Surely you've heard of the recent meta-gaming trend in Eve Online where Distributed Denial of Service attacks are hitting websites of various entities. First it was EveNews24.com, then reports of Northern Coalition and Goonswarm teamspeak servers and forums, and lately I heard on Voices from the Void podcast episode 6 that Jason and Erin on Not A Lot of News Newshour suffered a DDOS attack during one of their live broadcasts on Section 8 Radio. Or more accurately, section 8 radio suffered the attack during the show.
One thing that has been consistently reported in these cases is that the originating location for the zombie computers involved in the attacks has been Russia and eastern Europe.
That has struck me as odd. Its easy to track where the attacks are coming from using the IP addresses and there is no reason the zombie computers have to come from a single geographical locale unless its a social group from the areas allowing their computers to be used in a consenting manner (i.e. downloading the DDoS software on purpose).
I wonder how hard it would be for a clever attacker to forge the originating IP addresses through a proxy or five or have his script only launch attacks if the IP address of the infected computer is of a certain locale.
I'm probably over-thinking the issue. I suspect its a higher probablity that it is just a couple idiots with too much time on their hands launching these attacks for shits and giggles rather than a top down concerted effort by the Drone Russian Federation coalition. But we may never know for certain unless someone comes out and claims responsibility.
Tuesday, May 31, 2011
To The Unknown
Last night the corp members who were online were doing logistics and I wasn't close enough to help so I found myself with idle hands.
I was in my supercarrier clone with expensive implants from doing running around last night so I was not going to risk losing them by looking for PvP. Instead I decided to relax and do some exploration and try out the new probe manipulation tools.
I broke out my Buzzard with the Sisters Probe Launcher and got to work in a low sec system close to base. There was a lot signatures so I picked one with the lowest initial strength and got to work. Using the alt key to move the probes to the centre is brilliant, huge kudos to the developer who came up with that. I quickly resolved the signature (thanks to time in the wormhole with Korneilia for keeping me sharp) and found a wormhole. I jumped in to see what was there (perhaps foolish in my current clone) and found myself in a class 5 system with a Red Giant! System J172193 to be exact. Holy bonuses to overheating and smartbombs Batman! I did a quick scan and saw no sign of residents so I left as I wasn't looking to fight and die to class 5 Sleepers.
I picked a new signature in my low sec system and resolved it to a combat sight, Serpentis Phi-Outpost. That's more like it! I docked up and broke out the Tengu. I knew there was neutrals in local but I figured the more agile and fast Strategic Cruiser had a better chance of making a run for it than something heavier and cheaper. Besides, I'm rich.
No hostiles showed up though, and the rats suffered my wrath. Most of them were easy to dispatch Serpentis battlecruisers and smaller but the main boss at the end was a 2.5 mil ISK bounty battleship and was quite tough to break through; I switched to Scourge Fury missiles to speed the process along. I eagerly popped open the wreck to find a nice Corellum C-Type 10MN MWD which goes currently for around 120 million ISK on contracts. Sweet! That was an unexpected bonus to my little relaxation adventure.
I'll save that mod for my secret project I'm working on this summer...
I was in my supercarrier clone with expensive implants from doing running around last night so I was not going to risk losing them by looking for PvP. Instead I decided to relax and do some exploration and try out the new probe manipulation tools.
I broke out my Buzzard with the Sisters Probe Launcher and got to work in a low sec system close to base. There was a lot signatures so I picked one with the lowest initial strength and got to work. Using the alt key to move the probes to the centre is brilliant, huge kudos to the developer who came up with that. I quickly resolved the signature (thanks to time in the wormhole with Korneilia for keeping me sharp) and found a wormhole. I jumped in to see what was there (perhaps foolish in my current clone) and found myself in a class 5 system with a Red Giant! System J172193 to be exact. Holy bonuses to overheating and smartbombs Batman! I did a quick scan and saw no sign of residents so I left as I wasn't looking to fight and die to class 5 Sleepers.
I picked a new signature in my low sec system and resolved it to a combat sight, Serpentis Phi-Outpost. That's more like it! I docked up and broke out the Tengu. I knew there was neutrals in local but I figured the more agile and fast Strategic Cruiser had a better chance of making a run for it than something heavier and cheaper. Besides, I'm rich.
No hostiles showed up though, and the rats suffered my wrath. Most of them were easy to dispatch Serpentis battlecruisers and smaller but the main boss at the end was a 2.5 mil ISK bounty battleship and was quite tough to break through; I switched to Scourge Fury missiles to speed the process along. I eagerly popped open the wreck to find a nice Corellum C-Type 10MN MWD which goes currently for around 120 million ISK on contracts. Sweet! That was an unexpected bonus to my little relaxation adventure.
I'll save that mod for my secret project I'm working on this summer...
Monday, May 30, 2011
The Fury, It Warms Me
I made the mistake of going over to Failheap Challenge after the latest dev blog on vanity items for microtransactions:
On Failheap there is not one, not two, but THREE threads of people mostly complaining about this, usually going with the "slippery slope" catchphrase as if this wins all discussions on the topic.
