until attacked or hold on safe till probes come out but I will eventuallt dock! I dock to keep my focus on everything (fleet forming, sharing intel, local banter to keep reds interested enough to stay, and getting a proper fighting ship) I need to so I don't get a cloaky on me! But I don't undock right way! I may undock and redock a few times to check station and put a ship on their scans! I may stay docked and never join the fight (yeah right) or just chew the fat with them and hope any scouts they have don't see my fleet coming! If they leave and one stays behind, depending if fleet is ready, ill become bait but if they all leave then we get to roam awhile! Does it work every time and can everyone accomplish enough composure to do this? The answer is no but it can be done and done well enough to have a good fight! Is the pen mightier than the sword? Ive never seen a pen kill someone but it can be used! Point being that there are tactics out there with station docking involved!

With all that said, I do agree with every ounce of pod gel running through my body that docking up just to avoid a fight is cowardice IF you claim to be pvp oriented and have capable fighting ships! As far as the carebears are concerned, well as much as I would love for you to stay put and take it like a true capsuleer, I can understand the need to dock! That being said, when you tools do dock up, don't start blaming the fleet that came in for playing station games when I'm pretty sure they'd be happy to play outside the station!

Part 2 in a few days!

Focus

When I started playing eve in 07, it never really occurred to me that in just over 4 years id be where i am now! Back then we still had the learning skills, which i didn't train right off the bat, and we had to make a career choice with set skills and attribute! At that time skill learning was an endless mesh of choices and we didn't have certificates to help guide our choices! No skill queue's or neural remapping if a year down the road you feel you made the wrong choice for the skills you want!

My capsuleer career started out as most pvp oriented players. Choosing a military life and what not. I can remember not caring to fly anything but a battleship. My noobish mind thinking naturally a battleship is bigger than a frigate, cruiser, etc etc! Naturally I i trained straight to battleship and naturally all I could fit on it were small guns! I was the king of Eve at that moment buying my first battleship. (I made a deal with a friend that if I started playing he must pay for my ships and such until I could fend for myself) I figured right then and there would be a good time to test my new ship! Safe to say I didn't last long against the Concord Police!

Four years later, with a few breaks here and there, I find it hard to keep focus on one path of learning! I have multiple toons as most players do(but without plex's they're usually not activated at the same time) and im the kind of guy who likes to focus one one aspect per toon, ie pvp toon, industry toon, etc etc. I could continue capital training but really I don't want a super cap. I like docking when I need to and with the mindset of some eve players they'll take anything if its free and empty of a pilot :p I also have a lot of skills at lvl 4 that could and should go to lvl 5 but I found out that if I don't get a "skill training complete" message every few days I feel like I'm not getting anything done! My focus on those long skill trainings tend to go away and 3 days of training a 28 day skill I decide to switch skill then 3 days into that one I switch to another. I have a lot of skills partially learned!

I guess I started thinking about it this past week really! After coming back from a 6 month break and not knowing where the hell I was in my skill training plans I figured id just do a couple random things until it comes back to me! Waiting for standings in our new home for the past week has got me skill spinning and even more confused on what I need to be training! Tried to keep busy buy gathering intel on targets and such but there is only so much you can see from safe spots! Ive tried randomly bombing ships as they undock to keep myself busy but the locals either get agitated or think I'm a total newb for bombing their ibis when im just passing the time! It only seems to help for a short time these days!

Any idea's on how to keep the focus off my skill training long enough to get some long skills done? Anyone else have the focus issue? How do you keep from skill spinning?

Im Back and Now In Black!

Ok so I've been gone for a bit! Real life got a hold on me and had to take some time off to focus on my fresh out of the oven twin baby girls!(now almost 10 months old) Although I left with the understanding that I would be back and ready to roll, I was ultimately removed from my corp/alliance only a month before my scheduled and well known return! No hard feelings though, I'm in a great new corp and they lost their home so I think I've come out better!  XD  In light of the changes I figured Id start fresh on the ol' blog, formerly http://podlogs.com/outofpodexperience/, and get back into the tweet fleet!

Yeah, so I'm back in the saddle and got me some fresh paint on the pod! The Black Rabbits were kind enough to recruit me into their ranks and we will soon be going on a stroll through some space for a new home! When and where we are going is secret(silly wabbits) mainly due to I don't know all their friends and enemies atm so better safe than sorry on the detail giving! Needless to say I'm hoping we get some action so I can prove my worth! If no action is found we will get a new home for a few months while we maintain isk flow until holidays are over! I'll have some juicy battle details soon I hope but until then fly safe and watch your pipe!