The Eve Online 0.0 Experiment - Post 022 - Camp Wedgies

Camp Wedgies

With such beautiful lyrics now resounding in my head from the Eiffel 65 song, I decided that I was ready to break into the south and I promptly began to undock from my station in Heide.


It was then that I saw this in Local:




Hmmm. There was a gate-camp in the system Aedald and I had no choice but to pass through. It would seem that even the presence of empire security guns did not deter the campers. How was I to resolve this?

I pondered this dilemma for a while but was reassured as I remembered that I now possessed the "open sesame" of gate-camp resolution issues. I would just look them squarely in the eye and say "wow, this is cool" and they would crumble like the sissy pirates they truly were.

Luckily, as I entered the next system, they were busy destroying an unsuspecting traveller and my shuttle was able to go to warp and avoid the incident entirely. I made sure to type "oooooooh" into the chat box as I flew past them to my safety.

A short while later and I was in the system right next to the 7Q entry point to 0.0 space. There were numerous pilots here and I began to become slightly suspicious.

I warped to a random place in the system, made a bookmark in deadspace and studied the map for a while. Sure enough, a large number of ships were being destroyed in 7Q, on the other side of the gate. A pilot called "Nuvia" stated in the chat that 7Q was safe and that "I could pass through with no problems".

I noticed that some of the pilots in Local were with "Veritas Immortalis" and I suddenly had a strong urge to find out what this immortal truth was.

I had been a seeker of the meaning of life for several years and perhaps now I could finally discover it. I struck up a conversation with a member of this secret society and was informed of the following:



Mirasta also informed me that there were three NPC stations I could dock at in the "Great Wildlands", which was apparently the name of the region on the other side of the gate. Two of these stations were allegedly heavily populated. I suspected that many a brutal podding lay in store for me........

She then very kindly went through to the other side of the portal and fifteen minutes later informed me that the gate-camp had dispersed.

Due to the fact that I was now wedged between a gate camp on one side of me (in Aedald) and a possible gatecamp on the other (in 7Q) I made the carefully calculated decision that I would trust Mirasta and I slowly approached the gate.

I did not know if this was part of a cunning ploy to lure innocent victims into the death-valley of the south, or whether Mirasta was genuinely a kind and helpful soul, willing to assist a poor young adventurer in his backpacking journey to Australia. I was beginning to learn that a large proportion of surviving in 0.0 was dependent on trust.



Woohoo! I let out an exclamation of joy as I noticed that my advisor had been true to her word and the gate camp had indeed moved away. A few seconds later, she formed a gang with me and escorted me through the next few systems, our final destination being M-MD3B - Thukker Mix Factory.


I wondered if this was an active station, or if it was a lazy thukker...


Here's how I announced my arrival:




I decided that since there were so many pilots in this station I would try to head off a few poddings in advance by warning these people of my resolute unshakability:



I had safely docked in Terra Australis Incognita and I smiled as I moved my unstoppable clone.

Unfortunately, a few minutes later I discovered something truly astonishing...


(to be continued..)