Last night I roped up some corp members to help me retrieve the Fighter Bombers and Fighters from a distant low sec system and bring them back to base. Since these drones are 5000 m3 each the only feasible way to do that is jump freighter.
I had actually considered jumping the Wyvern to the system with the materiel (definition for Tony) and having my alt ferry the drones out 3 at a time in an industrial but didn't remember until after the jump that I still needed a ship with a ship maintenance array to put them in the drone bay which is the only spot big enough to hold them. Sigh. Orca is coming, another month to go.
So my corp mates stepped up, and one jump freighter and two cynos later everything was back at base. Another corp mate brought out his carrier and we attempted to have the jump freighter drop stuff into my corporate hangers where I could transfer to the drone bay using the other carrier's ship maintenance array to facilitate.
Nope. Freighters and jump freighters can only access corporate hangers at starbases. Well, better to learn that now instead of in a war zone.
So my jump frieghter buddy docked up and put the fighter bombers in his carrier's drone bay (he's rich by the way) and brought them out in that. Then he used the other carrier's ship maintenance array to unload them from his drone bay and drop them into my corporate hangers. Then I could use the ship maintenance array to load them into my drone bay. Woot!
With that operation successfully complete, the Wyvern is fully operational although not optimal. Still need Caldari Carrier V for that.
As another side note to this story, this morning I thought I would rearrange some extra drones with my alt. She could drop stuff into my corporate hangers, but not take stuff out because she was not in my corp despite being in my fleet. Dear CCP: fix that shit and give my more control over my ship, thanks.
Monday, May 31, 2010
Friday, May 28, 2010
Fiction Friday- Series 2: Chapter 9
Previously:
Chapter 1 Chapter 2 Chapter 3 Chapter 4 Chapter 5 Chapter 6 Chapter 7 Chapter 8
* * * * *
"Set speed to three quarters."
My mechanical ears picked up the captain's command and I increased the thrust. The ship's velocity slowly picked up. Around me the other ships that made up the battlegroup increased speed as well.
The 23rd Battlegroup, Forge Fleet, a.k.a. "Death From Afar" Squadron or "The D-FAS 23rd", was a unique formation in the Forge Fleet. It was comprised of 6 brand new Rokh BB-A class battleships with powerful 425mm railguns; 3 newly upgraded Ferox BC-D battlecruisers with the 6 pairings of 250mm railguns; 4 upgraded Moa CC-F cruisers with 5 pairings of 125mm railguns; 6 Merlin FF-C frigates for point defense; 2 Condor FI-A "Raptor" interceptors; and 1 Heron FC-B "Buzzard" covert ops frigate that we never saw except in port. We were a long range engagement battlegroup, warping into a combat zone at 100-150 kilometers from the targets and raining hybrid charge death upon them, warping out before we could be engaged ourselves. However, should an enemy get close enough to fight us, the antimatter firepower from the battleships and battlecruisers combined with the cruisers and frigates was more than enough to make all but the toughest enemy reconsider.
We weren't the first "sniper" battlegroup, but we were vastly outnumbered by the more traditional battlegroups based on Raven battleships and Ferox BCG-B battlecruisers with the missile launchers. As such the crew members of those groups tended to treat us with derision at every opportunity, and in turn we worked harder to prove our own superiority.
I was the pod pilot of one of the Ferox ships in the formation. I had spent my eight months in a Merlin frigate getting hands on experience on being a pod pilot in the navy. My captain was hard but fair and I learned quickly the difference of my prow from my keel as they say, and soon I was advancing through the ranks. My responsibilities of controlling the ship were monitored less and less by the bridge crew and my reliance on their oversight diminished as my confidence and ability grew. When I was promoted to Lieutenant Commander I spent a four month tour on a Moa CC-E cruiser as part of a squadron doing patrols in Lonetrek region. After a successful raid on a Guristas base in which I was responsible for 16 confirmed kills and 5 probables, I received a promotion to Commander and assignment to the SSN Iceheart Ferox battlecruiser which I was flying now.
The bridge crew on my ship was mostly made up of new young officers out of the academy getting their first taste of combat by watching and learning as I piloted the ship, or older officers nearing retirement getting in one last mission. At my rank I controlled all of the ship systems and they didn't have to do much except in emergencies. The captain was a seasoned old battleaxe named Morisain who was very comfortable providing the odd instruction and letting me do all the hard work like calculating transversal and targeting hostiles while maintaining battlegroup formation and following the Admiral's broadcasts from the flagship which was one of the other battlecruisers (back then, Rokhs didn't have the command deck that some carry now).
Not all hybrid trained pod pilots in the navy end up on the fast track to Rokh battleships. My friend Jace also spent two tours in a Merlin frigate but excelled at the high speed maneuvering tactics and was promoted into the advanced frigate program. He spent a tour in an advanced Condor variant, a FI-A "Raptor" interceptor, and more recently upon his own promotion to the rank of Commander he was assigned a Merlin FA-B "Harpy" frigate and is serving in the 47th Battlegroup Forge Fleet, a.k.a. "The Dark Tigers" Squadron which specializes in close range combat using hybrid blaster weaponry, a concept even more rare than the railgun vessels in the Navy.
Today our battlegroup was one of four preparing to destroy a hidden smuggler's stargate under construction in the Osaa system. If allowed to be completed it could be responsible for the transport of thousands of tons of narcotics and illegal weapons into the State from lawless space. The pirates knew they were outgunned and that the partially finished gate was a lost cause so they were scrambling to retreat with as much materiel and manpower as possible. Our job was to stop them.
Chapter 1 Chapter 2 Chapter 3 Chapter 4 Chapter 5 Chapter 6 Chapter 7 Chapter 8
* * * * *
"Set speed to three quarters."
My mechanical ears picked up the captain's command and I increased the thrust. The ship's velocity slowly picked up. Around me the other ships that made up the battlegroup increased speed as well.
The 23rd Battlegroup, Forge Fleet, a.k.a. "Death From Afar" Squadron or "The D-FAS 23rd", was a unique formation in the Forge Fleet. It was comprised of 6 brand new Rokh BB-A class battleships with powerful 425mm railguns; 3 newly upgraded Ferox BC-D battlecruisers with the 6 pairings of 250mm railguns; 4 upgraded Moa CC-F cruisers with 5 pairings of 125mm railguns; 6 Merlin FF-C frigates for point defense; 2 Condor FI-A "Raptor" interceptors; and 1 Heron FC-B "Buzzard" covert ops frigate that we never saw except in port. We were a long range engagement battlegroup, warping into a combat zone at 100-150 kilometers from the targets and raining hybrid charge death upon them, warping out before we could be engaged ourselves. However, should an enemy get close enough to fight us, the antimatter firepower from the battleships and battlecruisers combined with the cruisers and frigates was more than enough to make all but the toughest enemy reconsider.
We weren't the first "sniper" battlegroup, but we were vastly outnumbered by the more traditional battlegroups based on Raven battleships and Ferox BCG-B battlecruisers with the missile launchers. As such the crew members of those groups tended to treat us with derision at every opportunity, and in turn we worked harder to prove our own superiority.
I was the pod pilot of one of the Ferox ships in the formation. I had spent my eight months in a Merlin frigate getting hands on experience on being a pod pilot in the navy. My captain was hard but fair and I learned quickly the difference of my prow from my keel as they say, and soon I was advancing through the ranks. My responsibilities of controlling the ship were monitored less and less by the bridge crew and my reliance on their oversight diminished as my confidence and ability grew. When I was promoted to Lieutenant Commander I spent a four month tour on a Moa CC-E cruiser as part of a squadron doing patrols in Lonetrek region. After a successful raid on a Guristas base in which I was responsible for 16 confirmed kills and 5 probables, I received a promotion to Commander and assignment to the SSN Iceheart Ferox battlecruiser which I was flying now.
The bridge crew on my ship was mostly made up of new young officers out of the academy getting their first taste of combat by watching and learning as I piloted the ship, or older officers nearing retirement getting in one last mission. At my rank I controlled all of the ship systems and they didn't have to do much except in emergencies. The captain was a seasoned old battleaxe named Morisain who was very comfortable providing the odd instruction and letting me do all the hard work like calculating transversal and targeting hostiles while maintaining battlegroup formation and following the Admiral's broadcasts from the flagship which was one of the other battlecruisers (back then, Rokhs didn't have the command deck that some carry now).
Not all hybrid trained pod pilots in the navy end up on the fast track to Rokh battleships. My friend Jace also spent two tours in a Merlin frigate but excelled at the high speed maneuvering tactics and was promoted into the advanced frigate program. He spent a tour in an advanced Condor variant, a FI-A "Raptor" interceptor, and more recently upon his own promotion to the rank of Commander he was assigned a Merlin FA-B "Harpy" frigate and is serving in the 47th Battlegroup Forge Fleet, a.k.a. "The Dark Tigers" Squadron which specializes in close range combat using hybrid blaster weaponry, a concept even more rare than the railgun vessels in the Navy.
Today our battlegroup was one of four preparing to destroy a hidden smuggler's stargate under construction in the Osaa system. If allowed to be completed it could be responsible for the transport of thousands of tons of narcotics and illegal weapons into the State from lawless space. The pirates knew they were outgunned and that the partially finished gate was a lost cause so they were scrambling to retreat with as much materiel and manpower as possible. Our job was to stop them.
