Screenshots!

Here are some various screenshots and images.

The first three are shots from a few weeks ago when the M3 Corp carrier fleet moved from Amarr space to Caldari.

In these two I'm 20+ km from undock point and the undocking carriers are flying out to me. Come to me my pretties! MUHAHAHAHHA!

At another stop we had no station so we linked our cap transfers in empty space and broke the laws of thermodynamics. Energy from the ether!

Korneilia's Orca.

Kla'strit's wolf doing some ratting work.

And the banner for the neophyte Broadcasts from the Ninveah I've been doing for Acinom's Not A Lot Of News Newshour Eve podcast. The first 6 five minute segments I've done are up now and you can listen to them separately from his podcast here. Although why you wouldn't just listen to Acinom's podcast is beyond me.

Step Down

Faced with diminished (read: non-existent) gametime I stepped down from my position as Recruitment Officer for the corporation on Friday. Its very hard to perform interviews and talk about the corporation if I'm not in game. Not to mention active recruiting.

Its been frustrating reading about the game and not participating. You know you are too long out of the game when even logging in for a mission would be welcome. Oh well, this too will pass.

Right now blogging is the only thing keep me sane so expect it to continue.

Fiction Friday - Series 2: Chapter 13

Previously:
Chapter 1 Chapter 2 Chapter 3 Chapter 4 Chapter 5 Chapter 6 Chapter 7 Chapter 8
Chapter 9 Chapter 10 Chapter 11 Chapter 12
* * * * * *

I was once more holographically seated in the Captain's Ready Room and the wall monitor was lit up and broken into four quadrants. The first two quadrants had a projected video of Jace and a real video feed  his captain; the third had a projected video of Pertins, his ship without a captain as was standard practice for interceptors with pod pilots in the navy (something about the situation developing faster than a captain could contribue to anyways); and the fourth had the video feed of the captain of the battleship we had just rendezvoused with, a stern looking woman name Captain Hensley.

Once we had all arrived into the secure conference link, she began our briefing.

"Navy Intelligence has become aware of a cell of 10 Gallentean spies operating out of a waystation exchange platform in deep space of the Daras system. The platform itself has the licenses to operate via the Lonetrek regional government but has been co-opted for the purposes of this cell.

"We don't want to dispatch a regular naval detachment as the Gallentean propaganda machine will make it look like the State is cracking down on legitimate civilians. Normally we don't care about this but recent events at the highest diplomatic levels require that we approach this problem with more subtly.

"To this end, engineers from my ship are making modifications to your ships' identifier beacons to impersonate three known capsuleers of disrepute who are currently unreachable in deep lawless space. This will allow us to act without fear of our actions being taken out of context and embarassing the State."

She paused and her face was replaced with a 2d map showing the Daras system which then zoomed into a section of empty space with an icon in the middle representing the waystation.

"Intelligence has provided us with the exact coordinates of the platform structure. The Iceheart will warp in at 100 kilometers from the platform and begin firing upon it. We expect five ships belonging to mercenaries guarding the waystation to move to engage."

Captain Vadix spoke up and asked, "Capsuleers? Guristas?"

"No," Captain Hensley replied, "normal mercenaries from the Broken Spear Mercenary Group, a corporation working out of Citadel region. They are not our goal and they are Caldari citizens and thus we are attempting to avoid destroying them if at all possible." She continued on.

"Intelligence reports that the Broken Spear ships are composed of 3 Caracal cruisers and 2 Moa cruisers, all surplus hulls acquired legally. This means that their weapons will not be a threat to the Iceheart until they get within 20 kilometers of range and they will not carry any warp scrambling weaponry. Estimated top speed is only 600 meters per second.

"Intelligence reports three civilian ships docked at the waystation as of 5 hours ago, one of them belonging to the spy cell. It is a Puma class civilian passenger yacht with stabilized warp core and reinforced shielding. We predict they will attempt to flee the area upon the Iceheart's attack and that it will take them at least 1.5 minutes before they can get all aboard and undocked. This should give the guarding ships time to get approximately 50 kilometers from the structure towards the Iceheart.

"Regardless of the position of the guarding mercenaries, as soon as the spy ship undocked the Iceheart will signal to the Locus and Aegis to warp in directly on the waystation. The Locus will interdict the target with its high intensity warp field scrambler and the Aegis will provide cover should the guarding ships be too close, otherwise contribute damage on target.

"Captian Vadix, if the mercenaries turn around to return to the platform at any time, the Iceheart will approach and attempt to divert them from the spy vessel attack. Once the Puma class vessel is destroyed, and any lifeboats as well, all three ships will disengage from the zone and meet at the provided rendezvous coordinates to be reverted to normal Navy ID beacons. Any questions?"

I asked what I felt was the most obvious question. "What is the course of action if the Puma doesn't undock?"

"Should the spies choose to remain onboard the waystation and the mercenaries are closing on the Iceheart's position, the Iceheart will disengage and the Aegis will warp in on the platform and begin firing on docked ships. It should have plenty of time to destroy any vessels before the guards can get back to engage him. Then he will leave and a standby crew of marines will arrive in response to the 'attack' and board the platform and take everyone into custody."

"Why don't we just send the marines in now?" asked Jace with his usual frankness.

Captain Hensley looked uncomfortable for just a moment. "We want to avoid a... diplomatic incident. Taking several Gallentean citizens into custody with proper papers would be hard to justify and lead to many problems. And it may yet give them the time they need to transmit State secrets to their masters."

She leaned forward. "I cannot stress enough how devastating these secrets that these spies have sussed out are to the security of the state. They must be stopped. That is why we picked you three, the glory of the state resides in you and I have complete faith you will do us all proud."

"Dismissed."

Unique Ships - Mimir and Adrestia Heavy Assault Cruisers

Previous articles:
Amarr Magnate Frigates
Freki and Utu Assault Frigates

Mimir

In last year's 7th Alliance Tournament, the winners (Pandemic Legion *nod to Talinthi*) received 50 blueprint copies of the Mimir Heavy Assault Cruiser as part of the prize. Based on the Rupture hull this ship is intended to act as a combination of the Vagabond and Muninn assault cruisers.