The most (only?) interesting concept to come out of the spewing in these threads is that someone who uses real money to purchase ISK legally through plex and gets something is better than someone who pays money directly to CCP to have them spawn it. For example, a Titan bought with ISK needs to have minerals mined, blueprints purchased, space owned for the assembly array, etc, while one spawned by CCP simply pops into existence without the follow on effects. I agree that this is bad.
On the flip side of the coin, CCP is not doing that. They are spawning items which the players cannot make nor can they make analogous items to. The closest this discussion comes to CCP competing with player producers is ships with special visual markings / skins and it has been stated that a base player produced ship would be required input to produce the purchased item.
Basically, while my trust in CCP has been shaken due to recent game changes and the lack of changes in terms of balancing supercapitals, I think they are on the right track for implementing microtransactions in Eve and people who continue to rail against the thought, still to this day, are pissing in the wind. Its a reality of the marketplace that they are coming, we had best use our energy to make sure the PvP balance is maintained in what it proposed instead of raging against what might be in the future 2 years from now. This is the time the foundation is made and being an angry sarcastic internet "expert" is not going to help.
* * * * *
Also, "slippery slope" arguments only really work where the event A (which may be acceptable) leads to event B (which is not acceptable). Selling vanity items does not mean selling useful items is a fait accompli. If they were selling something useful, no matter how inconsequential, then "slippery slope" arguments come into play.
However, you can argue the case of temptation for more profit in which event A leads to B because it means expanding revenue.
* * * * *
All that being said, it does make me think that the possibility of player designed and produced clothing in the future of incarna is dead, and that makes me sad. Time will tell but I suspect that CCP would not allow players to compete with them for coin.
Also, I agree that Aurum is a bad name. Too elvish sounding. I prefered microplex or something more original.
So how will it work?
There will be a store, and it will have all kinds of stuff for sale: clothes and accessories for your character, custom paint jobs or logo placement on your ships or a fishtank/stripper pole for your Captain's Quarters. You'll browse through the list of items available and, when you're ready to make a purchase, you'll use a new currency called Aurum (AUR).
Where can I get some Aurum?
Aurum is created by breaking up a PLEX. Each PLEX gives you a bunch of Aurum that you can spend in the virtual goods store. If you don't want to spend Aurum on these vanity items, you can always wait for someone else to do so and then buy it off them for ISK. Oh yeah, I should have probably mentioned that earlier. Items bought in the virtual goods store will be transferrable between characters, just like PLEX is today.
The below image demonstrates how Aurum will be acquired and used:
The most (only?) interesting concept to come out of the spewing in these threads is that someone who uses real money to purchase ISK legally through plex and gets something is better than someone who pays money directly to CCP to have them spawn it. For example, a Titan bought with ISK needs to have minerals mined, blueprints purchased, space owned for the assembly array, etc, while one spawned by CCP simply pops into existence without the follow on effects. I agree that this is bad.
On the flip side of the coin, CCP is not doing that. They are spawning items which the players cannot make nor can they make analogous items to. The closest this discussion comes to CCP competing with player producers is ships with special visual markings / skins and it has been stated that a base player produced ship would be required input to produce the purchased item.
Basically, while my trust in CCP has been shaken due to recent game changes and the lack of changes in terms of balancing supercapitals, I think they are on the right track for implementing microtransactions in Eve and people who continue to rail against the thought, still to this day, are pissing in the wind. Its a reality of the marketplace that they are coming, we had best use our energy to make sure the PvP balance is maintained in what it proposed instead of raging against what might be in the future 2 years from now. This is the time the foundation is made and being an angry sarcastic internet "expert" is not going to help.
* * * * *
Also, "slippery slope" arguments only really work where the event A (which may be acceptable) leads to event B (which is not acceptable). Selling vanity items does not mean selling useful items is a fait accompli. If they were selling something useful, no matter how inconsequential, then "slippery slope" arguments come into play.
However, you can argue the case of temptation for more profit in which event A leads to B because it means expanding revenue.
* * * * *
All that being said, it does make me think that the possibility of player designed and produced clothing in the future of incarna is dead, and that makes me sad. Time will tell but I suspect that CCP would not allow players to compete with them for coin.
Also, I agree that Aurum is a bad name. Too elvish sounding. I prefered microplex or something more original.
Friday, May 27, 2011
What to do with a drunken alt?
My alt Korannon has finished a round of "improvement skill training" with only Evasive Maneuvering V currently running. I'm not sure what to do with him next.
He covers the major bases of a high sec hauling alt:
Industrial - Check
Freighter - Check
Blockade Runner and Deep Space Transport - Check
Orca - Check
Trade Skills - Check
So what to do next? Its a conundrum. As usual, I've made plans for several options:
- Prober / Exploration alt - including hacking and archeology skills
- Salvager - including Noctis
- Rorqual - expensive, but sounds fun
- Carrier - less expensive, not as much fun, lot of work
- Jump Friegher - too expensive
- Exhumers - and attendant mining skills
Or I could train another character on that account. Decisions, decisions. The Salvager option is pretty short so I'm going to go that route to start. Suggestions are always welcome.
Meanwhile...
Kirith has got only 15 days left of Fighter Bombers V. Next is Mauraders IV and Capital Ships IV and then the future is wide open... for Minmatar ships and projectiles. Giddyup.