M3 Bloggers
With some amazing help from Rixx Javix, I have now added an m3 Blog Roll on the page you see now. m3 has an amazing 7 bloggers currently, possibly a record for any Corporation! m3 has also been a host to many other bloggers, so you can tell m3 is an active, vibrant and close-knit community.
Without further ado:
m3 Bloggers:
Kirith Kodachi
Lumenarious Rex
Orakkus
Dresarian
Rixx Javix
Angor Mau
MushskiC
ex-m3 Bloggers:
Arth Lawing
Rettic
Jager Da
Thursday, May 27, 2010
The Foibles of Logitech Keyboard
In the comments of yesterday's post Logan asked how I got my 'G' key macros to run in Eve. What I found in Windows Vista (yeah yeah I know) is that the built in security prevented applications from getting keystrokes when not in focus. This screwed not only my macro keys but voice comm software as well.
To get around this, I run my voice software in admin mode which circumvents the default security. I decided to do the same for the logitech software to allow the G key bindings to fire.
First I found the program that operates the G keys called "Logitech G-series Profiler":
I right clicked on that exe file and instructed it to always run as administrator.
But being a startup program, windows is nervous about auto-running a program in admin mode. So every time I boot windows I have to go to the task tray and enable the program. See the icon in the middle with the red blocked symbol?
Clicking on that gives the option to run blocked programs:
Now I'm good to go. I'm sure there are better ways to do it (like Logan posted this morning in yesterday's comment thread but it works for me and I know why it works which is just as important.
Also, thorik asked about commanding the drones. You need to set up the drone commands (Drones Attack, Drones Return and Orbit, and Drones Return to drone bay) in the shortcuts in Eve itself, then the shortcutted commands can be bound to the G-keys via Profiler setup.
To get around this, I run my voice software in admin mode which circumvents the default security. I decided to do the same for the logitech software to allow the G key bindings to fire.
First I found the program that operates the G keys called "Logitech G-series Profiler":
I right clicked on that exe file and instructed it to always run as administrator.
But being a startup program, windows is nervous about auto-running a program in admin mode. So every time I boot windows I have to go to the task tray and enable the program. See the icon in the middle with the red blocked symbol?
Clicking on that gives the option to run blocked programs:
Now I'm good to go. I'm sure there are better ways to do it (like Logan posted this morning in yesterday's comment thread but it works for me and I know why it works which is just as important.
Also, thorik asked about commanding the drones. You need to set up the drone commands (Drones Attack, Drones Return and Orbit, and Drones Return to drone bay) in the shortcuts in Eve itself, then the shortcutted commands can be bound to the G-keys via Profiler setup.
Wednesday, May 26, 2010
Check In With Carebear Brigade
We haven't seen what the wankers are up to lately, have we? Let's turn on the webcam...
Um, excuse me for a minute. I have to go prevent another disaster.
Um, excuse me for a minute. I have to go prevent another disaster.
Patch Day Ponderings
Congrats to Mynxee for winning the chair position in CSM5. I wish I had the time to campaign for CSM, it sounds right up my alley.
I didn't endorse any candidates during the election because I didn't feel like I spent enough time researching the various platforms to do so. Still, I'm glad Mynxee won as I know from dealing with her in the past that she will do a great job and she's got the right feel for Eve Online.
* * * * *
Interesting times in Providence. U'K and the New Holders (dibs on band name!) haven't moved in to finish off Paxton's space (still owning two stations) and on top of that CVA has made a push with some new allies and retaken station system X-R3NM and putting pressure on adjacent system R3. Is this reflective of a desire to keep some hostile activity around or simply U'K sitting on its laurels after recent victories? Or even fractures in the New Providence Coalition?
* * * * *
I, for one, welcome our new planetary overlords! I hope to try out Planetary Interaction eventually but it won't be any time soon. Too freaking busy. But I do wonder how this new production chain will impact low sec and null sec. The sheer volume of population in high sec ensures that resources will be stretched thin and since there is no alternate source of resources (unlike in mining where missions in high sec can produce minerals as well) there will be reason to setup and run colonies in low sec where competition is smaller (whereas with mining there is no great need to go to low sec). Will this increase traffic in low sec, especially to far off distant corners? I think so, but it remains to be seen.
* * * * *
Project Wyvern is coming along smoothly, just another week of skills for mods and rigs and then down the dark long road of Caldari Carrier V. I got the first few levels of Fighter Bombers under my belt but I need to get another ship's maintenance array to put them into the drone bay. I'm waiting until I can fit the rigs I bought before I bother anyone though.
* * * * *
Ten minutes to here. Andrew and I talked the other day about how long it takes to write a blog post. I've been timing myself since then and today's post took ten minutes to write up until this section. I can write them so fast because I pre-compose in my head in the mornings while getting ready at home and then I just commit to paper without proofreading or editing when I have 15 minutes at work. Hence I can write a post like this in fifteen minutes whereas someone like Andrew who is more meticulous and is composing on the fly might take longer. The upshot is that his posts are much higher quality overall. The posts I spend a lot of time on, like the Fiction Friday posts or masterclass articles definitely take longer.
I didn't endorse any candidates during the election because I didn't feel like I spent enough time researching the various platforms to do so. Still, I'm glad Mynxee won as I know from dealing with her in the past that she will do a great job and she's got the right feel for Eve Online.
* * * * *
Interesting times in Providence. U'K and the New Holders (dibs on band name!) haven't moved in to finish off Paxton's space (still owning two stations) and on top of that CVA has made a push with some new allies and retaken station system X-R3NM and putting pressure on adjacent system R3. Is this reflective of a desire to keep some hostile activity around or simply U'K sitting on its laurels after recent victories? Or even fractures in the New Providence Coalition?
* * * * *
I, for one, welcome our new planetary overlords! I hope to try out Planetary Interaction eventually but it won't be any time soon. Too freaking busy. But I do wonder how this new production chain will impact low sec and null sec. The sheer volume of population in high sec ensures that resources will be stretched thin and since there is no alternate source of resources (unlike in mining where missions in high sec can produce minerals as well) there will be reason to setup and run colonies in low sec where competition is smaller (whereas with mining there is no great need to go to low sec). Will this increase traffic in low sec, especially to far off distant corners? I think so, but it remains to be seen.
* * * * *
Project Wyvern is coming along smoothly, just another week of skills for mods and rigs and then down the dark long road of Caldari Carrier V. I got the first few levels of Fighter Bombers under my belt but I need to get another ship's maintenance array to put them into the drone bay. I'm waiting until I can fit the rigs I bought before I bother anyone though.
* * * * *
Ten minutes to here. Andrew and I talked the other day about how long it takes to write a blog post. I've been timing myself since then and today's post took ten minutes to write up until this section. I can write them so fast because I pre-compose in my head in the mornings while getting ready at home and then I just commit to paper without proofreading or editing when I have 15 minutes at work. Hence I can write a post like this in fifteen minutes whereas someone like Andrew who is more meticulous and is composing on the fly might take longer. The upshot is that his posts are much higher quality overall. The posts I spend a lot of time on, like the Fiction Friday posts or masterclass articles definitely take longer.
Tuesday, May 25, 2010
Logitech Keyboards
Here is my latest Eve Tribune contribution on Logitech 'G' Series keyboards. Also worth reading is the editor's followup on how he uses his G15 keyboard.
Burnt Out
I need a break, a long one.
...
What? No, not from Eve. I can't get online ever to get burned out of my game.
I'm burnt out from real life. Anyone want to spell me for a bit? Anyone? No? Sigh.
Well, I did get online for an hour on Saturday evening but it was on the laptop only. I really wanted to help out during the Corporate Mission Day where we set the corp tax to 100% and encourage people to run missions for the corp to build up the wallet for times of war. I took Kla'strit's ratting Typhoon and helped Greyhound's mission; its not a good mission boat but it does well for a second DPS ship. After the mission I was sitting outside a station and a hostile in a Rokh showed up, targeted me, and melted my shields with some nice blaster fire. Since I was A) off comms and B) in a non-PvP ship I opted for the docking tactic despite my pride. No point in throwing a good ship away.
Damn, I need some real Eve time.
...
What? No, not from Eve. I can't get online ever to get burned out of my game.
I'm burnt out from real life. Anyone want to spell me for a bit? Anyone? No? Sigh.
Well, I did get online for an hour on Saturday evening but it was on the laptop only. I really wanted to help out during the Corporate Mission Day where we set the corp tax to 100% and encourage people to run missions for the corp to build up the wallet for times of war. I took Kla'strit's ratting Typhoon and helped Greyhound's mission; its not a good mission boat but it does well for a second DPS ship. After the mission I was sitting outside a station and a hostile in a Rokh showed up, targeted me, and melted my shields with some nice blaster fire. Since I was A) off comms and B) in a non-PvP ship I opted for the docking tactic despite my pride. No point in throwing a good ship away.
Damn, I need some real Eve time.
Friday, May 21, 2010
Screenshot Contest Submissions
Thanks to everyone who submitted an entry or two.
The winning entry is....
Winner is being emailed to arrange ISK delivery.
