New Eve Trailer

Eve Online: Causality.

This And That

1) No Fiction Friday this week or next. I'm watching the twins as the youngest carebear is at a pre-op appoint for surgery next week to fix a prematurely fused skull suture, and while I will be at work this afternoon I will be far too busy at lunch to write something. Next week is the surgery on Wednesday with a three day hospital stay so blogging will be non-existent altogether.

2) Got another load of ships up to null sec this morning before downtime. A Megathron, Rook, and PvE Tengu for me (sold some extra assets last night that gave a nice boost in ISK so went with the Strategic Cruiser), and I brought up a couple Falcons for a corp mate. I have one more ship on my "need" list, specifically a sniper HAC (thinking Eagle) but it will wait until I find a need to go back to Empire.

I'm really enjoying being back in the character and ships I'm used to. I enjoyed trying out the Minmatar ships in Kla'strit, and the Maelstrom is a PvE beast, but my heart will always be Caldari and railguns, with a sprinkling of Gallente for flavour.

3) I've been all over the skill training since completing the Tech II sentry drones. The alliance has a list of minimum reqs for cap pilots and I'm lacking in Remote Capital Hull repair and Triage mode for carriers which needs Logistics V; but I want to get a couple advanced implants installing in my carrier/supercarrier jump clone including a Talisman Omega (Cybernetics V) and a Siege Warfare Mindlink (Cybernetics V and Siege Warfare Specialist V). So I'm biting off for the implants first, then the alliance cap requirements, then Gallente Cruiser V. I keep putting those Tech II Gallente cruisers off but I will get them! Someday...

Meanwhile the alt is training for Covert Ops frigs for extra good probing, then more Planetary Interaction skills.

4) Labour Day weekend here in Canada coming up. We're not going anywhere but still will be busy hanging out at home and doing housework and playing with the kids. Quality time is important, eh? So podcast recording might be delayed or put off until Sept 13.

5) Count the freighters!

Taken at a gate near Jita. My alt is the Fenrir at the bottom.

Curses! Market Foils Me Again

Last night I was buying a Megathron and Rook and the related modules in high sec. It wasn't until about half way through I realized I was simply buying the cheapest stuff and not the cheapest stuff in Jita.

Doh! I now had stuff in 6 other stations in The Forge region besides Jita. Sigh. I contracted the stuff over to Korneilia for transport and set up the route, checking every 30 minutes or so over the evening to see if the freighter had arrived at the next system and docked up if it had to pick up one or two items.

One system was in low sec and I brought a Blockade Runner to pick up the items. Undocking there was a Hurricane ready and locked me up as soon as I started to align. Damn, lost my shields and most my armour but the two stabs in the lows ensured I escaped with my life. Thank goodness for tech II hitpoints and resists.

By the end of the evening I had everything in hold but was still five freighter jumps from base so I logged and picked it up in the morning before going to work.

I still need a few more ships but funds are running low. A donation of ISK to the corp for an infrastructure project along with these new ships have left the wallet running low, and the next paycheque from EON magazine is a while off. Might have to actually work for my ISK again! I can sell a couple of Kla'strit's ships that he doesn't need now that he's not in m3 anymore, and I am sitting on a pile of Graviton research points that Kirith has been building up for a long time that I can cash in for datacores.

Regardless, I have enough ships for null sec to participate in any PvP on this Sunday night. If we end up to be plexing, I can break out the mission running Rokh for now.

Meh, Its Only Worth a Billion

Last night while watching the kids I organized the carrier jumps from Teshkat in Task Murkon region to The Forge in the north, a total of three jumps. My alt would autopilot-trundle through high sec and then we would do the minute jump routine and then trundle to the next point while I was tackled by the carebears.

I've become very cavalier with my Chimera. Leaving Teshkat there was three reds in system and in the old days I would have never undocked, preferring to wait until the local environment was more placid. But last night I was like "its only a billion ISK" and undocked without even scouting the station grid. I suppose flying the 20 billion ISK Wyvern has made everything else look replaceable.

Well, there was a big nasty red Domi waiting outside the station for me but I didn't even register a pulse increase. Ctrl+space to stop without voiding the undock timer, pop the cyno in the destination system, and jump as soon as timer was clear. The Dominix tried to bump me but I was nothing but an outline of a shadow by the time he got close.

The rest of the jumps were uneventful. This morning before downtime I delivered the first load of my PvP ships to null sec and later today / tonight I'll go back to low sec to get the next load while delivering Kla'strit's mini-fleet back to empire. Once back in empire I'll do my shopping for another battleship and a few tech 2 cruisers and I should be set to go for the weekend.