He covers the major bases of a high sec hauling alt:
Industrial - Check
Freighter - Check
Blockade Runner and Deep Space Transport - Check
Orca - Check
Trade Skills - Check
So what to do next? Its a conundrum. As usual, I've made plans for several options:
- Prober / Exploration alt - including hacking and archeology skills
- Salvager - including Noctis
- Rorqual - expensive, but sounds fun
- Carrier - less expensive, not as much fun, lot of work
- Jump Friegher - too expensive
- Exhumers - and attendant mining skills
Or I could train another character on that account. Decisions, decisions. The Salvager option is pretty short so I'm going to go that route to start. Suggestions are always welcome.
Meanwhile...
Kirith has got only 15 days left of Fighter Bombers V. Next is Mauraders IV and Capital Ships IV and then the future is wide open... for Minmatar ships and projectiles. Giddyup.
Thursday, May 26, 2011
[Lottery] Ninveah Lottery #2 - Thanatos Carrier
New Lottery, actually have ship in my possession this time so no worries on selling out fast ;) Same rules as last time, details can be found here and here is the Eve forum post.
Test Alliance, You've Made An Enemy
Last night I was on baby duty so I was logged in just chatting and getting ready for the move back up to Tribute when a corp mate taking a month off due to family illness was starting to move ships back to low sec for security. I offered to help and loaded up a lot of Vagabonds and assorted other Minnie ships in my Chimera.
I got my alt Korannon to pop a cyno and me and another corpie jumped our Chimeras to low sec, docked, unloaded, delivered ships to hangers... all very routine.
Then my cyno ship got popped.
This is not a big deal because you have to assume in low sec someone is going to see that 10 minute cyno and decide that a Tech 1 frig is worth the ammo and sec status penalty, so I lost a Kestrel and cyno generator. Whatever.
But Kirith Kodachi does not forgive and forget such trespasses on my property. SeaCaptain of TEST alliance, your name is going into the Book of Grudges!
Not that anyone in the Book has actually ever suffered any ill effects from me...
I got my alt Korannon to pop a cyno and me and another corpie jumped our Chimeras to low sec, docked, unloaded, delivered ships to hangers... all very routine.
Then my cyno ship got popped.
This is not a big deal because you have to assume in low sec someone is going to see that 10 minute cyno and decide that a Tech 1 frig is worth the ammo and sec status penalty, so I lost a Kestrel and cyno generator. Whatever.
But Kirith Kodachi does not forgive and forget such trespasses on my property. SeaCaptain of TEST alliance, your name is going into the Book of Grudges!
Not that anyone in the Book has actually ever suffered any ill effects from me...
Wednesday, May 25, 2011
The Question of Victory
Someone asked me on Monday why there had been no blog post for a few days. Well, it was an extra long weekend for me due to Canadian holiday (Happy Victoria Day!) and my 14th wedding anniversary and when I'm at home, I don't usually blog if I have free time, instead I log (in). See what I did there?
What?! That was funny! Sigh.
Anyways I logged in quite a bit for me on the weekend but I was using the time to reorganize. You see, an incident a couple weeks back has left me hesitant to commit my supercarrier to combat in Tribute in the hands of FCs I don't know and don't trust. Since I was deployed almost exclusively for capital combat I felt the need to pull back to Pure Blind to reorganize my ships and put the Wyvern in safety. While I was there, I deposited a lot of unused ships back into low sec. This process was further hampered by a system having a Cynojammer and about 15 ships I wanted to move which I had to do one at a time since my Chimera could not use the jump bridge anymore.
Finally by Monday night I had completed my consolidation and reorganization, picked the handful of ships I would take back to Tribute to carry in the Chimera, and then found myself in my +4 clone which I had no intention of flying to Tribute and a cooling down jump timer.
So I decided to cruise around Placid low sec in one of my assault ships, a Hawk, and check out the old sites around Pelille which is where I lived in my first weeks in space back four and a half years ago. On the way there I jumped into a system and saw a red Helios. I hit approach and started to lock it up, hoping I could kill it and escape the sentry guns. He disappeared and the gate flashed, and a similarly named character in a Wolf assault ship appeared.
Ah, the eternal question of victory: do I think I can win this fight? My Hawk was setup to fight but I was not, with my +4 clone and no blue pills in the hold, so I opted to disengage by approaching the gate and jumping through as my shields were almost gone (albeit with booster off). It was a split second decision and I wish I had gone for it now.
Dammit, I was not mentally prepared for a fight in low sec, but next time I will be ready.
What?! That was funny! Sigh.
Anyways I logged in quite a bit for me on the weekend but I was using the time to reorganize. You see, an incident a couple weeks back has left me hesitant to commit my supercarrier to combat in Tribute in the hands of FCs I don't know and don't trust. Since I was deployed almost exclusively for capital combat I felt the need to pull back to Pure Blind to reorganize my ships and put the Wyvern in safety. While I was there, I deposited a lot of unused ships back into low sec. This process was further hampered by a system having a Cynojammer and about 15 ships I wanted to move which I had to do one at a time since my Chimera could not use the jump bridge anymore.