Minmatar Cruiser Skill Bonus:

• 20% bonus to Medium Projectile Turret damage per level
• 5% bonus to all armor resistances per level

Special Ability:

• 25% bonus to max velocity
• 50% bonus to Medium Projectile Turret falloff and optimal range 

The bonuses indicate that the ship can act like a sniper as per the Muninn or it can act like a fast hit and run brawler typical of the Vagabond. The armour and velocity bonuses leads me more to the heavy Vagabond so I made a sample comparative setup based on this role.

I used a passive tank this time as its resistances and plenty of powergrid and low slots worked well in that regard. An active tank without the heavy plate could be useful for making better use of the speed bonus though. The point of the exercise, though, is to highlight its capabilities: nice tank, lots of DPS.

Adrestia

But if you want DPS, than the 8th Alliance Tournament winners (Pandemic Legion again) got the crown jewel of heavy assault ships in the Adrestia (again, 50 blueprint copies). Based on the Thorax hull and borrowing heavily from the Deimos, this ship is all about the blaster gank:

Gallente Cruiser Skill Bonus:

• 20% bonus to medium hybrid turret damage per level
• 20% bonus to warp disruptor and warp scrambler range per level

Special Ability:

• 25% bonus to max velocity
• 50% bonus to medium hybrid turret falloff and tracking speed 

Fast, lots of powergrid, huge DPS, bonus to warp scrambler range, and drones to boot, this is the ship I want in my hanger. Check out this setup:

Over 2 km/sec with a 1600mm plate, cap stable with everything running, and over 850 DPS. OUCH. Check out the range on the Warp Scrambler II... see that? Yep, 18 kilometers for a 2 point scram that kills MWDs. The stasis webifer is almost overkill. With armour resistances all over 73% its not a slouch for defense either. And the extra room in the drone bay for that flight of rage-inducing ECM drones to boot... this is easily my favourite unique ship so far.

You could go for an active tank and get a little faster with smaller or no plate, or even see what you can do with 250mm rails and antimatter for range. That damage bonus is nice.

Next week we'll look at the rare Guardian Vexor, Opux Luxury Yacht, and then move into the unique battleships.

EVE Tribune New Look

The Eve Tribune has a new look:

Enjoy!

Tranquility Down!

Poor CCP.

They decided to move the servers to a more modern data centre and unforeseen issues with the Database server during testing has caused the downtime to stretch almost 24 hours longer than expected. Of course the haters pour out of the woodwork to decry CCP's ineptitude which is hardly fair since we don't know exactly what went wrong and what could have been done to prevent it. Then you have the people complaining about the lack of information but really I prefer they spend their effort fixing the issue and then tomorrow telling me what went wrong.

This is the first time in a long time CCP has had a downtime so much longer than expected and I bet the skill training horse with a 12 hour buffer for my alt. Whoops! Oh well. At the end of the day, we need to remember that us paying customers didn't get about 50 cents worth of playtime we paid for.

This is the high tech world, accidents/bugs happen and when they do fixing them can be an effort and a half. Let's wait and see what the incidence was and if common sense could have prevented it before stringing them from the highest tree.

Ships to Fix

A humour piece written by yours truly is up on the latest issue of the Eve Tribune: Scorpion looks good, what's next?

Unique Ships - Freki and Utu Assault Frigates

Previous articles:
Amarr Magnate Frigates

Unlike the Silver and Gold Magnates which are essentially advanced Tech I frigs, the Freki and Utu are advanced Tech II assault frigates making them some of the most powerful frigates in the game.

Freki

We'll start with the Minmatar Freki. There were 50 blueprint copies awarded to the second place team in the 7th Alliance Tournament and the ship is based on the popular Rifter hull. Its bonuses are:

Minmatar Frigate Skill Bonus:

• 12.5% Small Projectile Turret damage bonus per level
• 30% bonus to Stasis Webifier range per level

Special Ability:

• 50% Small Projectile Turret falloff and optimal range bonus
• 75% Afterburner and MWD capacitor consumption bonus 

Also worth noting is its high AU/sec warp speed of 9, comparable to combat interceptors. I fit out a Freki in a typical combat heavy tackler role.

As you can see, it sports a decent combination of speed, agility, defence, and DPS but what is really impressive is the 25 kilometer webifier range. One could even consider dropping the warp scrambler (let someone else do it) and going with two webs like a mini Rapier or Huginn. The afterburner gives the ship an impressive speed while maintaining a minuscule signature radius making it hard to hit, and except for the Kinetic hole it has decent armour resistances with only one EANM II and an explosive hardener.

Utu

The Gallente Utu runs in a similar vein. It was just recently awarded as 50 blueprint copies to the second place team of the 8th Alliance Tournament and it has bonuses to damage and warp scrambler/disruptor range:

Gallente Frigate Skill Bonus:

• 10% bonus to drone damage per level
• 10% bonus to warp scrambler and warp disruptor range per level

Special Ability:

• 50% bonus to small hybrid turret optimal range and tracking per level
• 50% reduction in the amount of heat damage absorbed by modules per level 

Very interesting is the overheating bonus which I've only seen on Strategic Cruisers before. Anyways, the Utu has a nice 75 m3 drone bay and 25 mb bandwidth so three flights of your favourite light drones are in order. The armour resistances are a bit higher than the Freki so I threw an overdrive injector in there to give it more speed.

The war scrambler gets up to 13.5 kilometers (instead of 9 regularly) and the DPS is incredible at 253 (with perfect skills of course). She's a mean one.

Unique Ships - Amarr Magnate Frigates

According to legend, 19 Silver Magnate frigates were awarded as runner-up prizes in the Amarr Imperial Succession Championship back in late 2003. Sources say that at the time they were the most powerful frigates in the game (excepting the Gold Magnate) until Tech II arrived and surpassed them.

The Gold Magnate was a single unique vessel awarded as first prize for the same event. But unfortunately "in 2004, Tyrrax Thorrk, the owner of the Gold Magnate, took the ship into combat. Eventually, the ship was destroyed by the infamous m0o pirates and subsequently, the Gold Magnate no longer exists."

Both ships have a 5% bonus to Small Energy Turret capacitor use and 5% bonus to Small Energy Turret damage per level of Amarr frigate skill.

I didn't spend a lot of time fitting the ships, but its easy to see they are run of the mill combat ships with damage bonus and lots of slots. Neither has drones and their speed and agility is not notable. They are essentially Tech 1.5 ships.