It's good to be in the Ninveah again, but it feels so small and vulnerable.

Cage Match Promotion

Eve SOB over at his blog is trying to organize a frigate cage match:

My own ranting has left me considering a more positive reaction to apparent dwindling of solo PvP action. The idea in my head is simple and revolves around organizing a last pilot standing fight to the death for as many brave and/or crazy frigate pilots who choose to sign up and enter the “CAGE” system to fight.

Of course there will be an entry fee, rules, and prizes for the participants all wrapped into a semi regular event where frigate junkies can get there solo PvP on. Sure you could bring a group, but in the end only one pilot gets the gravy.

I think these types of planned events are awesome and fully support this initiative although the chances of my participation are low due to time constraints. Go over there and read the whole thing and give him some support.

Escape From Providence! The Boring Version

So I finally was able to leave the Wyvern in the hands of my alt and jump clone out to pick up some assets to bring to Vale of the Silent region.

And found myself in Providence. You see, when we were suddenly forced to evacuate by Ushra'Khan and the New Holders I had a jump clone still in station I could not extract because I was tied to the prow of the supercarrier. Fortunately, everything had been evacuated (including the Chimera thanks to Max) so all I had left was a little Ishkur assault frig. So this morning before downtime I figured the locals would be snoozing or ratting and I undocked from 2-TEG station for the last time for the foreseeable future. The jumps through Providence were uneventful; the systems were either empty or near empty or everyone was docked up.

I soon reached Misaba and set destination for Teshkat in nearby Tash Murkon region to warm up the engine of the old Ninveah itself.

SIDE NOTE: I'm having a huge internal debate over whether or not to rename the Chimera to something else and then rechristen the Wyvern as Ninveah. It seems like such a minor thing on paper but I can't stop thinking about it! Gah, to have the heart of a roleplayer is a cruel thing.

I checked the old carrier's ship maintenance array and saw a Myrmidon (Vexo's Special), a Kestrel (Ethereal Nightmare), a Crow interceptor, and a Vagabond belonging to my alt Kla'strit. In my high sec base I had the venerable Insisto Oblivium II Rokh battleship. The Vagabond was going to stay here as but the rest would form the basis of my new fleet.

The question arises: what else would I need?

As part of a spaceholding alliance, a sniper battleship is mandatory and the Rokh would suffice in that role. The Northern Coalition also often rolls in what they call Close Range Battleships which translates to 80-130 km optimal range. I'll get a Megathron for that once I'm back up north.

Battlecruisers are common due to their low price and decent utility so I have the Myrmidon for short range roams.

I'll need to purchase a Rook for certain HAC gangs and an Eagle for sniper HAC gangs (I know a Zealot is more ideal for that concept but I'm no good with Amarr ships or lasers). I'll probably get a Falcon because I love warping cloaked and being a jammer.

For small ships I have the Ishkur and Crow already. Might pick up a Buzzard with probes for having handy.

I'll get a Basilisk logistics even though Guardians and Scimitars are the preferred logistics ships these days. Always best to be prepared and in a war there is always something needing repairing.

Finally I will need a ship to help with ISK making efforts. If I have the ISK, a Tengu would be perfect as its small and agile yet still packs a punch. If not, a Nighthawk might suffice. If I'm really strapped, a Raven.

I got a lot of work to do, but first is getting the carrier to the north.

Another Podcast Episode!

Seems like Monday nights are my recording nights for the time being. Got another episode done, go here and give a listen.

Loading up my iPhone tonight, going to listen to Casiella's first episode where he/she talks about Eve fiction. Check it out here. Also looks like Jade and Jayne have a new one for Lost In Eve Season 2. Later in the week hopefully we'll get another Not A Lot Of News Newshour with Jason and Erin. Still waiting on another episode of Unknown Eve too; summer vacation is over guys!

Reminder: M3 is Still Recruiting

From our recruitment website, the m3 Corporation is recruiting.

m3 Corporation is a mixed race corporation, our main corporate activities are PVP, Mission Running, Ratting & exploration. Primaritly we are a PVP corporation and the focus is on nightly combat. We only have a cottage industrial arm which can provide combat ships for members. We DO NOT participate in any pirate activities as we operate as an Anti-Pirate corporation and a NBSI policy is in effect for the Corp in 0.0 and NRDS in Losec.

We are currently an active member of R.A.G.E Alliance based in Vale of the Silent.

We provide:

- A reliable strong bond within our leadership within m3. With the CEO and Directors being together for a long time, the plans of the corp are often discussed ensuring a secure and smooth running of the corporation.