Finally by Monday night I had completed my consolidation and reorganization, picked the handful of ships I would take back to Tribute to carry in the Chimera, and then found myself in my +4 clone which I had no intention of flying to Tribute and a cooling down jump timer.
So I decided to cruise around Placid low sec in one of my assault ships, a Hawk, and check out the old sites around Pelille which is where I lived in my first weeks in space back four and a half years ago. On the way there I jumped into a system and saw a red Helios. I hit approach and started to lock it up, hoping I could kill it and escape the sentry guns. He disappeared and the gate flashed, and a similarly named character in a Wolf assault ship appeared.
Ah, the eternal question of victory: do I think I can win this fight? My Hawk was setup to fight but I was not, with my +4 clone and no blue pills in the hold, so I opted to disengage by approaching the gate and jumping through as my shields were almost gone (albeit with booster off). It was a split second decision and I wish I had gone for it now.
Dammit, I was not mentally prepared for a fight in low sec, but next time I will be ready.
Thursday, May 19, 2011
A Chink In the Curse
I won't lie to you, folks, I've been cursed. On March 29th I help take down a POS in Geminate back when we were winning the Geminate campaign and since then I've been denied any killmails except for one loss when Kla'strit's Rapier went down to a Pandemic Legion Tengu fleet.
I've been logging in the usual amount (i.e. once a week) and joining any PvP fleet I can find, but just not having any luck whatsoever. Its been demoralizing.
So last night I begged the Eve gods to give me something to shoot that dies when I logged in. There was an FCON shield HAC fleet forming up but I didn't have any shield ships handy. I scrounged around the station and hangers and put together an eclectic Cerberus that boasted a named Invulnerability Field and faction missile launchers. The fleet formed up about 30 strong and we set course for Cobalt Edge hoping Intrepid Crossing could be prodded into responding (or dying).
Eventually after poking around their systems and stations a 50 man Drake fleet came out to play and we were forced to retreat after only killing a Drake and taking some losses in return. In our retreat we almost got a Raven but were forced to warp out with him in low structure.
We spent the next hour playing cat and mouse with the IRC gang, always trying to warp just before they got on top of us. We had some close calls and I think a few losses, but the best kill came when an enemy covert ops landed near us in a safe spot and one of our Muninns one-shot the prober. We all chuckled over that.
After a while a reinforcement fleet arrived made up of Wildly Inappropriate and Goons but IRC had left the field and I logged with only the one kill mail. I don't know if the curse is completely broken, but its a start.
I've been logging in the usual amount (i.e. once a week) and joining any PvP fleet I can find, but just not having any luck whatsoever. Its been demoralizing.
So last night I begged the Eve gods to give me something to shoot that dies when I logged in. There was an FCON shield HAC fleet forming up but I didn't have any shield ships handy. I scrounged around the station and hangers and put together an eclectic Cerberus that boasted a named Invulnerability Field and faction missile launchers. The fleet formed up about 30 strong and we set course for Cobalt Edge hoping Intrepid Crossing could be prodded into responding (or dying).
Eventually after poking around their systems and stations a 50 man Drake fleet came out to play and we were forced to retreat after only killing a Drake and taking some losses in return. In our retreat we almost got a Raven but were forced to warp out with him in low structure.
We spent the next hour playing cat and mouse with the IRC gang, always trying to warp just before they got on top of us. We had some close calls and I think a few losses, but the best kill came when an enemy covert ops landed near us in a safe spot and one of our Muninns one-shot the prober. We all chuckled over that.
After a while a reinforcement fleet arrived made up of Wildly Inappropriate and Goons but IRC had left the field and I logged with only the one kill mail. I don't know if the curse is completely broken, but its a start.
Wednesday, May 18, 2011
Cynojammers Everywhere!
Last night I was on kid duty as my wife had her free night so I logged in to take care of some simple logistics. The goal was simple, move the Wyvern and Chimera from one secure system to another. Easy right?
Well turns out not so much. The first attempt failed because I didn't check ranges of the two systems (I assumed they were close) and discovered to my horror that even with Jump Drive Calibration V the Wyvern can't make it 11.34 light years, only 11.25. Sigh.
So I needed to find a midpoint jump with numerous floating reds around. I tried three systems with only blues in them and every time there was a cyno jammer. GAH! Is there an easy way to tell if a system is jammed without failing to light a cyno or searching for an online jammer module?
Finally I found an empty system that was not jammed and I jumped to it safely. Since the Wyvern was travel fit it regenerated cap very quickly and I made the second jump to my destination without issue.
* * * * *
On a related topic, in Eve Commune podcast #25 Garheade and Chainer seem to be under the impression that the Jump Bridge nerf will someone negatively affect the threat of cap and supercap hotdrops as they will no longer be able to use jump bridges due to having a jump drive.
I would like to counter that in my years of being in null sec I have never heard or seen a major cap operation make use of a jump bridge network in any degree. The amount of Liquid Ozone fuel required and the logistical effort required make the process very complicated, especially in light of a cyno ship being so much easier, tactically flexible, and cheap to use.
The only case where a number of caps use jump bridges is in ones and twos to deploy into a cyno jammed system ahead of a defensive battle, or for logistic purposes.