The Gold Magnate, if it existed, is pretty easy to fit with more power grid and CPU and the 5 low slots and 4 mid slots does give it the potential for some interesting setups.


These ships (well, the Silver anyways) are hanger decorations and not much else. The model did get reused for the sixth missing Amarr frigate (the astrometrics frigate) a couple of expansions ago so at least regular players can see the hull in space these days.

Next: The newer and awesome Freki and Utu.

Congrats to Pandemic Legion

Pandemic Legion won the 8th Alliance Tournament on the weekend with a convincing win over Hydra Reloaded.

The excitement that the alliance tourney generates in the Eve community is phenomenal and the unique ships as prizes for the top two teams are brilliant: worth vast sums of ISK while not imbalancing any way in PvP or PvE. I know I would kill a few people in Eve for a unique ship (Guardian Vexor is top of the list for any generous readers ;)

In order to continue to mask my lack of Eve time (going on three weeks, whelp!) I'm going to run a quick series on the unique ships looking at them from a layman's perspective and what they are capable of so us normal folk can be more familiar with them.

Fiction Friday - Series 2: Chapter 12

Previously:
Chapter 1 Chapter 2 Chapter 3 Chapter 4 Chapter 5 Chapter 6 Chapter 7 Chapter 8
Chapter 9 Chapter 10 Chapter 11
* * * * * *

On the Ferox the Captain's Ready Room was a short walk down a corridor from the bridge, with a table and a few chairs for the officers to plan and organize. Since I could not actually go there without going through the rigmarole of leaving the pod, there was a holoprojector that I could activate and hook into my voice and motions so that it would appear I was there. Small and older classes of ships simply used a vidscreen but our ship was a newer version and had all the amenities. 

I had my projection stand at attention as the Captain entered the room and sat in the chair at the head of the table. "Have a seat," he said absentmindedly. I smirked a little and changed the projection to make it look like it was sitting in a chair at the table. He pulled out a datapad and activated it, looking over the contents before laying it on the table and sliding it over towards me. My vid feeds quickly focused on the pad's surface and read it.

"We have new orders," he explained. "We are to leave the battlegroup after we arrive at the rally point and proceed to Atai system where we will meet up with the Aegis and Locus. There we will receive further instructions."

The Aegis was Jace's Harpy assault frigate and the Locus was a FC-A "Crow" combat interceptor flown by another pod pilot named Lt Commander Pertins. Only three ships but considerable firepower and all flown by capsuleers meant that the mission required faster reflexes and flexibility than a conventional battlegroup could provide.

"Atai? That's out in Lonetrek, isn't it?" My neural interface confirmed that fact before my mind asked the question, but I felt the need to prompt the Captain for more information. He did not cooperate. "Yes, it is."

I waited a couple of seconds to see if he would offer anything more, and when he didn't I 'stood up' and said, "Very well, I'll go plan the route and make preparations. Anything else?"

"No, dismissed Commander."

* * * * *

KK> hey jace, you got the new orders?
JR> yeah, looks like we get to fly together finally
KK> any idea what's going on?
KK> my SO was tight lipped, more so than usual
JR> nada.
JR> my capt put on her poker face
JR> told me to dock in Piak and pick up a shitload of ammo
JR> whatever it is, it could be a good fight.
KK> hmmmm. odd ship types though
JR> yeah.
KK> I mean a sniper and a close range ship in the same fleet?
KK> very odd
JR> *shrugs*
JR> maybe a distraction tactic
JR> like in Corson's course back at academy
KK> maybe
*** Lt Commander D. Pertins joins channel ***
KK> hey pert
DP> there you dumb shits are
DP> why not in Atai yet?
KK> 15 jumps out
JR> blow me pert
KK> pert, you know what's going on?
DP> nope, don't care, as long as you cone heads do your job right
DP> and don't get me killed
JR> you inty pilots are so fucking paranoid LOL
DP> just do your job
DP> I've died enough for other people's glory
KK> don't worry pert, I've got you covered
DP> pfft, you sniper assholes are the worst!
DP> too far from the combat to really appreciate it
KK> jeez pert
KK> do all inteceptors come with built in Jerk-3000 hardwirings
KK> or did you get that at the academy?
JR> ROFL
DP> ha ha
DP> ass
JR> ok pert, warping to you now
DP> rgr jace
KK> don't get to comfy guys
KK> be there soon

Another Week Another Podcast

Acinom has posted another episode of his podcast which is slowly morphing into NotALotOfNews Newshour Podcast. Included is another segment from me, this time talking about moving to a new alliance in general and everything you need to know and find out. Can also be found in itunes under the name Reading of Eve Online Articles if I recall correctly.

At some point in the future these 5 minute segments of mine will be available separately here for prosperity's sake. In fact, I'm hoping these will be the precursors to the resurrection of the Broadcasts from the Ninveah podcast in the fall or winter. Time will tell.

Breakdown of New Warhammer 40K Trailer

With my dreams of Stars Wars: The Old Republic looking to be on shaky ground, I was delighted to see a new trailer for the 40K MMO released. On some forums I encouraged someone to do a scene by scene breakdown of it but you know what? I'm still a fucking 40K expert here, ~20 solid years in the hobby does not go away only two years later. If anyone is qualified to have an expert opinion, its me.

0:12 - "It is a time of war." Dude, its 40K. Its been constant war for the past 40,000 fricking years. Talk about stating the obvious.

0:14 - Great Unclean One. Nasty.

0:15 - Orks. No surprise whatsoever.

0:17 - Heretics. Typically referring to chaos cultists in the 40K universe. Possibly might include mutants and renegades (i.e. those humans that reject the Emperor but have not embraced Chaos).

0:23 - Sexy looking warhound scout titans. Probably PvE content. Or cutscene.

0:24 - Ok, something meaningful. Grey Knight squad of three, two troopers led by some character. Possible hint that players control units and that less powerful beings come in larger units as a balancing mechanic, allowing an Ork player to be on par with a space marine player?

0:28 - World Eater chaos marines. Another squad of 3. More support for players are squads theory.

0:29 - Our Grey Knights again. Very nice looking graphics.

0:33 - Ork vehicles. Cutscene fodder or actual hint at player controlled vehciles?

0:36 - Great Unclean One is huge as expected for a greater daemon, but is that a little Tech Adeptus in the middle at the back of the scene? Possible "pet" class?

