As a new bro I’d heard my corp mates tell me that I could make more ISK if I salvaged, but I thought that’d be a waste of time. I was really looking for a corp that would help me make ISK faster, or at least faster than running level ones, or mining in belts. But, despite my doubts, I bought myself a Catalyst with four T2 Tractor Beams and four T2 Salvagers and spent a few hours a day trailing behind my corp’s massive lvl 4 battleships salvaging their wrecks. They took 30% and any faction type modules.
I sold the minerals and remaining mods I got from reprocessing. The money was OK, but honestly I wanted more, so I decided to part ways, pack my Catalyst and go do some exploring. I browsed Twitch and YouTube to learn more about salvaging and using the map to find battle sites and, full of confidence, set desto to a massive hot spot glowing bright red on the map.
Highs and Lows
The travel through high sec was uneventful, but as soon as I warped towards a low sec gate I had problems – a large gate camp. As I dropped out of warp, I noticed that I was in the middle of what seemed to be a battle between the gate campers and a small fleet of Assault Frigates. Fortunately, I was already partially aligned to a small cluster of sigs ahead of me. What did I have to lose, I thought, as my heart pounded and my ship finished aligning. I hit warp and started counting and watching, hoping that I went unnoticed. And off I go and im into the low sec start of this adventure. As I land in the anomaly, i quickly align and warp to my out gate in case anyone tried to follow me. Once again, im in warp to the gate. Hitting the scan button on my scanner, i notice that the out gate is clear for now so my heart settles a bit but still knowing im a few systems out from my gold mine.
Passing through that and a few more low sec systems, I started to ease into the hype of low sec and null sec that I’ve heard so much about. It was nothing like I thought it would be. Wild west at its best. Checking my map again, I noticed that there was another hot spot between my location and destination, so I decided to go around. Was this the decision that would change my life ? After jumping into the system next door to my destination, I noticed that there had been a huge fight here as the in-gate was a mess with wrecks and carcasses. I warped to the out gate only to notice what seemed to be thousands of wrecks all ripe for the picking, so instead of going next door, I stayed put and started salvaging.
Hoovering Factions
Wreck after wreck gets hoovered up and I noticed that these ships were carrying some serious modules. I was sitting on a faction goldmine which had been left for the taker. Once again my heart starts to pound and I kept a very close eye on my DScan as well as watching the gate to see if anyone is coming in. Always remaining aligned, I was poised to get out on the shortest notice. I see mods there that I’ve never heard of, and they are colored purple, so I’m sure they must be worth something. Before I know it, I filled my small cargo hold and headed towards my desto. I feel sick to my stomach knowing what may happen if I get caught with the value of what I have in cargo. Probably more than enough to buy myself a few more salvaging ships, but who knows ?
A Crazy Guy in An Astero
Flying the few jumps back were not very eventful, but I did have to spend some time making bookmarks and running from a crazy guy in an Astero. He kept inviting me to fleet but I didn’t want to go on a fleet with him so just denied it. I eventually went back through the system where the fight had been, and to my good fortune, the fight was over and all the people who had been blinking red must have been licking their wounds in a station as none were on the gate. I made a crazed dash for the gate and spammed the jump button till my finger turned blue. I’M OUT, I’m back into ‘safe’ high sec, but still have a few jumps to get to Jita. Gate by gate I watch for anything suspicious but find a clear run back to market. I know there are guys who do scanning of ships so I do my best to get in, warp quickly, and not coast on any gates. Finally i DOCK !! I’m safe.
Time to open my cargo bay. As I do, I look back on my adventure, its heart-stopping moments, and the crazy time I’d just had in this amazing game and realize that the value of the modules I just got will never outweigh the adventure I just had. I’d be happy with enough ISK for a few ships and maybe some skill books.
Finally, I look down at the approximate value of all the blue and purple mods in my cargo bay and my jaw drops. I think I’m going to faint.