Fiction Friday- Series 2: Chapter 8
Previously:
Chapter 1 Chapter 2 Chapter 3 Chapter 4 Chapter 5 Chapter 6 Chapter 7
* * * * *
Hi Kor,
Congratulations on the promotion! I'm so glad that the corporate heads at Caldari Provisions can tell you've got a decent brain in that noggin. Your new apartment sounds nice, can't wait to see it. You'll have to write and tell me how your job has changed with the new position. And how is the Juunijaishi colony? I have a friend in the Signals Corps who is from there and she tells me its very nice with a lot of Achuran influences.
How's the injuries doing? Did you get a chance to see a doctor about getting that hip joint assembly recalibrated? I know your saving up all the money you can for the service contract buyout (and seriously, start accepting my bank transfers, I don't need the money) but limping around like an old Minmatar elder is not good for you. Go see a doctor.
I'm writing from the recovery ward of the infirmary after my implant surgery this morning. Everything went fine they tell me and they promise the itching around the incisions will stop. Eventually. It is supposed to take a couple days for the implants to fully integrate with the neural network in your brain but already I'm noticing a difference. My memory of what I was doing a hour ago is so clear its like watching a holoreel, and I can tell you at exactly what time the nurse came in with my last batch of meds. I can also tell you the dimensions of this ward down to the centimeters (21.82 meters by 12.10 meters) just by looking. Its freaky.
Most new pod pilots get hardwirings for the basics in shield modulation and missile launcher controls but since I apparently have above average spatial reasoning I was selected for hybrid weapon hardwirings. These will help me interface with the ship's weapons systems faster and more accurately when my pod is connected. I'll still need to practice though to become really good at directing and overriding the AIs. Funny thing is every time I think about firing the weapons my index finger on my right hand twitches. It took three tries to type this paragraph because of it. The nurse said its normal and I made a joke about cruise missile launching twitches (she laughed).
I had stopped thinking about my old body until yesterday when I was out for lunch with Cryst and she pointed out that the hairline scar on my chin from that bike accident when we were kids was gone. Now everytime I see a mirror I keep looking at that spot. Sitting here all day hasn't helped with that either. I wonder if I'm going to get appendicitis again?
Jace also got hybrid implants. We're being assigned to the same Merlin frigate squadron for training. Word is our instructing Admiral is a hardass who used to be a pod pilot before his current neural cortex adapter got damaged in a shuttle accident and now he can't interface to the pod or a medical facility for a clone jump and he's really bitter and jealous towards new pod pilots. After the hell that was boot camp I'm not too concerned.
We won't be captains of our own Merlins, not yet anyways. While we are in shakedown the ship will be captained by a regular officer and we'll take commands from him. Some of the more esoteric ship functions will be done by the crew as well, switching over to our control as we get our feet under us. Standard time to our own captaincy is about six months, depending on whether or not you stick with the frigates or go up to the larger ships. You get some choice in the matter, but ultimately you fly what they tell you even if its a desk.
Have you heard from father or mother? I sent a message to each of them when I got my promotion but nothing cam back. I had hoped that once father saw how we are making the best of the situation he might be willing to talk to us again, but he seems to be continuing to be an asshole. And we both know mother does whatever he says these days. I shouldn't be surprised but I hoped things would get better. Oh well.
I'm flying out in the next couple days. I don't know if I'll get a chance to send mail while out on patrol so if not be patient and I'll talk to you when I get back to station.
Talk to you later,
Kirith
Chapter 1 Chapter 2 Chapter 3 Chapter 4 Chapter 5 Chapter 6 Chapter 7
* * * * *
Hi Kor,
Congratulations on the promotion! I'm so glad that the corporate heads at Caldari Provisions can tell you've got a decent brain in that noggin. Your new apartment sounds nice, can't wait to see it. You'll have to write and tell me how your job has changed with the new position. And how is the Juunijaishi colony? I have a friend in the Signals Corps who is from there and she tells me its very nice with a lot of Achuran influences.
How's the injuries doing? Did you get a chance to see a doctor about getting that hip joint assembly recalibrated? I know your saving up all the money you can for the service contract buyout (and seriously, start accepting my bank transfers, I don't need the money) but limping around like an old Minmatar elder is not good for you. Go see a doctor.
I'm writing from the recovery ward of the infirmary after my implant surgery this morning. Everything went fine they tell me and they promise the itching around the incisions will stop. Eventually. It is supposed to take a couple days for the implants to fully integrate with the neural network in your brain but already I'm noticing a difference. My memory of what I was doing a hour ago is so clear its like watching a holoreel, and I can tell you at exactly what time the nurse came in with my last batch of meds. I can also tell you the dimensions of this ward down to the centimeters (21.82 meters by 12.10 meters) just by looking. Its freaky.
Most new pod pilots get hardwirings for the basics in shield modulation and missile launcher controls but since I apparently have above average spatial reasoning I was selected for hybrid weapon hardwirings. These will help me interface with the ship's weapons systems faster and more accurately when my pod is connected. I'll still need to practice though to become really good at directing and overriding the AIs. Funny thing is every time I think about firing the weapons my index finger on my right hand twitches. It took three tries to type this paragraph because of it. The nurse said its normal and I made a joke about cruise missile launching twitches (she laughed).
I had stopped thinking about my old body until yesterday when I was out for lunch with Cryst and she pointed out that the hairline scar on my chin from that bike accident when we were kids was gone. Now everytime I see a mirror I keep looking at that spot. Sitting here all day hasn't helped with that either. I wonder if I'm going to get appendicitis again?
Jace also got hybrid implants. We're being assigned to the same Merlin frigate squadron for training. Word is our instructing Admiral is a hardass who used to be a pod pilot before his current neural cortex adapter got damaged in a shuttle accident and now he can't interface to the pod or a medical facility for a clone jump and he's really bitter and jealous towards new pod pilots. After the hell that was boot camp I'm not too concerned.
We won't be captains of our own Merlins, not yet anyways. While we are in shakedown the ship will be captained by a regular officer and we'll take commands from him. Some of the more esoteric ship functions will be done by the crew as well, switching over to our control as we get our feet under us. Standard time to our own captaincy is about six months, depending on whether or not you stick with the frigates or go up to the larger ships. You get some choice in the matter, but ultimately you fly what they tell you even if its a desk.
Have you heard from father or mother? I sent a message to each of them when I got my promotion but nothing cam back. I had hoped that once father saw how we are making the best of the situation he might be willing to talk to us again, but he seems to be continuing to be an asshole. And we both know mother does whatever he says these days. I shouldn't be surprised but I hoped things would get better. Oh well.
I'm flying out in the next couple days. I don't know if I'll get a chance to send mail while out on patrol so if not be patient and I'll talk to you when I get back to station.
Talk to you later,
Kirith
Thursday, May 20, 2010
Complacency
So I had my null sec ninja ratting Wolf all put together for Kla'strit, so I jumped him into a clone I didn't need last night and set a course for my preferred hunting grounds. It went through high sec and I knew the NPC navies would be after me but I was confident the Wolf was fast enough to scoot past them.
So there I was, on the laptop on the couch watching TV with SWMBO jumping through gates when suddenly I see a message pop up on the screen. "You are unable to warp because Verdanna is warp scrambling you."
Shit. Shit shit SHIT SHIT!
I forgot about the war decs. Here I am traveling nonchalantly through high sec with my overview set to travel mode and we're still at war with Privateers. And two of them have now caught me, a Lachesis (Tech II Gallente Recon with bonus to warp scramble range) and a Hurricane battlecruiser.
Fortunately for me, my instincts took over. In the space of a half of a second I determined that trying to outrun the two ships with an afterburner was futile because they probably had MWDs and could beat my speed, fighting was not likely to work as they both had lots of light drones, and I was far from help. Gate crashing it is.
I hit to approach the gate, punched the afterburner on and activated Damage Control and Armour Repairer to buy some time. Shields gone, armour dropping, but my faster speed is negating some damage. Halfway to the gate my speed begins dropping; someone got a web on me. Armour dropping fast.
7000, 6000, 5000, come on come on, 3000, 2500! Spam the jump button! JUMP!
"Jumping."
YES! Now to hope the other side is still clear... and ... safe. I align to a station and warp. Surveying the damage I see I have about 5% armour left. Had I panicked and froze for even a couple of seconds I would have been a wreck.
I logged off still shaking from the close call and finished my journey in the morning before the twins got up, this time with far more caution and situational awareness. I made it to my destination back in the safety of low sec.
Remember kids, nowhere in Eve is safe.
So there I was, on the laptop on the couch watching TV with SWMBO jumping through gates when suddenly I see a message pop up on the screen. "You are unable to warp because Verdanna is warp scrambling you."
Shit. Shit shit SHIT SHIT!
I forgot about the war decs. Here I am traveling nonchalantly through high sec with my overview set to travel mode and we're still at war with Privateers. And two of them have now caught me, a Lachesis (Tech II Gallente Recon with bonus to warp scramble range) and a Hurricane battlecruiser.
Fortunately for me, my instincts took over. In the space of a half of a second I determined that trying to outrun the two ships with an afterburner was futile because they probably had MWDs and could beat my speed, fighting was not likely to work as they both had lots of light drones, and I was far from help. Gate crashing it is.
I hit to approach the gate, punched the afterburner on and activated Damage Control and Armour Repairer to buy some time. Shields gone, armour dropping, but my faster speed is negating some damage. Halfway to the gate my speed begins dropping; someone got a web on me. Armour dropping fast.
7000, 6000, 5000, come on come on, 3000, 2500! Spam the jump button! JUMP!
"Jumping."