Well turns out not so much. The first attempt failed because I didn't check ranges of the two systems (I assumed they were close) and discovered to my horror that even with Jump Drive Calibration V the Wyvern can't make it 11.34 light years, only 11.25. Sigh.
So I needed to find a midpoint jump with numerous floating reds around. I tried three systems with only blues in them and every time there was a cyno jammer. GAH! Is there an easy way to tell if a system is jammed without failing to light a cyno or searching for an online jammer module?
Finally I found an empty system that was not jammed and I jumped to it safely. Since the Wyvern was travel fit it regenerated cap very quickly and I made the second jump to my destination without issue.
* * * * *
On a related topic, in Eve Commune podcast #25 Garheade and Chainer seem to be under the impression that the Jump Bridge nerf will someone negatively affect the threat of cap and supercap hotdrops as they will no longer be able to use jump bridges due to having a jump drive.
I would like to counter that in my years of being in null sec I have never heard or seen a major cap operation make use of a jump bridge network in any degree. The amount of Liquid Ozone fuel required and the logistical effort required make the process very complicated, especially in light of a cyno ship being so much easier, tactically flexible, and cheap to use.
The only case where a number of caps use jump bridges is in ones and twos to deploy into a cyno jammed system ahead of a defensive battle, or for logistic purposes.
Tuesday, May 17, 2011
Work In Progress
I Shot A Girl (And I Liked It)
*sung to the tune of "I Kissed A Girl" by Katy Perry
I was goin' into low sec
I was running an errand.
I held my cloak on the next gate
there was a ship.
I clicked on
"Show Info".
It was a famous-female-podcaster.
I knew just
What to do.
I clicked "Approach"!
I shot a girl and I liked it!
Pulled in to a tight orbit.
I shot a girl just to try it!
Hope my alliance don't mind it.
It felt so good
It felt so right
Don't mean I'm a pirate tonite.
I shot a girl and I liked it!
I like it!
*sung to the tune of "I Kissed A Girl" by Katy Perry
I was goin' into low sec
I was running an errand.
I held my cloak on the next gate
there was a ship.
I clicked on
"Show Info".
It was a famous-female-podcaster.
I knew just
What to do.
I clicked "Approach"!
I shot a girl and I liked it!
Pulled in to a tight orbit.
I shot a girl just to try it!
Hope my alliance don't mind it.
It felt so good
It felt so right
Don't mean I'm a pirate tonite.
I shot a girl and I liked it!
I like it!
Monday, May 16, 2011
WHAM!
Wow, no post since Wencesday? What the hell happened? Well, it was a perfect storm of busy at home and especially busy at work where I was trying to make a deadline for a project and every day I thought I was close to checking in and every day something went off the rails and down into rabbit holes. Oh well, I survived.
To make up for it, here are some screen shots to brighten up your day. Regular posting shall resume.
To make up for it, here are some screen shots to brighten up your day. Regular posting shall resume.
Wednesday, May 11, 2011
Tweaks My Ass
Dear CCP,
Changing the size of a cargohold is a tweak. Adjusting the mass of a ship is a tweak. Even changing the damage formula for Fighter Bombers was mostly just a tweak.
A wholesale change of jump bridge networks and what ships can use them is not a tweak. Acting like it is just a little change is kind of insulting.
OK, now that that pet peeve is out of the way, let's address the changes themselves.
I feel that in isolation these changes are questionable. I agree that putting some risk into using jump bridges to travel distances is fair; but I minorly disagree with the method picked of one jump bridge per system. I talked about a while back how I would rather divorce jump bridges from POS and have them be visible to all as a celestial and I think that would have been less extreme while still making them more risky to use.
I think that limiting them to one per system is a nerf to the upgrade Advanced Logistics module that goes in the IHub, and its daily cost to upkeep is not changed. Thus extensive jump bridge networks are almost twice as expensive and a lot less safe.
All that being said, I can live with this change.
But my biggest beef to these changes is that they are not part and parcel of a nerf to supercarrier and titan jump portal force projection methods. In fact, they become more powerful in comparison as they allow a force with titans and supercarriers to easily outmaneuver a defender using jump bridges due to the element of surprise and tactical flexibility.
With no eye towards CCP's end game of 0.0 changes and no idea how or when they plan to address titans and supercarriers, I feel these changes should have been tabled until a comprehensive plan is in place. And if a plan is in place and in motion, they should give us a hint as to what it is because right now it feels very out of touch with the common null sec pilot, especially on the heels of the anomaly nerf.
All in all I want some carrot to go with the last two sticks.
Changing the size of a cargohold is a tweak. Adjusting the mass of a ship is a tweak. Even changing the damage formula for Fighter Bombers was mostly just a tweak.
A wholesale change of jump bridge networks and what ships can use them is not a tweak. Acting like it is just a little change is kind of insulting.
OK, now that that pet peeve is out of the way, let's address the changes themselves.
I feel that in isolation these changes are questionable. I agree that putting some risk into using jump bridges to travel distances is fair; but I minorly disagree with the method picked of one jump bridge per system. I talked about a while back how I would rather divorce jump bridges from POS and have them be visible to all as a celestial and I think that would have been less extreme while still making them more risky to use.
I think that limiting them to one per system is a nerf to the upgrade Advanced Logistics module that goes in the IHub, and its daily cost to upkeep is not changed. Thus extensive jump bridge networks are almost twice as expensive and a lot less safe.
