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Tuesday, August 30, 2011

Wormhole Wisdom #6

  Jumping through an end of life hole is like playing Russian roulette with getting locked out. Especially if there happens to be Russians on the other side...awkward.


Saturday, August 27, 2011

Incursions And You!

  Since I have recently gotten into Incursion site running, I figured I could write up a primer for those that are interested and still haven't gotten in or those that decided it's not worth the effort. Olga is being put to good use and she can get me into fleets pretty easily. And my goodness, I've never seen so many Navy ships, Vindis and Machs flying around.

  So, in this post I will detail the best places to find fleets, the sites that you will run, and what you need to expect with Incursions. These will be highsec only.

  Channels To Join
BTL Armor
The Ditanian Fleet
BTL Pub
The regular Incursion channel for the region of your choice

  The first two channels are reserved for armor only fleets, while the third is shields and the last is chatter for the Incursion. When you are new, running with these fleets can be great experience. Prove yourself and you may even get invites to more "leet" channels. With any fleet, your best bet is to be flying a Faction battleship, T3, or command ship. Those will be taken far before any other types.

Protocol for x-ing up in those channels is generally in this format:

  (Link fit) LFAF/LFSF (incursion system name here) VG/AS/HQ

  The x up depends on what you want. LFAF is for armor, LFSF is shields and the last tag is optional. Starting out, you'll be wanting Vanguard (VG) fleets so you can add that. Assaults are generally recognized as not being worthwhile, since their ISK/hr ratio is lower than VG. HQ fleets won't be found until the MOM pops up and they are massive fleets. Consequently, we will be focusing on Vanguards.

You can find a competent fleet that can run relatively quickly, depending on the night, in short order. A good fleet running Vanguards can net you 100mil ISK/hr or so before LP. Not only is fast better, but a good fleet will be needed when you must compete for a site. More than one fleet on field means the payout only goes to the fleet that puts out the most DPS. No slacking, capsuleer!

For Incursions you need to make sure of a few things:

 1. Good FC that can call as needed and direct the fleet well
 2. Logi pilots that don't suck
 3. Good FC
 4. Oh yea, good FC

  A bad FC will run too slowly and might even end up losing you a ship if they're bad enough. But you probably won't have to worry too much about that.


   But how do I know where the Incursions are taking place?

Simple, the journal tab on your neocom is the best source of information for everything related to Incursions. Pop it open and the last tab to the right is labeled "Incursions. When you have selected it, you'll find sub-tabs labeled Global Report, Encounters, and Loyalty Point Log.

Global Report: Tells you where Incursions are currently happening, how far they are from your position, and what the penalties are at.

Encounters: Details the sites in each level of Incursions and how much payouts will be for said sites

Loyalty Point Log: Shows you how much LP you gained after each site, only to be paid out after the MOM has been destroyed.

  Now you know where to go to look for them, but what should you bring? Well I can say right now that your super mission maller probably won't get you into fleets. Sorry about that. Essentially, you want something that can pack enough tank to not get your face murdered and still bring good dps to the field. You also want to be a utility for the fleet, so webs and target painters are your new best friend. Sadly, I have seen T3s and other shiny ships linked with only T1 guns/mods...please don't be one of them. You can usually get away with it in BS sized ships, but even then you're better off training up T2. Don't know the best way to fit for this? No worries, Eve Survival has some good advice for you.

  Site Types

Mining Colony
Commander Outpost
Override Transfer Array


  Your fleet size is best aroudn 9 or 10 pilots. Too many more and your ISK payouts begin to drop beneath being worthwhile. Fleet composition is hardly complicated with:

3 Logi
7 dps

  Assaults will climb to double the logi, and as many snipers and close range dps you can get. Those fleets tend to be around 25 pilots.


  Why would I even want to do Incursions in the first place?

You may not and that is a completely valid and ok action to take. But allow me to persuade you otherwise.

  Incursions give you:

  • More excitement and challenge than missioning
  • More socialization than missioning
  • Payouts, while only 10-15 million per site, add up quickly
  • LP gains you nice rewards like better implants, capital blueprints and more!
  • Knowledge that you are helping push back the evil invasions of a deluded madman. RP FTW!
  You now have the know-how, but it's up to you to get out and do it. Have fun, too, because otherwise it's just as much a grind as missioning. Don't let a bad fleet put you off, there are lots of good ones to look forward to and they will be very rewarding.

  Good luck and death to Sansha!
-Mem

  PS. I want to say thanks to Asayanami Dei for some great links and info that helped create this post

 



Wormhole Wisdom #5

Don't overextend yourself and multi box too many characters in wspace. It'll just end very, very, badly.

Wednesday, August 24, 2011

The Future of the Blog Pack

  Recently, the famous Eve Blog Pack that was created and maintained faithfully by my friend, CrazyKinux, for years now is going through something of a transition period. CK has decided to spend time playing Eve and enjoying the community he helped bolster and cultivate. So he put the call out for someone to take it on while he moves into working in the game industry.

  Sadly, he also needed to cease blogging and podcasting since it created a conflict with his new employer. This I understand and agree with since RL>Eve in any instance. It is sad news and we will miss CK's contribution, but wish him luck in his new endeavors. As he said, all good things must come to an end.

  So where does it go from there? Well his last post addressed that by encouraging the community to step up and take charge if they wanted the Pack to continue. We do have a great community and it was respectfully picked up by Rixx Javix over at Eveoganda. Long live the Pack.