0:37 - Same three guys, different angle. Oh, Thunderhammer! Good choice.

0:40 - A lot to notice here. One, ranged combat appears to be a lock on mechanic like many MMOs (i.e. you choose target and your character shoots at it while you move). Two, top left looks like your character on the leftmost and the target on the inner right. Health, armour, psychic reserves as a wild guess? Third, on the bottom left we see chat channels, a series of 7-8 boxes for what I'm willing to bet is squad members, a centre bar of 12 button for hot-bar-combat, and then 5 inventory / item boxes? Fourth, upper right is minimap.



0:42 - Chaos bikers! WOOT!

0:43 - Ork Choppa again.

0:44 - There is that warhound titan again.

0:44 - I recognize a bolter, but I'm unsure if that is a space marine with crazy as mask and hood, or an inquisitor who have been known to where crazy stuff before, or a chaos cultist.

0:45 - Grey Knight versus World Eater Dreadnought? No contest! Well... Grey Knights can be tough...

0:46 - World Eater gets blown back by explosion, very nice. But is that an Imperial Guardsman on the ground?

0:47 - Weapon effects look awesome!

0:48 - Grey Knights being cheesey again!

0:49 - Imperial Guardsmen confirmed! Interesting.

0:51 - Ok... we have a human with grenade launcher, skull emblem on belt. Doesn't mean much, both Imperials and Chaos use skull iconography. I'd bet chaos in this instance though.

0:53 - Dreadnought heavy flamer. Good choice for guardsmen, not so hot (HA!) versus Space Marines. I speak from experience.

0:55 - Imperial space marine bike.

0:56 - Squad of four imperial space marines, grey armour, Grey Knights again?

0:57 - Imperial psyker letting off a warp blast. Mage analogue.

0:58 - Warhound titan AGAIN!

OK, so what do we think? It looks a lot like a high fidelity combat version of Dawn Of War and that it not a bad thing. Controlling a squad instead of a character could alleviate a lot of balance issues in terms of the individual members of each race. And it looks gorgeous.

However, conspicuous by their absence is all of the other races in the table top game: Eldar, Tau, Tyranids, Necrons to list the major players. Not to mention the sub factions in Imperial and Chaos forces such as Adeptus Soritas, Adeptus Mechanicus, Inquisition, and the too many to count Space Marine chapters (and that's just Imperial).

Overall, I'm hopeful and look forward to more news about this game.

Evolution of Me

Welcome to the eighteenth installment of the EVE Blog Banter, the monthly EVE Online blogging extravaganza created by none other than me, CrazyKinux. The EVE Blog Banter involves an enthusiastic group of gaming bloggers, a common topic within the realm of EVE Online, and a week to post articles pertaining to the said topic. The resulting articles can either be short or quite extensive, either funny or dead serious, but are always a great fun to read! Any questions about the EVE Blog Banter should be directed to crazykinux@gmail.com. Check out other EVE Blog Banter articles at the bottom of this post!

On May 6th 2010, EVE Online celebrated its 7th Anniversary. Quite a milestone in MMO history, especially considering that it is one of the few virtual worlds out there to see its population continually grow year after year. For some of you who've been here since the very beginning, EVE has evolved quite a lot since its creation. With the expansion rolling out roughly twice a year, New Eden gets renewed and improved regularly. But, how about you the player? How has you gaming style evolved through the years or months since you've started playing? Have you always been a carebear, or roleplayer? Have you only focused on PvP or have you given other aspects of the game a chance - say manufacturing. Let's hear your story!

The Noob

I started in Ksiogo next to Jita, running missions in my trusty Heron, then Merlin. Lost a couple Merlins to Worlds Collide level 1 and was ready to quit after two weeks. Then some friends from Warhammer offered to have me fly with them and I took the plunge and flew out to Placid region. Ran missions there but with more knowledge and capability. Also learned how to PvP.

The Merc

Those times in IPRC in Placid and then in Genesis were the foundations of an enduring love of PvP in Eve. I also saw the concept arts for the Rokh and became determined to be a Hybrid Caldari pilot. Merlins, Caracals, Feroxes, and eventually the Rokh. IPRC turned into Strife Mercenaries and we fought some high sec wars, winning and losing. Then we turned to join No Quarter corporation up in Venal...

The Dark Months

I lost a lot in this time, first my Rokh in a level four mission, and then my Raven while trying to get it up to Venal null sec. Depressed, broke, and tired of being the useless one, I left my buddies to their fate and spent some time alone in Molden Heath, rebuilding my wallet and enthusiasm with new skills and ships. Eventually after a few months I rejoined my buddies out in null sec with renewed purpose.

The New Path

Our time in Fountain was good personally but frustrating politically. We went through a couple alliance fail cascades and I decided to move on to a new corp and new training path. I joined up with M3 Corp at this point and began training earnestly for Chimera Carriers.

The Experiment

My old buddies reformed as Strife Mercenaries 2.0 and I foolishly left M3 to get in on the ground floor of this new corp. We had a few good months of success, tried forming an alliance with other corps in Syndicate, and was going along well... when the wheels came off. The CEO burned out, I had the twins being born, and the majority of the corp went different direction. We said "summer hiatus" but it turned into the death knell of Strife 2.0.

Back On Track

That summer of 2008 I was too busy with newborn twins to do much of anything, so I spent any time I had in Eve in Faction Warfare on the Minmatar side, earning standing and ISK. I got my carrier, more skills, and as fall rolled around I felt the need for company again. I had kept tabs on M3 Corp because I really liked my original stay so I reapplied and was happy to be given another chance.

That was 1.6 years ago and I've been through a lot of the corp's ups and down throughout New Eden but always happy with the company I keep while PvPing. Lately I realized I had built up a large amount of assets so I liquidated them all and fulfilled a long time dream of owning a Wyvern supercarrier.

This summer my time is gimped once more as a new baby entered our house so I'm finishing the skills for piloting the Wyvern and I hope to have some time to use it in the fall. Next step? Who knows...