YES! Now to hope the other side is still clear... and ... safe. I align to a station and warp. Surveying the damage I see I have about 5% armour left. Had I panicked and froze for even a couple of seconds I would have been a wreck.
I logged off still shaking from the close call and finished my journey in the morning before the twins got up, this time with far more caution and situational awareness. I made it to my destination back in the safety of low sec.
Remember kids, nowhere in Eve is safe.
Wednesday, May 19, 2010
Should I Be Nervous?
...
To be fair, I followed him first.
Stealth Freighter
I had a crap-load of items I wanted to get into low sec for the supercarrier and for Kla'strit. It could only all fit in a freighter but the thought of taking a freighter into low sec gave me the chills.
Nevertheless, I decided to try. I scouted the gate for a good long while with Kla'strit in a his Rapier, watched the local population closely, and then snuck the freighter in during an acceptable lull. Ended up only seeing a neutral in a Bestower hauler. Good stuff.
I then used a Prowler Blockade runner to move the items from station to the Wyvern. Modules, fuel, drones (lots of drones) all out to the corporate hanger. I knew I needed another ship's maintanence array to change modules, but could I move drones into the drone bay by myself?
Nope. Goddammit.
I have a ship maintenance array built in, let me use it! GAH!
Eve needs a battleship sized utility ship with nothing but a ship maintenance array (and maybe a bonus for repping) so pilots can do this stuff in space without needed a capital or a POS. That would be very cool at the moment.
Nevertheless, I decided to try. I scouted the gate for a good long while with Kla'strit in a his Rapier, watched the local population closely, and then snuck the freighter in during an acceptable lull. Ended up only seeing a neutral in a Bestower hauler. Good stuff.
I then used a Prowler Blockade runner to move the items from station to the Wyvern. Modules, fuel, drones (lots of drones) all out to the corporate hanger. I knew I needed another ship's maintanence array to change modules, but could I move drones into the drone bay by myself?
Nope. Goddammit.
I have a ship maintenance array built in, let me use it! GAH!
Eve needs a battleship sized utility ship with nothing but a ship maintenance array (and maybe a bonus for repping) so pilots can do this stuff in space without needed a capital or a POS. That would be very cool at the moment.
Tuesday, May 18, 2010
Upgrades
My combat alt Kla'strit had to give up his Sleipnir back when D-GTMI fell to AAA and I never got around to getting him a new one. I decided to rectify that and planned out a new command ship for gang work and a Wolf assault ship for ratting in NPC space to build back up my sec status during quiet times.
Sleipnir
As you can see, its built for quick hard fights where we get in fast, blow shit up, and leave the scene. It can take quite a bit of abuse while the cap holds out, and still throw a point on the target.
Wolf
I built this around two goals: able to rat while speedy and cap stable with armour repper and afterburner on. With a 33 meter signature and over 1100 m/s speed, it should be able to avoid the rat battleship weapon and get me the kills I need to improve that sec status.
Comments welcome.
Sleipnir
As you can see, its built for quick hard fights where we get in fast, blow shit up, and leave the scene. It can take quite a bit of abuse while the cap holds out, and still throw a point on the target.
Wolf
I built this around two goals: able to rat while speedy and cap stable with armour repper and afterburner on. With a 33 meter signature and over 1100 m/s speed, it should be able to avoid the rat battleship weapon and get me the kills I need to improve that sec status.
Comments welcome.
Monday, May 17, 2010
Goodbye Providence, We Hardly Knew Ye
Orakkus covers our loss and retreat from Providence region.
Hat's off to Ushra'Khan for overcoming inter-alliance communication issues, a defeat on the first attempt, losing 15 carriers to a Pandemic Legion fleet, and other hardships to ensure we move on.
Don't worry about us: Paxton looks to be landing on its feet.
Hat's off to Ushra'Khan for overcoming inter-alliance communication issues, a defeat on the first attempt, losing 15 carriers to a Pandemic Legion fleet, and other hardships to ensure we move on.
Don't worry about us: Paxton looks to be landing on its feet.
New Look
Rettic of Chronofile fame has updated my banner and background for me. What do you think? I also want to send a thank you to Zargyl who offered up this image which ran a close second... I mean, TWO chimeras! Makes me double happy.
In other news, I've been following the new Live Events on the server with great interest and I think this is an awesome new development for immersion in Eve. Good work CCP. I wish I could get online and participate.
Also, the news that Tyrannis is being delayed for a week and that they are staging the release so that people can scan planets before the land rush begins and that the NPC producers will be phased out later is a good idea. Still, if your corp/alliance runs a lot of towers you might want to stockpile on Robotics, Coolant, etc before the NPC producers shut down. I expect prices to rise a lot when it becomes player driven.
I want to get into a small part of Planetary Interaction but with my time constraints we'll have to see what I can manage. I might aim to produce something small like robotics or coolant that is always in demand. Still, I really like where this expansion is going.
In other news, I've been following the new Live Events on the server with great interest and I think this is an awesome new development for immersion in Eve. Good work CCP. I wish I could get online and participate.
Also, the news that Tyrannis is being delayed for a week and that they are staging the release so that people can scan planets before the land rush begins and that the NPC producers will be phased out later is a good idea. Still, if your corp/alliance runs a lot of towers you might want to stockpile on Robotics, Coolant, etc before the NPC producers shut down. I expect prices to rise a lot when it becomes player driven.
I want to get into a small part of Planetary Interaction but with my time constraints we'll have to see what I can manage. I might aim to produce something small like robotics or coolant that is always in demand. Still, I really like where this expansion is going.
Saturday, May 15, 2010
Project Athena Cover Art Screenshot Contest
Project Athena is nearing completion and we need a cool high res screenshot with lots of starships on it for the cover art.
So I'm having a contest to solicit screenshot submissions, the higher the res the better, from you my readers. If your screenshot is selected you will be paid 50 million ISK.
Submissions can be emailed to me at kkodachi@gmail.com and will be accepted until downtime next Friday. Winner announced the week after.
Thanks!
So I'm having a contest to solicit screenshot submissions, the higher the res the better, from you my readers. If your screenshot is selected you will be paid 50 million ISK.
Submissions can be emailed to me at kkodachi@gmail.com and will be accepted until downtime next Friday. Winner announced the week after.
Thanks!
Friday, May 14, 2010
Fiction Friday- Series 2: Chapter 7
Previously:
Chapter 1 Chapter 2 Chapter 3 Chapter 4 Chapter 5 Chapter 6
* * * * *
I was in a good mood. The tests in the pseudo-pod were going well the past two days and I was getting the hang of managing all the information input while connected to the pod.
"Hello Doctor."
The man in the white lab coat looked impassively at me as I strode in naked. The other lab assistants didn't take any notice and continued to watch output screens and modify settings. "Please get ready, Ensign," he said.
I climbed up the steps to where an orderly waited with the pod neural interface jack which connected to the main jack at the base of my skull. I lowered myself into the hatch at the drop of the test pod and my lower half of my body felt the chill of the oxi-gel. The orderly grabbed my skull not too gently, inserted the interface, and my world went dark-INSECTS CRAWLING IN MY SKULL OH GOD THEY'RE EATING MY BRAIN NO NO NO HELP ME-and then I was in the black all alone. I wondered if I would ever get used to that transition.
The world suddenly brightened as the station's sensor input channels were funneled by the hundreds into my brain. I settled into the sorting process I had internally developed over the past two days and soon everything was in its place and I relaxed, enjoying the solar waves of radiation warm my armoured skin, the constant chatter of ship traffic whispering in my electronic ear, and the thump of my nuclear heart in my chest. I could not wait to feel like this in a ship I could control.
"Excellent, prepare the neural transference protocol."
My attention snapped back to the inputs from the lab. "Wait, what?" I asked.
The doctor looked up at the video camera that was acting as my eyes. "The neural transference protocol. We are going to simulate a pod breach to initiate a reading of your neural pathways and transference to the medical facility on deck 10."
"But won't... I mean... doesn't the reading done in a pod failure effectively kill the pilot?" I was very confused.
"It melts the neurons of the interfaced clone, yes." There was a little smirk on his face and it made my angry.
"Are you saying you're going to kill me?"
"This is the third and last test, Ensign." He turned to one of his assistants. "Activate."
"Now wait a minute doc! I don't think this is-"
"Ten seconds to pod breach simulation."
"SHIT! Doc, stop this right now!" I vainly struggled to make my body move but the pod interface intercepted all communications from the brain to the body.
"Five seconds to pod breach simulation, 4, 3, 2..."
"GET ME OUT OF HERE-"
"1."
* * * * *
I was cold, shivering, and blinded my a bright light.
"Well, he's alive. Some neural activity."
"Let's get him to the shower."
I was lying down. I couldn't move. I wanted too and my arms did move but not where I wanted them too. I felt so weak. I tried to speak, ask where I was, but all that came out was a groan. Neither my lips nor tongue moved right.
"Its OK fella, you just need a few minutes to warm up."
At least I could see better as the white and black spots faded. I was on a gurney being wheeled down a hall. On either side were banks of clear tubes bodies, male and female, floating naked in them. Clones I realized.
We wheeled into a large shower and the two men washed me down with blessedly warm water. My body stopped shivering and slowly I regained control of my limbs.