All that being said, I can live with this change.
But my biggest beef to these changes is that they are not part and parcel of a nerf to supercarrier and titan jump portal force projection methods. In fact, they become more powerful in comparison as they allow a force with titans and supercarriers to easily outmaneuver a defender using jump bridges due to the element of surprise and tactical flexibility.
With no eye towards CCP's end game of 0.0 changes and no idea how or when they plan to address titans and supercarriers, I feel these changes should have been tabled until a comprehensive plan is in place. And if a plan is in place and in motion, they should give us a hint as to what it is because right now it feels very out of touch with the common null sec pilot, especially on the heels of the anomaly nerf.
All in all I want some carrot to go with the last two sticks.
Tuesday, May 10, 2011
Wormhole Ship Survey
For the next EON Magazine test flight article, I am soliciting ship setups for life in wormholes:
We here at E-ON mag are surveying wormhole dwellers on their favourite ships and fittings for life in a wormhole system. The idea is to show the setups to people not familiar with the rigors of existence separated from easy stations and markets (and local!). Feel free to fill out the survey multiple times for different ships.See the Eve Online forum thread for the details and the survey questions. If you are a serious wormhole dweller, I'd love to hear about your favourite ship setups for PvP, PvE, hauling, mining, salvaging, etc.
Monday, May 09, 2011
[Lottery] Ninveah Lottery #1 - Thanatos Carrier - Complete
The Thanatos lottery sold out much faster than anticipated and last night I unlocked the die and found #67 was the winning number. Congrats to jena2!
Unfortunately, I figured I would need a week to sell 100 tickets so the carrier was still four days to being delivered from the assembly line so I offered the winner ISK in place of the carrier if they did not want to wait. They agreed (couldn't fly it anyways it turns out) so now I have a Thanatos for sale. Doh.
Thanks to everyone who purchased tickets, I plan to make this a regular thing.
As an aside, the Somer Lottery service comes highly recommended, albeit a little pricey at 50 million ISK per setup.
Unfortunately, I figured I would need a week to sell 100 tickets so the carrier was still four days to being delivered from the assembly line so I offered the winner ISK in place of the carrier if they did not want to wait. They agreed (couldn't fly it anyways it turns out) so now I have a Thanatos for sale. Doh.
Thanks to everyone who purchased tickets, I plan to make this a regular thing.
As an aside, the Somer Lottery service comes highly recommended, albeit a little pricey at 50 million ISK per setup.
Friday, May 06, 2011
Eve Online On The Resume
Allow me to spin a tale of yesteryear...
I was looking for work about 9 years ago and not having much luck. I was a young programmer that got laid off when the company I was with hit hard times in the uncertainty after Sept 11 the year before and for a few months I could not get a job.
Now, I was only a few years out of university and I still wore two earrings in my ear from my rebellious student days (that was about as wild as I got folks) and I figured in today's day and age of 2002 that people would not bat an eye at a young software programmer with some ear bling, right?
Well, getting desperate for work I took out my ear rings for my next job interview and landed a position. Could be coincidence... except that years later I was friends with the guy who made the decision to hire me and as the topic turned to earrings I explained I had just taken mine out before my interview and he flat out told me "I would not have considered hiring you if I saw you with them in."
Now I've done the hiring thing myself over the past nine years and I know that qualifications on the resume can sometimes mean little when you meet the person in the interview. And sometimes even the first interview impression can ignored if the person does really good on the technical test and better in the second interview, but let me tell you that people considering to hire someone that they work closely with and see more of during the week than they do their own kids and wife will take every data point into consideration when making that hire-or-not decision.
As an aside, I think that here 9 years later the earring issue matters a lot less since people doing the hiring now possibly wore them in college but there are probably new taboos that act the same way.
All of this brings me around to Eve Online. Now I'm sure you've heard of people starting to include their World Of Warcraft experience on their resumes as a leader of a raid has to do a lot of things similar to a job: communicate clearly, deal with issues of the underlings, plan out an approach, and coordinate a large number of people to accomplish a common goal. And that's only up to 25 people.
In Eve the alliance leaders of major null sec coalitions can lead up to thousands of pilots. Fleet commanders coordinate hundreds of people in high pressure situations. Industry magnates manage massive spreadsheets and thousands of assets and processes to produce industrial empires. Special alliances and corporations teach players the ins and outs of the game or PvP in classes that would be at home at a college or university, sometimes with people that are better teachers than paid teachers. Players delving into market analysis and game mechanics wield math and programming concepts with ease and debate the virtues of various hypothesis. Council of Stellar Management members have to work with each other, the community, and CCP in order to be effective. People who succeed in these positions are not super common and should be proud of their accomplishments.
But would they put Eve Online on their resume?
Despite the infiltration of MMO gaming into common culture consciousness there is still a pervading attitude that people that play these games any more than casually are not-quite-right. They are nerds or geeks, or worse they are addicted to gaming and can't be trusted to perform their job well. The spectre of sensational gaming addiction headlines hangs over the hobby and ignores the fact that it is such a small fraction that allow gaming to take over their life that you are more likely to have problems with drug users and alcoholics.