Participants:

1. CrazyKinux's Musing: The Heroes with a Thousand Faces
2. StarFleet Comms: Life. Evolved.
3. A Carebear's Journeu: This Carebear Thinks He Is Developing Teeth
4. The Elitist: Our ventures in EVE
5. A Mule in EVE: From a guppy predator
6. Travels of the Ronin: Evolution and Adaptation
7. The Ralpha Dogs: The Past Through Tomorrow
8. Where the frack is my ship: A journey, not a destination
9. I am Keith Neilson: 7 Year Itch?
10. Inner Sanctum of the Ninveah: Evolution Me
11. EVE Opportunist: A long history of a short time
12. Roc's Ramblings: Things Change
13. Guns Ablaze: Onwards and Upwards
14. EVE On Real Life: Haven't you grown up yet?
15. Escoce - Eve Trader : I Have Always Been Escoce

The Old Republic...Not So Old, and Totally Off Point

I watched the latest trailer for Star Wars: The Old Republic this morning and my disgust with this title continues to grow. Every time I see Republic Commandos that look exactly like Storm Troopers / Clone Troopers or Sith ships that look exactly like Imperial Star Destroyers a part of me dies inside while screaming "3000 YEARS OLD YOU IDIOTS!". I know the Knights of the Old Republic has never been a franchise of original ideas but I had hoped the MMO would make strides to be visually unique.

Also in that trailer I was put off by the Jedi throwing around energy bolts like characters from Street Fighter (I kept expecting her to yell "Hadouken!"). I always thought Jedi (and to some degree Sith) were more about finesse and not over the top theatrical power-spells. It smells like pandering to the lowest common denominator.

Then you have Bioware coming out and acting all arrogant saying current MMOs have no point and that The Old Republic will fix all that:

Bioware designer and writing director Daniel Erickson told CVG that the Mass Effect studio had been disappointed by the "lack of fun" in other MMO titles on the market.

He said: "In the early days when they first announced that there were MMOs, like the existence of them, I knew in my head what that meant - because I played Role Playing Games. It was just giant Role Playing Games.

"And then MMO [games] showed up, and it wasn't that. It was the ruleset to an RPG: There was combat, and there were areas, but that was all. Someone had left out the module. There was no story, there was no point. You just kind of wandered around. And that hasn't really changed all that much over the years.

"We've always had that thought in the back of our heads: That Old Republic should be all the things we thought an MMO would be in the first place - which is all the parts of an RPG. Which means - and this is the most radical idea - it should just be fun. Like, just fun to play. You shouldn't be trying to ignore all of the content to get to the end as fast as possible."

While he's not entirely wrong that a lot of MMOs have artificial barriers to "fun" its worth noting that he's just slagged every current player of MMOs as idiots that don't know that what they are doing is not fun. He's also dismissing all of the massive amounts of fun players do have in the current generation of games, be it WoW, Everquest, Eve, etc. It seems like he missed the point.

Which makes me wonder what is he making? How can TOR be so much fun as to obsolete all current MMOs? The mind boggles at the possibilities... no wait, it doesn't. They're going to make the same type of game as has been successful, add in lots of voice acting and story that most players don't give to craps about, and still miss the boat on the true fun in MMOs: other players are the ultimate endgame.

Don't give us another grind to raidfest Bioware, no matter how pretty it is. Star Trek Online already demonstrated that pretty only gets you so far.

Bah, its already too late.

Project Athena Reviews

Brendan Drain over at Massively.Com was nice enough to give a positive boost for Project Athena.

Also, here are the comments on the Eve Online forums, and Scrapheap Challenge forums.

Link to original post.

Fiction Friday - Series 2: Chapter 11

Previously:
Chapter 1 Chapter 2 Chapter 3 Chapter 4 Chapter 5 Chapter 6 Chapter 7 Chapter 8
Chapter 9 Chapter 10
* * * * * *

The battle was more like a massacre as our fleet outgunned the Guristas' defenders. Cruisers and destroyers melted under the focused fire our Ferox battlecruisers' weapons while the battleships targeted transports, sentry towers, and the occasion enemy battleship attempting to flee the interdiction bubbles.

I coordinated my battlegroup's targeting sequence, broadcasting the target while the previous one neared destruction. All the while our fleet broadcast on an open channel a demand for the renegades to surrender, deactivate their drives and weapons, and wait to be boarded. We didn't expect anyone to actually do so; Guristas never surrender.

As I was searching for the next cruiser target (all the destroyers were dead) I noticed one of the cruisers was moving faster and was more agile than the rest, with heading changes that inertial dampeners could not possibly compensate for causing a crew on board to be tossed around like loose baggage. That meant only one thing. "We got a podder," I reported on the fleet's capsuleer channel.

"Which one?" asked Lieutenant Commander Parcess, aka Pickles. Ah Pickles, I miss you. He was flying one of the support Moa cruisers and was in another battlegroup.

"A cruiser, Gila, can't tell the class from here. Looks like he's making a fun for the edge of the bubble. Targetting..."

My HUD reticule flashed on him as my sensor arrays homed in on his ship's vector. The frequencies resolved and the reticule turned red. I switched comms, "Target designated Echo. Switch primary to Echo." Acknowledgments came in from the other support ships and the telementry showed the flares of the near-lightspeed hybrid charges streaking out towards the enemy ship. His shields began flash but held firm. "He's moving too fast. Calling in tackle..." I sent a flash request to the close range engagement battlegroup to put electronic warfare on the target. Fast moving Crow interceptors changed course and streaked towards the Gila as it neared the edge of the warp disruption bubble. Strange emanations from the interceptors reached from them to the Guristas' ship and its velocity began to drop. "Pointed and webbed," came the reply.

"Now we have him," I said as the ship's shields dropped in seconds and the armour and hull soon after. As the cruiser began venting gases and explosion rippled over its hull my sensors detected an escape pod of the pilot. "Grab the pod!" I commanded the interceptors, but they were regular navy crews and too slow to react. The pirate was just outside of the warp disruption field and warped away using the pod's internal emergency warp core. I cursed but decided it was a small loss.

I turned my attention back to the battle at large but it was already over. The remaining Guristas were dead or dying. The fleet admiral sent out the message for the rescue and recovery teams and our battlegroup aligned for the designated rally point.

"Good work, commander," Captain Vadix said on the bridge.

"Thank you sir."

"When the ship is in warp, I'd like to talk to you in my ready room." He got up and began to leave the bridge.

"Yes sir," I replied.

The Art Of Difficult Logistics

Being in the supercarrier at the end of the Paxton Defense meant that getting stuff out of Providence during the evacuation was difficult. But thanks to Max and some foresight I managed to get everything out with no losses or assets left behind.