"Come on, sit up if you can, I'll help ya." One of the men, a clone medical technician I thought, helped me up and my stomach lurched but nothing came out as I retched. "It's alright, everyone of ya feels this way when it happens to them. Let it run its course." I finally stopped and took a deep breath.
The second man grabbed a rough towel and dried me off while the second man gave me another examination, flashing his small light in my eyes to watch my pupils dilate, checking my pulse and blood pressure, and my balance as I sat and he let go. Seemingly satisfied, he turned to the back of the room and said, "He looks good."
There was an officer writing on a datapad. He looked up at the pronouncement of my status and walked over. Training insisted I get up to salute but my legs felt wobbly and he waved it off. "Don't bother sailor, it will be hours before you can stand without falling over. First time is a bitch for all of us."
"Yes sir," I tried to say. It actually came out vaguely recognizable.
"For the record your name, rank and serial number."
"Kodachi, Ensign, 214933." Damn, I felt out of breath. "Sir, I think they killed me!" I blurted.
He chuckled. "Yes Ensign, that they did. Before the Navy spends time and effort on turning you into a valuable asset, we need to make sure you survive the inevitable death that comes with the territory of being a capsuleer in the navy. There is a one in twenty chance that you do not survive the first transference. After that it drops to one in ten thousand, and lower every time after. So we have the third test. It may seem a little cruel now, but after a few more times it won't seem that bad to you."
"Where is my body?"
"You are IN your body," he said sternly. "Don't get obsessed with your 'original' body. Some podders have driven themselves crazy thinking about it. It has probably already been dissected for science and burnt in the medical waste incinerator."
He turned the pad around. "Put your thumb here, son." I did as I was told, still numb at the thought of my body, my old body I corrected myself, being gone. "Congratulations, you are hereby promoted to Lieutenant Junior Grade of the State Navy. You have leave for three days and will report to medical for implants at 0900 on the 16th. Understand?"
"Yes sir."
He handed me a small datacard with the information on it, we saluted each other (him more crisply than I), and as he turned to walk away he said, "Welcome to the ranks of the capsuleers."
Chapter 1 Chapter 2 Chapter 3 Chapter 4 Chapter 5 Chapter 6
* * * * *
I was in a good mood. The tests in the pseudo-pod were going well the past two days and I was getting the hang of managing all the information input while connected to the pod.
"Hello Doctor."
The man in the white lab coat looked impassively at me as I strode in naked. The other lab assistants didn't take any notice and continued to watch output screens and modify settings. "Please get ready, Ensign," he said.
I climbed up the steps to where an orderly waited with the pod neural interface jack which connected to the main jack at the base of my skull. I lowered myself into the hatch at the drop of the test pod and my lower half of my body felt the chill of the oxi-gel. The orderly grabbed my skull not too gently, inserted the interface, and my world went dark-INSECTS CRAWLING IN MY SKULL OH GOD THEY'RE EATING MY BRAIN NO NO NO HELP ME-and then I was in the black all alone. I wondered if I would ever get used to that transition.
The world suddenly brightened as the station's sensor input channels were funneled by the hundreds into my brain. I settled into the sorting process I had internally developed over the past two days and soon everything was in its place and I relaxed, enjoying the solar waves of radiation warm my armoured skin, the constant chatter of ship traffic whispering in my electronic ear, and the thump of my nuclear heart in my chest. I could not wait to feel like this in a ship I could control.
"Excellent, prepare the neural transference protocol."
My attention snapped back to the inputs from the lab. "Wait, what?" I asked.
The doctor looked up at the video camera that was acting as my eyes. "The neural transference protocol. We are going to simulate a pod breach to initiate a reading of your neural pathways and transference to the medical facility on deck 10."
"But won't... I mean... doesn't the reading done in a pod failure effectively kill the pilot?" I was very confused.
"It melts the neurons of the interfaced clone, yes." There was a little smirk on his face and it made my angry.
"Are you saying you're going to kill me?"
"This is the third and last test, Ensign." He turned to one of his assistants. "Activate."
"Now wait a minute doc! I don't think this is-"
"Ten seconds to pod breach simulation."
"SHIT! Doc, stop this right now!" I vainly struggled to make my body move but the pod interface intercepted all communications from the brain to the body.
"Five seconds to pod breach simulation, 4, 3, 2..."
"GET ME OUT OF HERE-"
"1."
* * * * *
I was cold, shivering, and blinded my a bright light.
"Well, he's alive. Some neural activity."
"Let's get him to the shower."
I was lying down. I couldn't move. I wanted too and my arms did move but not where I wanted them too. I felt so weak. I tried to speak, ask where I was, but all that came out was a groan. Neither my lips nor tongue moved right.
"Its OK fella, you just need a few minutes to warm up."
At least I could see better as the white and black spots faded. I was on a gurney being wheeled down a hall. On either side were banks of clear tubes bodies, male and female, floating naked in them. Clones I realized.
We wheeled into a large shower and the two men washed me down with blessedly warm water. My body stopped shivering and slowly I regained control of my limbs.
"Come on, sit up if you can, I'll help ya." One of the men, a clone medical technician I thought, helped me up and my stomach lurched but nothing came out as I retched. "It's alright, everyone of ya feels this way when it happens to them. Let it run its course." I finally stopped and took a deep breath.
The second man grabbed a rough towel and dried me off while the second man gave me another examination, flashing his small light in my eyes to watch my pupils dilate, checking my pulse and blood pressure, and my balance as I sat and he let go. Seemingly satisfied, he turned to the back of the room and said, "He looks good."
There was an officer writing on a datapad. He looked up at the pronouncement of my status and walked over. Training insisted I get up to salute but my legs felt wobbly and he waved it off. "Don't bother sailor, it will be hours before you can stand without falling over. First time is a bitch for all of us."
"Yes sir," I tried to say. It actually came out vaguely recognizable.
"For the record your name, rank and serial number."
"Kodachi, Ensign, 214933." Damn, I felt out of breath. "Sir, I think they killed me!" I blurted.
He chuckled. "Yes Ensign, that they did. Before the Navy spends time and effort on turning you into a valuable asset, we need to make sure you survive the inevitable death that comes with the territory of being a capsuleer in the navy. There is a one in twenty chance that you do not survive the first transference. After that it drops to one in ten thousand, and lower every time after. So we have the third test. It may seem a little cruel now, but after a few more times it won't seem that bad to you."
"Where is my body?"
"You are IN your body," he said sternly. "Don't get obsessed with your 'original' body. Some podders have driven themselves crazy thinking about it. It has probably already been dissected for science and burnt in the medical waste incinerator."
He turned the pad around. "Put your thumb here, son." I did as I was told, still numb at the thought of my body, my old body I corrected myself, being gone. "Congratulations, you are hereby promoted to Lieutenant Junior Grade of the State Navy. You have leave for three days and will report to medical for implants at 0900 on the 16th. Understand?"
"Yes sir."
He handed me a small datacard with the information on it, we saluted each other (him more crisply than I), and as he turned to walk away he said, "Welcome to the ranks of the capsuleers."
Thursday, May 13, 2010
Supercarrier Disucssions - Part 5 - Veteran Advice
Previously:
Part 1 - Drones
Part 2 - Tanking
Part 3 - High Slots
Part 4 - Cargo
This is the last entry of this series, so readers totally bored of supercarrier posts can breathe a sigh of relief after today.
I was contacted earlier this week by a veteran Wyvern pilot who read my posts and wanted to help me out with some advice. The following chat log is the result and has been heavily edited to protect his identity and to remove a lot of irrelevant chatter (like me going "wow" and "cool" and "nice!"). It seems like a good way to close out the series which I will add to my Masterclass library. Enjoy!
Part 1 - Drones
Part 2 - Tanking
Part 3 - High Slots
Part 4 - Cargo
This is the last entry of this series, so readers totally bored of supercarrier posts can breathe a sigh of relief after today.
I was contacted earlier this week by a veteran Wyvern pilot who read my posts and wanted to help me out with some advice. The following chat log is the result and has been heavily edited to protect his identity and to remove a lot of irrelevant chatter (like me going "wow" and "cool" and "nice!"). It seems like a good way to close out the series which I will add to my Masterclass library. Enjoy!
(2:50:23 PM): Anywho, I would say your highs are doable while solo albeit generic. I would suggest in a fleet of 40+ caps to drop the nuet, smartbomb, and cloak for 3 DCUs.
(2:50:43 PM): Dont run around normal with DCUs, but in a large cap fleet they are far more useful to the fleet as a whole
(2:50:54 PM): In your CHA keep shield recharge mods should you get out of a fight at low shields
(2:51:04 PM): Not boosters, shield rechargers and shield power relays
(2:51:22 PM): And cap mods like cap rechargers and cap power relays
(2:51:52 PM): Also I try to keep ozone, cynos, extra nitrotopes, and other capital shield/armor/hull transfers
(2:51:55 PM): in my CHA
(2:52:24 PM): in my SMA I keep at least 1 cov ops, 5 disposable cyno frigs, a recon, a few dictors and a bunch of t1 tacklers
(2:52:46 PM): Your mothership is your home away from home. It needs to be able to run completely on its own if your alliance gets screwed into oblivion
(2:53:06 PM): Your fit is fine, you were right to drop the shield booster
(2:53:15 PM): It takes like 3 hours of running it to get even a quarter of your shields
(2:53:27 PM): Dont even bother carrying it in your CHA, its wasted space on a supercap
(2:53:42 PM): I would suggest getting at least Gist X types. they are relatively cheap and very similar to pith x types
(2:53:51 PM): Huge EHP difference
(2:53:59 PM) Bill: I got pith X-Type hardeners last night
(2:54:01 PM): Do *not* count gang bonuses or titan bonuses into EHP. You almost never get to use them
(2:54:12 PM): Ah, your fit has gist B types and that concerned me ^_^
(2:54:38 PM): Even when youre in a gang with a levi all the time like I am, actually recharging that shields takes hours and hours or a few triage carriers willing to rep you upe very time you swap systems or someone moves in and out of squad command
(2:55:12 PM): Always try to be in squad command or wing command in a fleet so you dont get gangwarped by a hostile spy and die like this http://rawr.eve-kill.net/?a=kill_detail&kll_id=1988093
(2:55:19 PM): Also dont fit your hsip like that one
(2:55:26 PM): T2 shield expander rigs are teh way to go.