Perhaps some aspects of the gaming culture are more respectable than others. For example, I am a published writer due to the Test Flight articles in E-ON Magazine. I would put that on my resume if I were looking for work because it shows I can work for an editor, meet deadlines, and produce content consistently for 2 straight years now. Although it implies I am a dedicated gamer it seems less frivolous. The same could be said for someone who works on the CSM. But a fleet commander leading pilots into a warzone? Why does it lack the same gravitas, deserved or not?
In the end, I guess whether you include notable Eve Online accomplishments on your resume depends a lot on who is going to do the hiring. A younger company or manager might be able to appreciate the difference between gaming obsession and gaming hobby; a conservative older manager might not.
In another 9 years, maybe it won't matter as a new generation fills the roles of theinterviewer instead of the interviewee. I know I don't give two craps about men wearing earrings.
I was looking for work about 9 years ago and not having much luck. I was a young programmer that got laid off when the company I was with hit hard times in the uncertainty after Sept 11 the year before and for a few months I could not get a job.
Now, I was only a few years out of university and I still wore two earrings in my ear from my rebellious student days (that was about as wild as I got folks) and I figured in today's day and age of 2002 that people would not bat an eye at a young software programmer with some ear bling, right?
Well, getting desperate for work I took out my ear rings for my next job interview and landed a position. Could be coincidence... except that years later I was friends with the guy who made the decision to hire me and as the topic turned to earrings I explained I had just taken mine out before my interview and he flat out told me "I would not have considered hiring you if I saw you with them in."
Now I've done the hiring thing myself over the past nine years and I know that qualifications on the resume can sometimes mean little when you meet the person in the interview. And sometimes even the first interview impression can ignored if the person does really good on the technical test and better in the second interview, but let me tell you that people considering to hire someone that they work closely with and see more of during the week than they do their own kids and wife will take every data point into consideration when making that hire-or-not decision.
As an aside, I think that here 9 years later the earring issue matters a lot less since people doing the hiring now possibly wore them in college but there are probably new taboos that act the same way.
All of this brings me around to Eve Online. Now I'm sure you've heard of people starting to include their World Of Warcraft experience on their resumes as a leader of a raid has to do a lot of things similar to a job: communicate clearly, deal with issues of the underlings, plan out an approach, and coordinate a large number of people to accomplish a common goal. And that's only up to 25 people.
In Eve the alliance leaders of major null sec coalitions can lead up to thousands of pilots. Fleet commanders coordinate hundreds of people in high pressure situations. Industry magnates manage massive spreadsheets and thousands of assets and processes to produce industrial empires. Special alliances and corporations teach players the ins and outs of the game or PvP in classes that would be at home at a college or university, sometimes with people that are better teachers than paid teachers. Players delving into market analysis and game mechanics wield math and programming concepts with ease and debate the virtues of various hypothesis. Council of Stellar Management members have to work with each other, the community, and CCP in order to be effective. People who succeed in these positions are not super common and should be proud of their accomplishments.
But would they put Eve Online on their resume?
Despite the infiltration of MMO gaming into common culture consciousness there is still a pervading attitude that people that play these games any more than casually are not-quite-right. They are nerds or geeks, or worse they are addicted to gaming and can't be trusted to perform their job well. The spectre of sensational gaming addiction headlines hangs over the hobby and ignores the fact that it is such a small fraction that allow gaming to take over their life that you are more likely to have problems with drug users and alcoholics.
Perhaps some aspects of the gaming culture are more respectable than others. For example, I am a published writer due to the Test Flight articles in E-ON Magazine. I would put that on my resume if I were looking for work because it shows I can work for an editor, meet deadlines, and produce content consistently for 2 straight years now. Although it implies I am a dedicated gamer it seems less frivolous. The same could be said for someone who works on the CSM. But a fleet commander leading pilots into a warzone? Why does it lack the same gravitas, deserved or not?
In the end, I guess whether you include notable Eve Online accomplishments on your resume depends a lot on who is going to do the hiring. A younger company or manager might be able to appreciate the difference between gaming obsession and gaming hobby; a conservative older manager might not.
In another 9 years, maybe it won't matter as a new generation fills the roles of theinterviewer instead of the interviewee. I know I don't give two craps about men wearing earrings.
Ninveah Lottery #1 - Thanatos
I've been put in charge of raffling off capital ships that the corp produces and our first public offering is rolling out of the assembly lines in a 6 days. Here is the text from the Eve Online forum post.
This is a lottery for a Gallente Thanatos Carrier and 10000 units of oxygen isotope fuel.If you have some spare ISK, please consider buying a ticket. Even if you can't fly the ship you can resell and buy your favourite faction cruiser or 5. Or lots of Dramiels.
There are 100 tickets and can be purchased for 10,000,000 ISK each.
To purchase a ticket send ISK to Kirith Kodachi with a reason of "NinveahLottery1" to be tracked properly through SOMER's Lottery service. Link to lottery site can be found here.
The winning number has been secured using Chribba's locked dice and a link to the roll can be found here and on the lottery page.
Thursday, May 05, 2011
From Hell
So on Monday night while on child-watch duty I sent my alt to Jita and purchased the mods for an Abaddon while I purchased the hull and some other mods out in Pure Blind where prices were better. Comparison shopping, folks, will save you ISK!