Except one.

Kla'strit had a brand new sniepr Tempest delivered to 2-TEG before everything went south and I just didn't have the time to extract it properly before the evacuation was complete. So I decided to get it out or die trying. I know I could strip it down and try and sell it but I was feeling ornery and couldn't be dissuaded.

So yesterday before downtime I jump cloned to the system, saw there was only one bad guy in local, and made a break for it. There was a lot of hostiles in the next system, but none on the gates and I slipped through without issue. A few jumps later I landed back in low sec.

Of course, being part of RAGE means I'm red to CVA now apparently. And there was a lot of CVA in Misaba. I docked up and waited until last night before I made the rest of the journey to a low sec system bordering high sec; Yong to be precise.

Now I was faced with my outlaw status once more and required Korneilia to bring her freighter to haul the ship as a courier package, but getting the freighter into low sec was always fraught with danger, especially in Yong where Maverick Navy like to visit. So I waited until just before downtime once more, saw local empty except for one Paxton Industries guy that was docked in station, and infiltrated the freighter successfully with no issue.

Now the Tempest is safely on its way back to the North to be used and abused in PvP.

Live Blogging The Quarter Economic Newsletter

New QEN, new post! As I read, the thoughts and pondering of your humble blogger. ONWARDS!

Cover Page - Oh pretty! (I didn't say they would be deep thoughts)

Page 8 - Population spikes followed by dips appears to be the new norm. Overall trend is still going up however. Will Tyrannis with its built in Planetville contribute to more subscriptions?

Page 9 - "The least flown capital ship was the Ragnarok." - No kidding, it looks horrible. I wouldn't be caught dead in the thing.

Page 10 - The population shift from East-West to North-South a result of the polarization of the North Coalition versus South Coalition war?

Page 11 - W-space population growth will only increase with the exploit ability of planets now. Beyond ice wormhole life is practically self sufficient .

Page 15 - Dropping prices for high end minerals attributed to increased availability in null sec. Yeah, I buy that.

Page 19 - Prophecy hull best Amarr hull, C/D?

Page 21 - "production of Tech II ships dropped by 31% from November to December" - No kidding the prices were getting INSANE!

Page 23 - 24 - Wormhole space overall has been a great addition to Eve. I hope future developments further develop this part of the game, i.e. w-space outposts.

Page 26 - Almost 40 thousand Strategic Cruisers have been built.

Page 29 - The Loki is the only one where the Covert configuration is more popular and sheer DPS.

Page 30 - "Strategic cruisers are becoming increasingly popular in PVP, with more being lost to other players than to NPCs in the last quarter." - *Snicker* Made me laugh.

Page 34 - More hacking in null sec space due to increased number of complexes.

Page 39 - Does that Rokh look like it has a larger drone bay to you?

Notalotofnews Newshour Podcast

Acinom has recorded another episode, including a five minute segment by myself once again. This time I talk about taking a loaded freighter, through two low sec systems, on autopilot.

Introducing PROJECT ATHENA

Over two years ago I started writing "Kirith's Fighting Spacecraft" articles for the Eve Tribune starting with the Caldari Caracal. After 23 articles covering 5 ship hulls for each faction and 3 pirate hulls I decided to pull them all together and publish it as a single document. Realizing my limitations I called for help in the graphics and layout department and some great volunteers stepped up to help me turn my words into something better.

So today I'm proud to announce the release of Project Athena (PDF document, 64 Mb so please right-click and choose 'Save Link As'), ninety pages of ship classes and historical events as imagined by me while attempting to remain compatible with the known Eve history as much as possible.

Its free to download from my website and any ISK donations would be welcome and distributed amoung the volunteers who helped make my vision come true.

Enjoy!

Alternate download link:
http://download77.mediafire.com/ymfc1ezyjw4g/quum2nmimjj/Project+Athena.pdf

NEW: Mirrored on Eve-Files:
http://dl.eve-files.com/media/1006/ProjectAthena%5B1%5D.pdf

Wrong Side Of The Law

My alt Kla'strit is a pain in the ass.

When the move to the north was announced I focused first on getting the supercarrier and the support crew in place. Once that was complete, I then turned my attention to Kla'strit. Getting him to the north was easy, just pop in a shuttle and fly as fast as I can. His ships are another story.

I had an interceptor (Claw class I think), a Rapier recon cruiser, and a Sleipnir command ship, all rigged of course and in low sec Tash Murkon region. It was an easy matter to get them to the north high sec base: sneak Korneilia into low sec with a freighter, package the ships in courier contracts, and then autopilot at my leisure (Safest Route, not Shortest!) to the high sec base.

And here I had a problem: the low sec base was a lot more active than the Tash Murkon low sec system and too risky to try and insert a freighter. But Kla'strit was still shoot on site in high sec.

NOTE: last night a corp mate tried to tell me I was safe in 0.5 security space because my security status was above -5.0 and my Caldari faction standing was only -2.7. I assured him I would be shot at (and had actually been shot at a few seconds before). From Evelopedia:

How does my security status affect my ability to travel?
Security status, or lack thereof, can have a big impact on your ability to travel through the EVE universe. Players with sufficiently low security status will be attacked by the empire navies if they enter high security systems.
Here is a brief list of your travelling options according to security status:

• Players with -2.0 or worse will be attacked in 1.0 systems
• Players with -2.5 or worse will be attacked in 0.9 systems
• Players with -3.0 or worse will be attacked in 0.8 systems
• Players with -3.5 or worse will be attacked in 0.7 systems
• Players with -4.0 or worse will be attacked in 0.6 systems
• Players with -4.5 or worse will be attacked in 0.5 systems 

Just a little more ratting and I will be ok.

Anyways, I figured I could definitely outrun the police in the interceptor, and probably outrun them with the recon, but the command ship was too risky. Instead I turned to my corpmates and asked for someone with better standing to get them through that last gate. Maximus stepped up for me once more and soon I will be in null sec causing no end of trouble.

* * * *

But that was not my only run in with the law. I purchased some standard Mindflood boosters for the supercarrier as backup until my order for Improved and Strong boosters is filled. Five boosters in a cargohold of a blockade runner, traveling with me at keyboard from gate to gate, and guess how many times border agents stopped me in 16 jumps?