(2:55:35 PM): *extender
(2:55:35 PM) Bill: *nods* got them last night too
(2:55:52 PM): A few DCUs in a large fleet lets you outdamage anything that lacks them
(2:55:58 PM): And I mean anything
(2:56:07 PM) Bill: nice
(2:56:23 PM) Bill: thanks for the tips, this is good stuff and hard to find in general
(2:56:33 PM): I suggest keeping a faction point and a few more 29km faction nuets in your CHA for solo OH SHIT IM TACKLED work
(2:56:38 PM): 2 nuets can cap out a hictor very fast
(2:56:49 PM): Ive yet to see a hictor float int hat 1km space where he can tackle you but faction nuets dont work
(2:57:11 PM): Remote ECM Burst is a killmail whore machine
(2:57:12 PM): Use it as such
(2:57:34 PM): It is also great to break focus point locks obviously because hictors have low sensor strength
(2:57:57 PM): As for your drones, try to keep at least 3 flights of everything you plan on using. 1 is decent if you somehow never lose a drone but you will and restocking can be a bitch
(2:58:26 PM) Bill: You use any ewar drones besides the ECM ones?
(2:58:30 PM): I dont use fighters at all, I know fighter bombers cant be assigned but they have way way more EHP, do more damage to everything that fighters can hit and I dont sacrifice anything keeping them
(2:58:33 PM): I use all ewar drones
(2:58:38 PM): target painters, webs, nuets
(2:58:45 PM): I dont use sensor damp drones because lawl
(2:58:56 PM): Target painter drones let fighter bombers absolutely demolish bs
(2:59:03 PM): 3 of those and 20 fighter bombers is an alphad bs
(2:59:06 PM) Bill: oh... never thought of that
(2:59:27 PM): Now at some point someone is going to try and kill your FB
(2:59:35 PM): Be it with bombs, pos guns, or just shooting them
(2:59:52 PM): If you warp, your fighter bombers enter warp instantly. A very good way to avoid damage with them if you have that kind of freedom.
(3:00:14 PM): If you dont and the target is within 58km, you can deploy the bombers, tell them to attack, wait till their missiles are fired then immediately recall them and redeploy
(3:00:23 PM): The missiles still do damage even if the fighter bombers arent out
(3:00:29 PM) Bill: ah, cool
(3:00:33 PM): And so long as the target is within 58km
(3:00:50 PM): I keep 30 fighter bombers at any given time and about 1800 other drones
(3:01:04 PM): But I also keep both t1 and t2 variants so I can just send out wave after wave of t1 heavies or mediums if the need arises
(3:01:15 PM): I also keep rep drones of both types. Large only
(3:01:29 PM): If your drones are fighting something more than 150km from you and you recall them
(3:01:36 PM): They wont MWD to you, they will warp to you
(3:01:48 PM): Which is nearly instant
(3:02:00 PM): If someone tries to bomb your fighters never ever ever recall them
(3:02:09 PM): They turn on their MWD and instead of taking 14+ bombs to kill they take 2
(3:02:33 PM): Unlike fighters, fighter bombers have the HP of a tech 1 battleship but with a much much lower sig radius
(3:02:36 PM): So bombs do diddly o them
(3:04:12 PM): 4 SC of fighterbombs can outright alpha a carrier or dread
(3:04:36 PM): 3 supercarriers can incap a fully armed deathstar in a little over 20 minutes.
(3:04:46 PM): They can outright kill every mod on it in about an hour.
(3:04:54 PM): They can kill mods on online pos with relative ease
(3:05:04 PM) Bill: wow
(3:05:11 PM): If your fighter bombers are on a carrier and he warps out then tries to align and war somewhere else
(3:05:20 PM): You fighter bombers will kill him before that second align is done
(3:05:29 PM): If they are set to chase
(3:05:50 PM) Bill: I can see how that could be annoying
(3:05:54 PM) Bill: for the carreir pilot
(3:05:59 PM): They are an I Win button
(3:06:12 PM): 10 supercarriers can demolish a 60 man dread fleet
(3:06:15 PM): and not lose a single one
(3:06:42 PM) Bill: If I didn't own one already, I'd go out and buy one after hearing that. Good sales pitch ;)
(3:07:51 PM): Lemme see if i notice anything else about your fits
(3:07:59 PM): Your mix of FB is good
(3:08:07 PM): Dont ever get just one damage type because then you can be thulsa doomed
(3:08:16 PM): Where a fleet designed to kill only you is hardened to your damage type
(3:08:31 PM): Caldari Navy PDS are the best PDS for a supercap.
(3:08:36 PM) Bill: got em
(3:08:39 PM): Good deal
(3:08:47 PM) Bill: last night was expensive in mod buying
(3:09:00 PM): I use 1 pith x type of each damage type
(3:09:02 PM): 2 of EM
(3:09:13 PM): and then 2 invulns and a sensor booster
(3:09:23 PM): Which it seems you already have
(3:09:25 PM) Bill: I have CN invuls, should I upgrade?
(3:09:28 PM): No
(3:09:33 PM) Bill: that's what I thought
(3:09:34 PM): Unless you really wanna throw money at it
(3:09:44 PM): I have over 400b and even I think officer invulns are a wast eof isk
(3:10:22 PM): In your cargohold try to keep the boosters that increase cap recharge
(3:10:32 PM): none of the negative effects will hurt you in any way without an acive booster
(3:10:36 PM) Bill: I noticed
(3:10:46 PM): Stront is very bulky and you may not want to carry any
(3:10:53 PM): Always make sure you have enough topes to get out of your region and into empire
(3:11:55 PM): Keep enough ozone though for at least half a dozen cy nos
(3:12:01 PM): 6 cynos can get you pretty much anywhere in the game with JDC V
(3:12:31 PM): Now for the part that youre going to think im crazy for
(3:12:42 PM): Nothing in the game can run anomalies faster than a MS. Except a ragnarok.
(3:13:00 PM): But if youre going to do it, do it under a jammer and always aligned to a pos or safespot
(3:13:19 PM) Bill: interesting. I'd heard of anom-supercarriers
(3:13:26 PM): I use mine for it pretty regularly
(3:14:44 PM): oh
(3:14:52 PM): if a CCP trailer for an expansion shows a wyvern in it
(3:14:59 PM): We are going to get fucked out of one of the features in that expansion
(3:15:10 PM): Im totally not kidding
(3:17:55 PM): One more thing
(3:18:09 PM): If youre operating alone a lot for some reason or jumping around to cyno arrays that could be camped
(3:18:12 PM): have a cap booster fit
(3:18:41 PM): People will laugh at your lossmail but if dropped on by nueting BS a cap booster is the difference between you taking 6 minutes to kill and taking an hour to kill
(3:19:01 PM): You may still be fucked, but your support will have more time to arrive
(3:19:06 PM) Bill: Ok
(3:19:15 PM): And good luck :)
(3:19:26 PM): Ive been flying these things for years. Ive always loved motherships more than titans
(3:20:38 PM): Anyways enjoy your blog sometimes. Not big on eve blogs but the capsuleer thing has them and I saw your wyvern blogs :)
(3:20:45 PM): Always lookin to help a new wyvern pilot. I <3 mine
(3:20:55 PM) Bill: I appreciate it
(3:21:57 PM): But I dont mind if you list them all and dont mention they came from me.
(3:22:01 PM): People will disagree with some of them
(3:22:05 PM): Like DCUs and the cap booster
(3:22:06 PM) Bill: people always do
(3:22:13 PM): DCUs were worthless for years
(3:22:22 PM): But fighter bombers do such an insane amount of dps that 3 more is a huge boost
(3:22:37 PM): Its actually larger than the 25% you figured 5 did. EFT doesnt accurately represent their damage
(3:22:45 PM) Bill: Oh yeah?
(3:22:55 PM): Ya, its why nyx do so much more damage with a 25% boost
(3:23:18 PM): Each fighterbomber gets that boost just like each one gets the boost from the fighter bomber skill. In a long drawn out fight against one target, sure its 25% boost
(3:23:27 PM): In a cap fight where you may get 3 volley soff per ship, its a lot more
(3:23:59 PM): FB are alpha centric
(3:24:07 PM) Bill: right, I get it.
