It's cold outside...

...there's no kind of atmosphere

In the universe of New Eden things are changing, I am changing. I'm not happy where I am and this is a diary of me, shaking things up and moving on for the better. Come along for the ride...

...some backstory

Right now I'm a director in a corporation, which is a member of an alliance, which is a member of a coalition, which is a member of an even larger coalition in null-sec - the wild lands of EVE, the edge of the map. Yes, lots of layers, like an ogre or perhaps an onion. And none of them are working particularly well for me.

I've left the names of groups out, since in EVE information is power and if someone knows who you are, that's just one more reason for them to hunt you down and make your life hell. Don't worry though, I quite like it that way. Your average EVE player is, at the core, a genuinely nice person - but in game, they become the most vile and repulsive neckbeards ever seen. EVE has, at the same time, the most supportive and toxic community I've ever come across - bless it!

I joined my corporation a few months back, we were renting space and could mine or hunt pirates to make money, do as we saw fit. Then things changed, the alliance was no longer going to rent space - join them or leave! Joining them meant losing our space and we were assured that nothing would change. Assured!

We came to do industry you see. We came to build ships and guns and ammo for the alliance, in return for protection and safe space. But the alliance built their own equipment, and were off fighting a war lightyears away. We had no-one to sell to, which didn't matter because the space wasn't safe enough to mine materials in anyway. What little time I had to play, between work and family, I spent docked up - unable to play because of enemy fleets roaming though our systems. This couldn't go on.

Fast-forward a couple of weeks later and we're being told to join PVP fleets for the distant war, told what skills to train and generally being bad-mouthed on comms. I'll only put up with so much but I played along. I didn't go on any PVP ops - RL comes first. I didn't train what they wanted me to train - soon I promised. I ignored what they said, laughed it off, told them to piss off. Not everyone in the corp did the same, and the red rag was raised to the bull.

A side note

I'm not the hero of this story. I'm not going to tell you how I valiantly turned things around and made them better for everyone. Part of me wishes I could, and a greater part of me doesn't care... Just know that this isn't a ripping yarn of daring, cunning and panache. This is me, worming my way out of a sticky situation and not getting egg on my face in the process (I hope!)

The man with the plan

So right now, I'm in a corp that isn't welcome, has no use and can't make any (decent) money. I have LOTS of assets out here and abandoning them would be financially agonising. Not least of all there's the carrier - as seen in [A Carrier is Born](https://steemit.com/gaming/@stormriderstudio/a-carrier-is-born).

I wanted somewhere I could make money, without the requirement to fight wars miles away from home. I didn't mind defending my own area, that's a given, but I expected other people to join in too! It's clear the current alliance wasn't working, their focus was elsewhere and their attitude was poor.

Could I go elsewhere within the coalition? Sadly it seems the entire coalition was involved in this war and I'd only get dragged back in one way or another.

Could I join another coalition - perhaps, but approaching others while all of my assets were here was asking to get myself kicked out and everything become out of reach. That leaves only one option - retreat to the safety of high-sec and rethink.

Now I knew where I was going, I had to get my assets safe and extract myself safely.

Firesale!

In EVE the term firesale is when you're selling off everything cheap, because you won't get a second change to sell it. Usually prices are ~50% off and are snapped up by plucky locals or invaders looking to make a profit.

I sold my carrier, after flying in it once, not quite at a loss but certainly not at a profit. Someone got a good deal. I used the corp buyback to clear out any bulky materials and threw up my spare ships on contracts which last 3 months hoping they would sell.

The rest is slowly being shipped to highsec using the corp jump freighter program under the guise of loot that's being sold to highsec dwellers.... "machine parts" anyone? The reason I'm being cagey is that, as of right now, only half of this has been completed and I still have several billion in assets tied up in the corp. I'm hoping 2-3 more days and this will be all sorted.

So what then batman?

Well, I've settled into highsec already. I've been mining while working - checking on the miner every 30 minutes or so - not afraid of enemies entering thanks to the safety of highsec.

I've invested in some blueprints and production begins very soon.

So far I've made more money in 3 days of mining in the, so called, crap space than I made in a fortnight of being camped into a station in the money faucet which is nullsec.

It just suits my lifestyle better. I can play while I work, checking in every now and then. I can do the dishes and play. I can play with the kids and skill be making ISK. All in all, it's less ISK per hour, but I'km getting far more usable hours and never getting that dreaded feeling getting an hour to play and spending it trapped in a station making nothing.

So, anyone else here play EVE?

One day, @stormriderstudio will get a signature! :P