9 times. Nine freaking fines of ~327,000 ISK each and a 0.1 faction standing loss with Caldari. Maybe I need to do some more research into smuggling.

Carrier Group Movement Through Low Sec

Mynxee said in my last post:

I think it would be interesting for those who've never experienced it to read in a little more detail just how ones goes about moving such a large quantity of capitals so great a distance. Maybe an idea for a future post?

Well, here we go.

Moving capitals over a large distance is at once very safe and fraught with danger. Safe because a group of capitals is a very solid hard target; dangerous because high value target can bring frothing hordes of enemies down upon you looking for a capital kill mail.

The first step is to plan the route. If your going through low sec, try and pick systems with stations that have nice large docking rings and non-kick-out docking ramps. Also try to avoid high traffic border systems. If you have to use a system without a station, try and pick the most backwater isolated low sec system you can find.

Then you make sure you have enough fuel for every capital to make the trip. If they can't carry it with them for some reason, create a stockpile using blockade runners halfway through the trip.

Next get your cyno alts in place, one for every stop along the trip. They should be flying Tech 1 frigates as using a tech 2 ship is an invitation to get it ganked when its so helpless. The cyno ships should have enough fuel for two cycles in case someone gets left behind, and ideally more is always better.

When you are ready to start the trip, the cyno alt gets into place first. You want the cyno ship to be in such a position that the five kilometer sphere around the ship does not intersect with the station at any point, nor does it go beyond 2.5 kilometers of the docking ring. The capitals will pop into existence exactly 5 kilometers from the cyno so you don't want it to bump off the station and get ejected several kilometers out (prime target for ganking) and you don't want it popping up outside of docking range. Even a 1000 meters too far out can mean forever for a ship with a max speed of around 100 meters per second.

If the capitals are docked then the process goes like this: capitals undock en masse which starts a thirty second session change timer. Hit Ctrl+space to stop forward movement while not giving up the undock invulnerability. As the session change timer is nearing completion, have the cyno alt light the beacon (providing bad guys are not amassing in system). Then, all capitals jump at once.

Once in system, you have another thirty second session change timer before you can dock. When traveling with the supercarrier, the carriers would pump all their cap into the supercap's capacitor before docking and undocking (which replenishes cap). If no supercap is present, the carriers can remain docked until the next cyno pilot is in position. With the Wyvern present the goal is fastest travel possible to not let anyone have a chance to rally an attack force.

When jumping into a system without a station to dock at, the carrier group forms a capacitor chain, feeding cap on down the line to bring everyone up to jump energy as fast as possible. (You need 75% minimum capacitor to make a jump.) Its common for capitals to travel with a lot of capacitor regeneration modules installed to facilitate this process and limit the time exposed in hostile space.

The cyno alts, stuck in space for ten minutes and vulnerable to enemy attacks, are usually left to their fate. Using a fleet of billion+ ISK ships to protect one worth a couple million at best (mostly the cyno module) is just not logical.

Any questions?

Filled with RAGE!

Or more accurately, affiliated with R.A.G.E alliance. See what I did there? I know, I'm freaking hilarious.

When it was becoming obvious to M3 Corp's leadership that Paxton Federation was headed to an unhappy place, old contacts were pinged and pleasantries exchanged. As soon as Paxton Industries pulled the plug, we had a potential new home lined up and we made the call. Go North Young Men!

As soon as RAGE alliance agreed to let us join, the massive logistic chain from southern Amarr space to Northern Caldari space was formed and on the weekend the capitals were moved, including the Wyvern in an impressive little carrier group. Kudos to my corp mates for the escort over the 3-4 jumps needed through pirate infested territory. Not being able to dock sucks sometimes.

We didn't have any dangerous situations develop; just a pirate Rupture at one system and a Vagabond at another that come in for a look at the cyno. No one was foolish enough to risk the wrath of 100+ drones. In short order we were in our new home. More cap runs were made for stragglers and dreadnoughts and soon the corp was effectively moved. The alliance application went active and we are officially part of the Northern Coalition.

Now begins the process of assimilating all the new information such as forums, chat channels, chains of commands, official fleet setups, bases of operation, jump bridges, cyno beacons, and so forth and so on.

Fiction Friday - Series 2: Chapter 10

Previously:
Chapter 1 Chapter 2 Chapter 3 Chapter 4 Chapter 5 Chapter 6 Chapter 7 Chapter 8
Chapter 9
* * * * * *

The captain was calm. I could tell by the biometric readings I had available to me such as pulse, blood pressure, neural activity, and bloodstream chemical levels. In fact I had access to all the biometrics of the entire crew but I only closely kept tabs on the bridge crew, and for the rest I set up alarm indicators in case some green recruit threw a panic attack at the first explosions.

The reason I personally watched the bridge crew was to make sure they could be counted on should any of the ship's functions have to be taken over by them. At this rank I had complete control of the vessel, but standard operating procedure required regular crew to assist me. I appreciated the safety net when I first started flying in full control but nowadays I merely resented it. OK, I also admit I watched the bridge crew closely to make sure they didn't try to take over control from me in a fit of panic. It never happened to me but I've heard of other capsuleers in the navy having their navigation protocols overridden by a nervous helmsman.

Things were fine today though. The crew was experienced enough to know what to expect and Captain Vadix was practically a statue. He was nearing retirement and had over a hundred engagements under his belt, many of them without the aid of a pod pilot to direct the ship to his commands. This battle was nothing special to the old veteran and his composure helped to steady the nerves of everyone else, myself included.

Our battlegroup was cruising at 100 m/s in deep space, aligned to the smuggler's stargate. I followed the transmissions both of the local ships and of the fleet in general, eagerly waiting for the next command. We were one of six battlegroups preparing to engage to wipe out the Guristas; three more similar in composition to our own and two short range forces that would warp in and lay down the interdiction bubbles and targeted warp disruption weapons once the covert ships got warp in headings for the rest of the fleet.

Not all of the ships in the fleet were piloted by capsuleers. The number of ships in the navy was higher than the number of navy pod pilots by a factor of 10 to 1 and in our battlegroup I was the only one. In the fleet at large there was four others and we chatted on our own comm lines separate from the fleet using call signs like fighter pilots. I got my call sign of Kodachi (an ancient Achuran word meaning "short sword") from piloting Merlins in the crazy fights with Guristas in the belts of Otsela and kept it ever since.