- Friendly community. The initial plan of m3 corporation was to gain a good group of friendly players who enjoy playing EVE together, we have succeeded in this and we plan to keep it that way. Friends stretch far beyond corporation members, we have formed very strong allies with other corporations over our time in EVE and gang activities will often include members of our allies.

- Guidance and support. Every corp member gets 100% support off the other corporation members, we really like to focus on what the player wants to achieve and we'll help the player develop their character so they can do what it is they want to do within the corporation.

- Fun fun fun. We aim to make our members game play as enjoyable as possible. We are serious game players and we want members to push through and make their mark on the corporation. While the corporation has a senior command of a CEO Co-CEO and two directors, members have equal say into the activities and involvements of the corporation.

If interested, follow the link above to read more details and feel free to join the "m3_public" channel and ask some questions. Also feel free it hit me up on evemail, email, or twitter and ask questions anytime.

Drought Is Over

Last night I logged in for my weekly night of Eve action and found... nada. No corp ops, no alliance ops, no coalition CTAs. There were lots of fleets in fleet finder but nothing appeared local and I wasn't sure about randonly trying to join a non-RAGE fleet when I wasn't familiar with the North that much.

(I even checked the combined caps channel to make sure there was no need for the Wyvern and considered sending a message to Kesper saying "I'm here!! X-ing up now!!" but figured he might not get my frivolous sense of humour. )

Plus I had some logistics to do.
- The Wyvern parking alt is ready to park the supercarrier so I needed to get her the bookmarks of the region and move her into place.
- I'm pulling Kla'strit out of M3 to save on corp taxes as having two extra alts in corp is not needed once Kirith is able to be  useful combat character again. That means moving his clones and ships out of null sec.
- Once Kirith is free, he needs to go get some stuff from the south in Empire and begin pulling together a fleet of ships for use in ops.

I started working on this when I so a fleet invite link in Alliance chat. It was not for a RAGE op but a Razor/Morsus Mihi op forming up for a roam. I checked the rally point location and saw it was merely 11 jumps away. With Kesper's indictment still ringing in my ears ("XTFU!") I decided logistics could wait and set destination and got on comms.

The fleet was asking for long range HACs or Battlecruisers but Kla'strit had already discharged all ships except for a Rapier into the transportation back to empire. Figuring that a force recon capable of heavy tackle, scouting, and making warp in points would always be welcome I saddled up and hit the warp lanes. I arrived as the fleet was moving into position to take out a AFK Hurricane in a safe spot and he provided no resistance as we melted him and the pod.

We continued the roam into Cobalt Edge and soon an Intrepid Crossing gang was moving to intercept. At this point I was struck how I was in completely new and unfamiliar space, flying with people I had never met or worked with before, against an alliance I used to be part of, and how much I was loving the game.

We got ready for a tussle and saw that the enemy fleet was mostly in battleships with a few battlecruisers so we were going to have to really rely on our superior agility to avoid getting smacked down. They jumped into us and the fight was on. I helped kill the initial Mrymidon that we primaried but was just out of range of the Eagle we killed next, it going down just as I got to the 34 km range of my webbers. We retreated after that kill and regrouped, killing an Eris interdictor that got too close to us near a planet.

The next engagement found the enemy getting a drop on us and we lost a couple ships, but then they pulled back to a station one system over. We baited them out but lacked the DPS to kill the Drakes and battleships fast enough with the station to dock into right there. Instead we decided the gig was up and the odds growing against us so we headed back towards home space.

With the two killmails I was in on the monkey on my back was gone and I felt a little better. Nowhere near the goal of 10 for august but at least I was out there killing something instead of dying. Had I brought a proper sniper HAC I could have gotten in on  a couple more killmails and been almost halfway to the goal in one night. Just goes to show I need to overcome my fear of new situations and, as Kesper so eloquently put it, XTFU.

Here's to a better September.

* * * * *

As an update to the parking alt stuff: this morning before downtime I successfully exited the Wyvern and installed the alt into it, freeing Kirith to dock for the first time since... well, I don't remember when. I then jumped cloned to down south to retrieve my carrier and ships...

wait a minute....

why does the ticker say the region is ... Providence?

AH CRAP!

Wrong jump clone.

Fiction Friday - Interlude 3

This is the last interlude piece before I start series 3 and get back to Kirith Kodachi and his journey from person to podpilot. Enjoy!

