I actually had my first PvP experience a few nights ago with Juan from around these parts. I won’t pretend we’re good at it. Truthfully we’re the n00bist of n00bs still trying to learn what to train and fit and how to use it. But I can now see why PvP is so much fun. It’s a rush knowing that there’s another unpredictable person driving that ship!
This is what happened – and Juan can jump in to correct me if I mis-remember anything:
Juan and I were mid-sec ratting – which, BTW, turns out to be a LOT more fun than mission running – in a couple of frigates. Juan was in a Rifter, I think, and I was in an Incursis. We’re in 0.4 and just moving from belt to belt taking out NPC cruisers. (Earlier in the night with Steve and Sean with us we were lucky enough to come across a BS rat. Fun!) There was one other player in local, so we kept expecting trouble. Eventually we got it.
Right near the end of a cruiser battle, in jumps the other player in a cruiser. He jammed Juan but hadn’t fired yet, so we kept focus on the NPC. Incredibly, the player opened fire on Juan right as the NPC popped. So we both swapped focus to him.
Again, we’re pretty simple n00bs. The reason this ended well for us was that whomever was driving the cruiser had an even more foolish plan than ours. He got in surprisingly close to me before he opened fire on Juan, which meant I could web him and immediately open fire from in close. Juan ran in, and that was pretty much it for his guns. He jammed Juan on and off, but left me alone for whatever reason. We were both pretty much putting in damage. We got about halfway through his armor (and I scram’d him to keep him from running) before he switched on a repper. Then it was an almost even fight as far as we could see, us doing a little more damage than he could rep, but him doing virtually none to us.
When he deployed drones we thought we were done for, and Juan started attacking 'em. But they turned out to be ECM drones. They jammed me, which meant I lost my scram, and he ran.
We were shocked. We fully expected to get our asses kicked! We got a friendly “good fight” in local and returned it. We continued ratting through the rest of the belt, but didn’t see more of him. I was sure he’d go back, grab some combat drones, and take us out for good. But nope.
This was easily some of the most fun Juan and I have had in Eve, superseding only slightly the NPC BS kill earlier in the evening. I think I’m finally beginning to understand a key component to the Eve 'verse:
Don’t undock with anything you’ll mind losing.
When I first read that, I thought “Oh yeah. Sure. I get it.” But I didn’t. Like everyone else, I raced for the biggest ship I could sit in. I wanted bigger guns and more gear. At first I was put off by those “bastards” who’d flip my can, attack me in high-sec, etc. I guess what I’m saying is that knowing that there’s no safe are in Eve and understanding it are two really different concepts.
For example, mid-sec ratting in a ten million ISK cruiser? Hope you’re the baddest ass around – and have friends nearby. That’s some cash to piss away for a new player if (more likely when) someone more knowledgable shows up. Mid-sec ratting in a <1M ISK frigate? Fun! So you lose one every now and then. So what. It’s part of the learning experience.
Mining in high-sec in a Hulk? That 80 mil of bling over a Covetor just a) makes you a prime target 'cause a Hulk gank killmail is “cooler” than a Covetor gank 'mail, b) won’t do you any good at all defending against an organized gank because they’ll just bring more friends, and c) can’t do enough mining in a short period to make up the 80 mil. OTOH, a 20 mil Covetor can haul in enough ISK in a couple of ops to pay for itself – so gank away!
Jet-can mining? Leaving your ore sitting in a belt unsecured is the functional equivalent of throwing $50,000 in an open shoebox, dropping the box in the middle of the street in a bad neighborhood, and coming back tomorrow to pick it up. Chances are it’ll be gone. Easy answer: grab a second account and keep your hauler on-site. Unless you respond to can-flippers, you’re pretty much safe. And regarding ganks, see the previous paragraph.
Bottom line: I’m really starting to enjoy this game. 
), now I totally feel like a lost new player. Cya guys in space my name is: Cowboy