Finally the message we had been waiting for for the past three hours came in. "Achilles in position," our assigned covert ops frigate reported. The other battlegroups indicated their readiness and the Admiral gave the word: "Fleet warp to Achilles at 10." The warp drives were already spun up so all I had to do was engage them and the Ferox lurched into its tunnel. My readouts gave a distance of 23 AUs to go and dropping rapidly.

The Admiral spoke on fleet comms again. "You have your assigned targets, begin engagement upon landing."

"Commander, you know what to do," my captain spoke evenly. The warp tunnel began to collapse as we neared our destination. "Yes sir," I replied. We decelerated rapidly, my overview filled with vectors and transversals and I began to target the cruisers as my railgun accelerators warmed up.

Paxton Federation Is Dead

The founding corporation of Paxton Federation Alliance, Paxton Industries, announced yesterday that they were leaving the alliance. Remember how I talked about a democracy in an Eve alliance was like herding cats? I wrote:

The problem is doubly difficult in alliance built around a leadership council mechanic. Democracy may work great in a static environment where most of the membership is happy, but it sucks balls when things are rough and everyone has divergent ideas on how to go forward. It gets even worse when basic membership gets antsy and wants to know what the leading council is thinking and talking about so that they can give their two cents (and its usually worth that much too).

[...]

For those worried that Paxton will not recover from losing space in Providence, never fear. Paxton Federation will be back on the scene in null sec somewhere soon enough.

Apparently my optimism was misplaced. From what I can tell, the way forward that a lot of the membership liked was not sitting well with a tired and displeased Paxton Industry leadership. They have been in Providence for so long following the e-honour of NRDS that the thought of "rebuilding the alliance" for the next two years was simply more than they wanted to commit to. Rather than try, they are cutting loose and offering themselves up as applicants to any other interested alliances. A part of me would like to chastise them for their actions but I can see where they are coming from. Still, it sucks.

Paxton Industries is not just one corp of the alliance, it was the core. Forming one quarter of the members and a large contingent of its PvP base (not to mention industry), its departure effectively critically wounds the alliance and coming so soon after Firestar corporation left (another cornerstone) it is a morale blow the alliance will not recover from. Even as I type this other corps are tendering resignations from the charter, such as cornerstone Rennfeuer. Some hopeful souls are still trying to recover and rebuild from a smaller base of corporations and I wish them luck but I have my doubts of their success.

What's next for M3 Corporation? When its no longer secured information I'll let you know.

EDIT: I blame CVA for everything. I hope they rot in low sec.

Quiet Times

So I've been logging on as Kla'strit whenever I get 5-15 minutes to rat in my isolated null sec system and improve that security status.

Usually I warp in on a belt, orbit the biggest rat (usually a battlecruiser as the space I'm in is pretty crappy and I haven't had enough time to chain up some good spawns) and I kill the frigates first and then the bigger ships. I rarely even get my shields scratched in the process.

Last night however I warped in on a spawn of battlecruiser with cruiser escorts and while orbiting the battlecruiser I bumped into a few asteroids, killing my transversal speed and allowing those cruisers to whack me. My shields were gone in an instant and I dipped into armour, but the armour repper kept up easily and I maneuvered away from the 'roids and back into a good speed.

After that spawn I ran into a double battleship spawn at the next belt. First one in this system out of my previous 10 minute log ins and I quickly went to work. No problems killing the first except how long it took (miss the ratting HAM Cerberus to be honest) and was half way through the second when the baby woke up hungry and it was my turn to feed him.

Ah well, every bit of sec improvement counts. All the way up to -4.6 now. Yeesh.

Broadcasts from the Ninveah Lives! (Sort Of)

Jason aka Acinom over at the Reading of Eve-Online Articles podcast approached me about recording segments for his podcast and I recently set myself and schedule up to do just that. My first submissions are included in his recent episode found here and in Itunes.

Let me and Acinom know what you think as I plan to do more of these segments for his podcast going forward. If anyone has something in particular you want me to talk (blather?) about, you can contact me via email, evemail, or comment here.

The Art of Herding Cats

While Paxton Federation finds its feet, there have been a lot of opinions expressed and discussions about the future of the alliance. This has led to a loss of some corporations and members which is typical for any alliance that loses its space.

You see, living in and defending space gives an alliance a united goal and a focal location. Pilots tend to rat, mine, plex near each other and close to the station systems. When fighting occurs from a hostile gang or invading fleet, the alliance rallies (or hides) together. But once kicked out the ties that bind are broken and it takes a really strong leader with a solid inspiring vision to take the alliance from one defeat to a new initiative. I don't know of many alliances built that way (if any) so most either shed a few members tired of sov warfare and looking for something new, or fail-cascade altogether.

The problem is doubly difficult in alliance built around a leadership council mechanic. Democracy may work great in a static environment where most of the membership is happy, but it sucks balls when things are rough and everyone has divergent ideas on how to go forward. It gets even worse when basic membership gets antsy and wants to know what the leading council is thinking and talking about so that they can give their two cents (and its usually worth that much too).

Personally, I don't bother chiming in to these discussions. I trust my corp's leadership implicitly to make decisions that will work for me as they have done many times in the past. Besides, I'm not in the game enough to provide an informed useful opinion. Wherever we go, I'll adapt.

For those worried that Paxton will not recover from losing space in Providence, never fear. Paxton Federation will be back on the scene in null sec somewhere soon enough.

The Last Bits

My Shopping List For Finishing the Wyvern:

- Nanite Paste for overheating damage. Can't dock up to quickly rep mods you know.
- Sensor Booster Scan Resolution script. Yeah, I forgot to get one when I bought my mods. Shut up. PS CCP: I would pay good ISK for tech II versions of these.
- Boosters. Specifically Mindflood for increased capacitor and Blue Pill for shield boosting.

The Mindflood drug is the most important for my supercarrier because using it can give me more energy to keep those all important hardeners online. Improved Mindflood gives a 15% increase and Strong gives 20%. The penalties are to things such as armour and shield repping, missile explosion velocity, and turret optimal range; none of those apply to the buffer tanked Wyvern so its a win-win.

For the odd occasion when I swap out to a capital shield booster, the Improved Blue Pill gives a 25% bonus to shield boost amount to the relative risk of capacitor and shield amounts. Its useful for those times when you just want to stay on top of the incoming damage.