(3:24:36 PM) Bill: the time between salvos is shorter
(3:24:50 PM): I am decently sure the skill just increases the damage of a volley
(3:25:55 PM): oh
(3:25:57 PM): ECM burst skill
(3:25:58 PM): Does nothing
(3:26:03 PM): Train it to 1 and never look at it again
(3:26:18 PM) Bill: *nods*
(3:26:26 PM): If CCP ever fixes it you can train it up
(3:27:52 PM): and please dont lose it to ushra kahn.
(3:28:04 PM) Bill: rgr that
(3:33:32 PM) Bill: Didn't Crystal implants used to work with cap mods?
(3:33:37 PM): Nope
(3:33:43 PM) Bill: hmm, wishful thinking
(3:33:44 PM): They may eventually give us shield slave implants though
(3:33:55 PM): Which will make the wyvern higher EHP than anything in the game
(3:34:06 PM) Bill: yeah
(3:34:22 PM): The levi will have more if you factor in its bonus but the levi never gets to use its bonus since the shields are taken away to add it. You never get the hours needed to rep them before you start getting shot
(3:34:32 PM): I suggest if you have gang bonuses available take cap recharge or armor over shields
(3:34:40 PM): Due to the way shield bonuses are applied
(3:34:51 PM) Bill: ok
Wednesday, May 12, 2010
Like Ninja!
So I bought a bunch of mods and implants in Jita the other day and was faced with the terror of trying to get them safely home without getting suicide ganked in transit. I didn't want to end up like the foolish guy transporting an alleged 14 billion in blueprints in a Iteron that gets blown up. There was three options available to me:
Prowler Blockade Runner - Fast, cloak, but thin defences. All it would take is one smartbombing battleship and my day would be ruined.
Mastadon Deep Space Transport - Much better defences, more likely to get scanned and setup for interception.
Fenrir Freighter - Best defences, hardest to suicide gank, but slowest and most likely to get scanned.
In the end I opted for light and cloaked and warped through high sec cloaked every second possible. I made it home without incident.
Prowler Blockade Runner - Fast, cloak, but thin defences. All it would take is one smartbombing battleship and my day would be ruined.
Mastadon Deep Space Transport - Much better defences, more likely to get scanned and setup for interception.
Fenrir Freighter - Best defences, hardest to suicide gank, but slowest and most likely to get scanned.
In the end I opted for light and cloaked and warped through high sec cloaked every second possible. I made it home without incident.
Tuesday, May 11, 2010
Supercarrier Disucssions - Part 4 - Cargo
Previously:
Part 1 - Drones
Part 2 - Tanking
Part 3 - High Slots
Beyond the usual cargo hold and drone bay, capitals have ship maintenance arrays and corporate hangers. On a supercarrier, the ship maintenance array is 2.5 million meters cubed (enough to hold 5 battleships) and the corporate hanger is 50,000 m3, bigger than an industrial ship's hold. Beyond logisitical operations, these facilities must be put to good use.
Cargohold:
With the additions of fuel bays, these spaces can be dedicated more to utility items needed in the course of a battle. Nanite Repair Paste for fixing overheated modules is a must for one thing. Another is having some boosters on hand. For a passive buffer shield tanked Wyvern none of the boosters is particularly inviting except perhaps the Mindflood booster which boosts capacitor energy, useful for powering shield and energy transfers. If you throw on a shield booster, the Blue Pill booster which boosts the amount of points you get from a booster is best. For armour tankers, Exile boosters improved armour repairers.
Corporate Hanger:
Beyond having a back stockpile of jump fuel, the best thing to have in the hanger for other pilots to access is ammo, charges, and strontium for carriers' triage mode and dreadnoughts' siege mode. Also, you might keep a set of extra modules for your own ship for hot-swapping during an operation. For example, you might be configured for POS repair and you get hot-dropped by an ambitious enemy fleet. You just access a wingman's carrier's ship maintenance array to allow you to swap out modules to a more aggressive/defensive fitting.
Ship Maintenance Array:
Holding five extra battleships is not going to help much because your battleship pilots are most likely in a snipe fleet and probably not as close to the action as a supercarrier is. But what will help? Extra Tech I tackle frigs and cruisers are a good idea as the support fleet usually gets chewed up the most; some logistic ships are popular, both Tech I and Tech II; covert ops and recons; a cyno ship or three for calling in reinforcements; Interdictors as they suffered as much as interceptors do to enemy fire; basically anything that can be spared and is useful to the fleet in the heat of the battle when a station might be too far away. You can fit a lot of smaller ships in a supercarrier, so make use of that space.
Part 1 - Drones
Part 2 - Tanking
Part 3 - High Slots
Beyond the usual cargo hold and drone bay, capitals have ship maintenance arrays and corporate hangers. On a supercarrier, the ship maintenance array is 2.5 million meters cubed (enough to hold 5 battleships) and the corporate hanger is 50,000 m3, bigger than an industrial ship's hold. Beyond logisitical operations, these facilities must be put to good use.
Cargohold:
With the additions of fuel bays, these spaces can be dedicated more to utility items needed in the course of a battle. Nanite Repair Paste for fixing overheated modules is a must for one thing. Another is having some boosters on hand. For a passive buffer shield tanked Wyvern none of the boosters is particularly inviting except perhaps the Mindflood booster which boosts capacitor energy, useful for powering shield and energy transfers. If you throw on a shield booster, the Blue Pill booster which boosts the amount of points you get from a booster is best. For armour tankers, Exile boosters improved armour repairers.
Corporate Hanger:
Beyond having a back stockpile of jump fuel, the best thing to have in the hanger for other pilots to access is ammo, charges, and strontium for carriers' triage mode and dreadnoughts' siege mode. Also, you might keep a set of extra modules for your own ship for hot-swapping during an operation. For example, you might be configured for POS repair and you get hot-dropped by an ambitious enemy fleet. You just access a wingman's carrier's ship maintenance array to allow you to swap out modules to a more aggressive/defensive fitting.
Ship Maintenance Array:
Holding five extra battleships is not going to help much because your battleship pilots are most likely in a snipe fleet and probably not as close to the action as a supercarrier is. But what will help? Extra Tech I tackle frigs and cruisers are a good idea as the support fleet usually gets chewed up the most; some logistic ships are popular, both Tech I and Tech II; covert ops and recons; a cyno ship or three for calling in reinforcements; Interdictors as they suffered as much as interceptors do to enemy fire; basically anything that can be spared and is useful to the fleet in the heat of the battle when a station might be too far away. You can fit a lot of smaller ships in a supercarrier, so make use of that space.
Monday, May 10, 2010
U'K Strikes Back!
Last night I logged in looking for a little roaming action and immediately found out that Ushra'Khan and friends had come back for another round of Sov War. This time it appears that they have learned a lesson about a direct attack on a single system and instead spread out to attack several systems at once, using superior numbers to maintain space superiority (their fleet estimate numbers had four times more than we had online) and putting down a staging POS or two.
I logged in Kla'strit and found myself in a ratting Typhoon three jumps from my PvP ships with lots of reds about. I spent a few minutes checking intel and getting a feel for things, and then I made a run through a couple jumps and a jump bridge before docking at base, breaking out Barker my snipe Tempest, and joining the fleet.
Our FC, Rex, tried to get us a fight we could go toe-to-toe in but the enemy was having none of that shit and we were forced to withdraw. Best advice was to ride out the stormfront, make plans, and get ready for the defence. With my crappy playtime I'll probably miss most of it but I'll be cheering from the sidelines. Sigh.
The rest of my time online I spent pricing out modules for Vendetta Arcanum. Soon it will be operational, it not optimal.
I logged in Kla'strit and found myself in a ratting Typhoon three jumps from my PvP ships with lots of reds about. I spent a few minutes checking intel and getting a feel for things, and then I made a run through a couple jumps and a jump bridge before docking at base, breaking out Barker my snipe Tempest, and joining the fleet.
Our FC, Rex, tried to get us a fight we could go toe-to-toe in but the enemy was having none of that shit and we were forced to withdraw. Best advice was to ride out the stormfront, make plans, and get ready for the defence. With my crappy playtime I'll probably miss most of it but I'll be cheering from the sidelines. Sigh.
The rest of my time online I spent pricing out modules for Vendetta Arcanum. Soon it will be operational, it not optimal.
Friday, May 07, 2010
No Fiction Friday Post Today
Last night I was out and about buying sandals for the ever-growing twins and today I'm going to be spending my lunch working on my next E-ON magazine article which is due this weekend (and my weekend free time is looking suspiciously un-free).
So even though the next part is fixed firmly in mind, there is no time to put fingers to keyboard.
Have a good weekend! (I was going to make a pun about happy mothership day but they are not called motherships anymore, are they? And happy supercarrier day makes no sense whatsoever.)
So even though the next part is fixed firmly in mind, there is no time to put fingers to keyboard.
Have a good weekend! (I was going to make a pun about happy mothership day but they are not called motherships anymore, are they? And happy supercarrier day makes no sense whatsoever.)
Thursday, May 06, 2010
Happy 7th Birthday Eve!
Seven years ago today Eve was launched. Head over to the Eve-Online forums to add your birthday wishes.
(Hat Tip: Winterblink)
Insignificant!
In the Eve blogosphere, its possible to get a feeling of being important to the Eve community at large. Positive feedback in the form of comments, tweets, and links from other blogs can feed the impression that you are well known in the game.
Recently I've had a fair number of compliments and I figured it was time to bring myself back down to earth.