Here is the setup I purchased:
For better analysis of the various fitting options for an Abaddon Hellcat, you should be reading Jester's Trek blog. But I will hit the high points of this setup here.
This is a armour buffer tank augmented with some resistance improvements but mostly centered on the two 1600mm plates and the two Trimark Armour pumps. The idea being that you can take a volley or two before the logistics ships (i.e. Guardians) can get repair cycles on you.
However, the main goal of the setup is not to survive, but to deal impressive damage while doing so. The two heat sinks and the Tech II large pulse lasers combine to deal powerful damage while the two tracking computers ensure that a target moving 1000 m/s or less transversal at 15 km can still be tracked. Switch to optimal range scripts and Scorch crystals the battleship has an optimal of 58 km with with 16 km falloff and estimated 568 damage per second.
It is a very solid ship of the line.
Emphasis on 'solid'. The align time of the vessel is the killer at almost 15 seconds from a stop. And those pulse lasers are capacitor hogs meaning it can only operate for about 3.5 minutes before the cap charges have to be consumed to keep it firing. Guardians help alleviate this of course, or triage carriers.
There are some things I'm considering changing. The Energy Discharge Elutriation rig lowers cap use of the weapons and gives another whole minute to its cap reserves which could be crucial in a combat situation, but I think would consider a Energy Collsion Accelerator for more DPS or another Trimark for more buffer. Also, the passive explosive hardener might be worth switching for an active version although that would require the use of a 1% CPU implant. Alternatively, stay with the passive mod and upgrade the cap booster to a heavy version for better ability to operate the MWD under pressure, i.e. "Burn out of the bubbles!"
All in all I'm looking forward to flying it in combat.
Here is the setup I purchased:
 | ||
| Go Hellcats! |
This is a armour buffer tank augmented with some resistance improvements but mostly centered on the two 1600mm plates and the two Trimark Armour pumps. The idea being that you can take a volley or two before the logistics ships (i.e. Guardians) can get repair cycles on you.
However, the main goal of the setup is not to survive, but to deal impressive damage while doing so. The two heat sinks and the Tech II large pulse lasers combine to deal powerful damage while the two tracking computers ensure that a target moving 1000 m/s or less transversal at 15 km can still be tracked. Switch to optimal range scripts and Scorch crystals the battleship has an optimal of 58 km with with 16 km falloff and estimated 568 damage per second.
It is a very solid ship of the line.
Emphasis on 'solid'. The align time of the vessel is the killer at almost 15 seconds from a stop. And those pulse lasers are capacitor hogs meaning it can only operate for about 3.5 minutes before the cap charges have to be consumed to keep it firing. Guardians help alleviate this of course, or triage carriers.
There are some things I'm considering changing. The Energy Discharge Elutriation rig lowers cap use of the weapons and gives another whole minute to its cap reserves which could be crucial in a combat situation, but I think would consider a Energy Collsion Accelerator for more DPS or another Trimark for more buffer. Also, the passive explosive hardener might be worth switching for an active version although that would require the use of a 1% CPU implant. Alternatively, stay with the passive mod and upgrade the cap booster to a heavy version for better ability to operate the MWD under pressure, i.e. "Burn out of the bubbles!"
All in all I'm looking forward to flying it in combat.
Wednesday, May 04, 2011
For Crying Out Loud!
OK, who cursed me?
I had a terrible April in terms of getting fights and I thought things were turning around last night when I joined a fleet getting ready to fight some reds buzzing around H-W in Tribute. I got a combat clone up to Tribute so I could join sub-cap fleets with Kirith, but my new Abaddon battleship had not been moved up yet so I was in my Arazu. But the call went out for more DPS so I borrowed a pulse Apocalypse from Greyhound67 and got back in fleet.
When we got to the target system, the FC ordered us to align, mods hot, and then... Whoops, get in force field of the POS, something happened. We warped around a bit more, then went back to base and stood down.
That took 5 minutes to write but was acted out over an hour. I don't mind the wait to form up, I use it to chat and answer evemails and such, but I expect the earth shattering kaboom at the end of the wait. Where's my earth shattering kaboom?
Sigh. At least I didn't get the borrowed battleship blown up.
I'll talk about the Abaddon tomorrow.
I had a terrible April in terms of getting fights and I thought things were turning around last night when I joined a fleet getting ready to fight some reds buzzing around H-W in Tribute. I got a combat clone up to Tribute so I could join sub-cap fleets with Kirith, but my new Abaddon battleship had not been moved up yet so I was in my Arazu. But the call went out for more DPS so I borrowed a pulse Apocalypse from Greyhound67 and got back in fleet.
When we got to the target system, the FC ordered us to align, mods hot, and then... Whoops, get in force field of the POS, something happened. We warped around a bit more, then went back to base and stood down.
That took 5 minutes to write but was acted out over an hour. I don't mind the wait to form up, I use it to chat and answer evemails and such, but I expect the earth shattering kaboom at the end of the wait. Where's my earth shattering kaboom?
Sigh. At least I didn't get the borrowed battleship blown up.
I'll talk about the Abaddon tomorrow.
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