* * * * *

The Non-Signatory Factions to the Yulai Convention
By Professor E. Carlson, Professor H. Hetrickolut, & Assistant Professor D. Pelso
Univeristy of Callie

[page 16/43]

Chapter 2 - The Levels of Command

Last chapter we talked about the existence of these mini-empires (Sanshas, Guristas, Blood Raiders, Serpentis, and Angel Cartel) outside of the control of the five major factions (Amarr, Caldari, Gallente, Jove, and Minmatar) and, more importantly, not signatories of the Yulai conventions. In future chapters we'll discuss how they manage to avoid assimilation despite being much smaller in terms of both population and military extent, for now we'll discuss how they are organized in their levels of command.

In general, despite vast differences in culture and philosophy, all five of the "pirate" factions organize their extended fleets much the same way.

The Core

What we call "the core" of the faction are those pilots and fleets with their hands on the levers of power and a say in the future of the faction. Another way of thinking of it is that these are the true citizens of the faction. They tend to stay close to the home colonies, have hulls and equipment far superior to even the navies of the major empires, and are relatively few in number. When CONCORD databases recognize the signature of the ship or the pilot's broadcast name, they return a qualifier so that interlopers can determine that the ship facing them is of a higher class of danger.

For example, Guristas ships of the core are designated with the qualifier "Dread" in the CONCORD database. Serpentis Corporation ships flown by the core are called "Shadow".

The number of "core" pilots and ships is very low, smaller than even some of the larger capsuleer alliances. The reason the capsuleers have not overwhelmed the renegade factions is due to the next two classes.

The Members

The members of a faction are those that guard the borders and provide the basic tactical leadership to the masses of the pirate fleets while the Core provides the overall direction. Again the CONCORD database qill return a qualifier when the sensor telemetry picks up the appropriate cues. In our example, the Guristas member ships are designated as "Dire" and the Serpentis known as "Guardian".

The quality of their ships are not as advanced as the core but are still impressive, matching typical naval hulls in performance and endurance. Their numbers are much high, approximately 10 member ships for every core ship, thus bulking out the factions considerably. Pilots and crews of this class can work towards promotion to the inner core and access to more power and resources, thus they tend to work tirelessly for the faction and have been known to be extremely competitive with their own fleet mates.

The Transients

The final class we identify is referred to as the transient class. The CONCORD database does not have a single designation for these ships as they are so many, but instead breaks them into five designations based on ship hull size.

For example, ships of the Guristas transient class are called:
Pithi - Frigate
Pithior - Destroyer
Pithum - Cruiser
Pithatis - Battlecruiser
Pith - Battleship


[page 17/43]

The quality of these crews and ships/equipment varies greatly, with some being nearly equivalent to naval vessels of comparable tonnage and some being "buckets of bolts" with crews made up of "planetsiders, slackards, and criminals". These ships can be found in fleets spread all over the area of operations of the faction and often even farther beyond, sometimes led by officers from the "member" or "core" classes, but often led by whatever charismatic person is nearby. The numbers of "transients" varies but is estimated at 10-20 times that of the member class, depending on the faction and recent events.


The reason we call them transient is because, for the most part, they treat the faction as a flag of convenience, flying it for access to whatever resources they can leverage to their advantage. For example, many of these ships cannot get licensed through CONCORD so they join the nearest pirate faction to gain protection from the local police who are often bribed to leave the local pirates alone (more in chapter 3). Also, they gain access to the secret outposts and smuggler's gates to bypass any imperial interference. For the most intrepid, they have the option of trying to make it in space outside of the empires, especially if they have some success at piracy and are starting to gain notice of the local authorities beyond what bribes can deflect.



The crews of this class are not always pure pirates. In fact, a majority attempt to make a living by mining asteroid belts beneath the notice of local governments and only resort to piracy as a last resort or when opportunity presents itself. The upper levels of this class often eschew mining, however, and work hard at raising themselves into the member class and all the privileges thus implied.

Ask Nicely And I'll Do Anything

I got an email asking for some publicity. Compliment me and my blog? I'll pretty much put up a post for Satan with that kind of flattery.

Hey!

I've been reading your blog for awhile and have always loved it's content and your writing style. You also seem to garner a lot of traffic, which leads me to my main question...

Would you be willing to put up a little post/mention about a free Lottery that myself and two other third parties are putting on? Its open to everyone who plays Eve and we make no profit off of it (other than getting our names out a bit more).

We've already submitted a lead to the ISD, so hopefully we'll get some front page action :)

http://www.eveonline.com/ingameboard.asp?a=topic&threadID=1373309

^ link to lotto

Prizes are...

1. Cruor
2. Any T2 Cruiser
3. Any T2 Frigate

Lemme know if you have any questions or concerns!

Thank you,
Melleia

There you go Melleia. I can't verify the authenticity of this lottery but it looked low risk and I like to help the community when I can.

That'll be 100 million ISK. (just kidding)