In April, I had an average of 310 visits per day which I feel is pretty good for a blog that doesn't receive the official recognition from CCP that CrazyKinux and Roc Weiler's efforts do (well deserved recognition mind you).
The Eve Tribune gets an average of 1907 per day in April. Over two thousand in February. Visits. Per day.
The morale of the story is that the game is far bigger than the rather insular blogosphere and its important to never forget that.
Recently I've had a fair number of compliments and I figured it was time to bring myself back down to earth.
In April, I had an average of 310 visits per day which I feel is pretty good for a blog that doesn't receive the official recognition from CCP that CrazyKinux and Roc Weiler's efforts do (well deserved recognition mind you).
The Eve Tribune gets an average of 1907 per day in April. Over two thousand in February. Visits. Per day.
The morale of the story is that the game is far bigger than the rather insular blogosphere and its important to never forget that.
Wednesday, May 05, 2010
Request Post - Basic Carrier Discussion
I recieved an email from a reader:
Carriers can do several roles adequately and a carrier pilot should be prepared to jump into any of them at a moment's notice i.e. have the relevant modules on hand to switch out in station or at a ship maintenance array.
1) Rear Logistics - essentially, make use of the bonuses to remote Shield/Armour repair and Cap Energy transfer and the big Capital modules that carriers can fit in that regard to repair POS towers, structures, and station services. This is made even more useful with the ability to fit the Triage module, making a carrier a repairing powerhouse. Tech II logisitics drones come in handy here too.
2) Front Line Logistics - this involves using the same modules but in the thick of combat, either repairing friendly subcapitals in the fight or (more likely) spider tanking with other capital ships to make a nigh unbreakable tanking unit. A spider tanked carrier group, sharing cap energy transfers and remote reps to be cap stable, can still dish out decent damage with its fighters (so you need fighters IV and Carrier IV at least).
3) Freighter - The ship maintenance bay and corporate hangers can carry a large amount of ships and modules/ammo/supplies in a quick jump. Jump Drive Calibration IV is mandatory of course for optimal range. A corp with multiple carriers can move a lot of pilot equipment in a short amount of time in relative safety compared to a jump freighter.
4) Fighter Support - Fighters can be assigned to friendly pilots in fleet and will warp with the pilot to anywhere in system. This can be useful for supporting friendlies while in the safety of a spot just outside a station or POS shields, or in PvE situations.
To summarize, the ideal carrier pilot has Carrier IV, Fighters IV, the appropriate skills for the respective capital Armour Repair or Shield Booster, all skills for capital remote armour and shield repair modules as well as the capital capacitor transfer, and the skills for the Triage module is highly recommended. All jump related skills should be at IV or V, and regular ships skills for cap, tank, agility should be at high levels.
Love the supercarrier discussion. Have you done this with the regular carrier?I'm not going to do a multi-post series covering carriers like I'm doing for the Wyvern, but I will try and cover the big topics in a single post here.
If you have time could you do a story on what carriers are expected to do and what skills I should have at what level. What is expected of me?
Carriers can do several roles adequately and a carrier pilot should be prepared to jump into any of them at a moment's notice i.e. have the relevant modules on hand to switch out in station or at a ship maintenance array.
1) Rear Logistics - essentially, make use of the bonuses to remote Shield/Armour repair and Cap Energy transfer and the big Capital modules that carriers can fit in that regard to repair POS towers, structures, and station services. This is made even more useful with the ability to fit the Triage module, making a carrier a repairing powerhouse. Tech II logisitics drones come in handy here too.
2) Front Line Logistics - this involves using the same modules but in the thick of combat, either repairing friendly subcapitals in the fight or (more likely) spider tanking with other capital ships to make a nigh unbreakable tanking unit. A spider tanked carrier group, sharing cap energy transfers and remote reps to be cap stable, can still dish out decent damage with its fighters (so you need fighters IV and
3) Freighter - The ship maintenance bay and corporate hangers can carry a large amount of ships and modules/ammo/supplies in a quick jump. Jump Drive Calibration IV is mandatory of course for optimal range. A corp with multiple carriers can move a lot of pilot equipment in a short amount of time in relative safety compared to a jump freighter.
4) Fighter Support - Fighters can be assigned to friendly pilots in fleet and will warp with the pilot to anywhere in system. This can be useful for supporting friendlies while in the safety of a spot just outside a station or POS shields, or in PvE situations.
To summarize, the ideal carrier pilot has
Tuesday, May 04, 2010
Supercarrier Disucssions - Part 3 - High Slots
Part 1 - Drones
Part 2 - Tanking
Of all the slots on a carrier and supercarrier, the high slots are perhaps the most contentious because the ship has no "preferred" weapons like a battleship or dreadnought. So let's take a look at the Wyvern's relevant bonuses.
- 50% bonus to Shield and Cap Energy transfer range per level
- 99% reduction in CPU usage for Warfare Link modules
- Can fit one additional Warfare Link module per level
- Can fit Projected Electronic Countermeasures
- Can launch 3 additional fighters or fighter bombers per level
So in those bonuses we receive some hints as to what we should fit, but we should not let ourselves become blinded by those hints.
The first approach is to maximize the drone damage of the ship and throw on five drone control units so that a well skilled supercarrier pilot could launch 25 Fighters / Fighter Bombers / Drones instead of just (!) 20. But while a 25% increase in damage is attractive, you have to take into account what you are sacrificing in order to accomplish that boost.
Supercarriers can fit Capital shield, armour, and energy transfer modules and in fact are some of the best ships to receive remote repping due to their typically high resistances and massive buffers. They lost the ability to use Triage modules but they are still excellent logistics ships in the right situations. Plus they can through 20 logi-drones into the operation in a POS module repair op for example.
The Project Electronic Countermeasures bonus refers to one thing: Remote ECM Burst I. Conversely the module can only be fitted on supercarriers. With an optimal range of 150 kilometers, a strength of 25 on all sensor types, and an area of effect of 20 kilometers, and a 20 second cycle time, it seems like a godly weapon. Except it has a 225 second reactivation delay, that's 3 minutes and 45 seconds between attempts to jam a group of hostiles. Good for a one shot surprise maybe but not great as a dependable weapon.
The bonuses for warfare links seem attractive and one might consider fitting a full 6 warfare link modules on their ship as the ultimate command ship of DOOM (Trademark pending). However its worth noting that those warfare link modules are unbonused unlike on a command ship that gives a 15% bonus to effectiveness per level for the racial type (or even a Strategic Cruiser and its potential 25% bonus). In reality, supercarriers are rarely in positions of command to give out bonuses from warfare links and if they are, its only to a couple other cap ships probably anyways. Better to leave the bonuses to another ship better suited like a command ship.
So looking outside the bonuses of the ship, what high slots modules would be advisable? Some point defense is always a good idea on a carrier or supercarrier, and smart bombs and energy neutralizers are popular choices, especially faction and deadspace/officer versions. For smartbombs, the high end modules have greater range to hit annoying frigates and drones. And for heavy neuts, sucking cap from a heavy interdictor could be the difference between escape and certain doom.
Finally, consider a cloaking device. Yes, supercarriers have no bonus to these devices and that means penalties to scan resolution and targeting delays, but the upside is that you can warp to a safe spot and cloak to avoid being easily probed out. Since you can't dock and there is always the risk of being bumped out of a POS force field, cloaking in a safe spot is often the only way to be safe in a system with a supercarrier.
So what am I planning on doing?
Monday, May 03, 2010
Whoa!
Last night I was on in Kla'strit's clone and jumped into a small gang looking for kills. I brought my Rapier, one of my favourite ships at the moment.
We tried to catch a lone Ishtar but he was evasive and disengaged. Later on he passed through our space and a fleet of 20 tried to grab him but just could not catch up before he reached Catch.
At a another point I was scouting for the fleet in Opticon space and jumped into a 12-15 ship gate camp. Whoa! I remembered my training and held cloak while getting a scan and accurate counts and letting the FC know there was a nasty surprise a jump or two out. Then I crashed the gate, MWD flaring, and the agile shield tank ship making it back with half shields to spare. The gate camp lacked any frigate sized ships to speak of and that contributed to my escape.
We rallied a fleet (the one that chased the Ishtar) and came back but the gate camp was gone and I had to log. Judging by the killboard they were long gone. Oh well.
No kills, but a good night flying.
* * * * *
In other news, my character sale of Derranna passed the auction deadline without any bids, so I lowered the starting price and extended the auction a week. Here is a link to the auction on the eve-online forums.
We tried to catch a lone Ishtar but he was evasive and disengaged. Later on he passed through our space and a fleet of 20 tried to grab him but just could not catch up before he reached Catch.
At a another point I was scouting for the fleet in Opticon space and jumped into a 12-15 ship gate camp. Whoa! I remembered my training and held cloak while getting a scan and accurate counts and letting the FC know there was a nasty surprise a jump or two out. Then I crashed the gate, MWD flaring, and the agile shield tank ship making it back with half shields to spare. The gate camp lacked any frigate sized ships to speak of and that contributed to my escape.
We rallied a fleet (the one that chased the Ishtar) and came back but the gate camp was gone and I had to log. Judging by the killboard they were long gone. Oh well.
No kills, but a good night flying.
* * * * *
In other news, my character sale of Derranna passed the auction deadline without any bids, so I lowered the starting price and extended the auction a week. Here is a link to the auction on the eve-online forums.
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