  I also have a new way of getting the Pack feeds on my iPod. If you enjoyed Capsuleer and wished for a good replacement like I used to, here it is. Go download the Leaky Capsule app and enjoy. It has your skill queue abilities and feeds the Blog Pack in as well. I must admit that summer killed my blog reading because I rarely touched my iPod and the RSS feed reader that I use got too daunting when I had like 300 blogs updating all the time. So I am restarting from the Pack, just like when I originally got into it all, and the few that I have followed beyond the pack. After my burnout recedes, I'll get back up there I suppose.

 Anyways, enough of me rambling, go and enjoy the revitalization of the Pack and say bye to a great blogger.

  Cheers to you CK,
-Mem

Sunday, August 21, 2011

Wormhole Wisdom #4

Don't forget to bookmark. And do it from the overview, not scan results

Saturday, August 20, 2011

A Shift In Perspective

  Wow, I just noticed that this blog will be a full year old next month.

  Huh...wow, guess time flies, eh?

  So with my last post being about a new shiny on my page, it was a change something that was in line with a train of thought I have had for a few months now. This was then compounded when a reader contacted me with a proposal to act on that train of thought.

  In this whole year of writing, not much has changed visually. A failing on my part, to be sure.

  It was proposed that the blog get a facelift, a good Wordpress work over and some shakin' around to jazz my little corner up a bit. And I quite like the idea, since I have been feeling slightly limited by the interface provided. Blogger is a great host to start your journey, but one does feel some growing pains eventually.

  Why are you blabbering to us about this?


 Ah! Good question, dear reader, and one I shall now address. I want your opinion! If you would be so kind as to give me your impression or qualms. Would changing location and/or format disturb you or prevent further readership? While this is certainly my place to do as I wish, I do tend to wish to make myself as available and accessible as you would need.

  I will be giving this all a good ponder for a time and if it comes about that a shift is good I will do my best to preserve all that has been amassed here at Progression's Horizon. There is still much to be written and the horizon hardly ends.

  Whether in a comment here, a mail in Eve, or a pigeon by air, let me know what you think!

-Mem

Thursday, August 18, 2011

A New Look

  A long time ago, or what seems like a long time ago, I told you that I would add those little ads into the blog site to see if monetizing would be something worthwhile or would even work for me. Short answer, it didn't or at least I just didn't give it much time to do so. I think I got up to fifty cents or something in a month or two, so I called it quits.

  Not long after, I began a conversation with the good folks over at EON magazine. Many months later, we have things sorted out and they have graciously allowed me to partner with them. So, those of you that visit my site in a browser rather than a feed will notice some re-arranging. On the left you will now find the list of posts and links to other useful page, while on the right you will notice the list of subscribers and the pretty picture that links to EON. They are great people, so I am happy to support them and encourage you do to so as well.

  I don't get any money from you clicking it so don't worry. I am a bit annoyed with the Blogger interface since you can see that the picture is a bit bigger than the window it is supposed to be inside. I was hoping the interface would compensate automatically and adjust around it, but it seems I overestimated my host. So now I look like a noob, but hopefully that will be fixed soon. If not, then so be it. I'm sure most of you read me on feeds anyways.

  Now back to your semi-regularly scheduled program.
-Mem

Wednesday, August 17, 2011

Olga Got Thirsty

  So I haven't really come up with a better name yet...sue me. It fits her after all, being so big and...well not that I am implying anyone named Olga is necessarily big, but..you know....oh nevermind.

  Last week or so I saw fit to release my beautiful beast from the shackles of station life, tentatively undocking and vigorously spamming the warp command until she was safely away. My poor mouse. Happily, she gracefully slid into motion like a massive pair of hippie pants, albeit deadly hippie pants. She is not quite as ludicrously expensive as she will be sometime soon, but she is enough so that I can make good use of her. Or stare at while in the relative safety of the shiny bubble I call home.

  I figure there are few times I shall use her, but I shall find as many as I can. Frankly, I surprised myself tonight by using her before I even thought her fit to do so. Oh, but I quite enjoyed it and it left me wanting more so let me regale you, my dear reader.

  As I logged into comms, things were peaceful and I drifted away from my station to be with a pretty lady. After a bit of watching sharks on the tele, I heard comms get a bit chatty. So I nipped over to see what the fuss was about and it seemed to be that we had some neighbors getting a bit cheeky. And by cheeky, I mean they tried to scan down some of our pilots who were innocently mining away. So there was talking and some scouting and analyzing and some eyes that glazed over after the minutes just dragged on. Admittedly I owned said eyes, but it really did just drag. This went for a long time, til finally we had been sitting on our connecting hole with a few chaps when one of them decided to have a poke about.

  Bad move, mate.

  His little covert ops frigate made a mighty dash and got a cloak up. With a bit of grumbling we sped around until he made an encore appearance. I don't think he got along with our fastlock. And then off went his pod, bouncing around the system avoiding us. And here we just wanted to help him find his way out...through some cloning facilities, perhaps, but in the nice way of course.

  Apparently he got bored, since he logged. This got his buds into a bit of motion as they were bouncing all over at range on their side. I guess they wanted their friend back, but obviously not that badly if they weren't going to come get him. So it went for a loooong time, us watching them try to decide to do like a barrel of ADD fish. At this point I had gotten into a frigate to catch the pod and our fleet had diminished drastically. I felt a bit vulnerable and fragile, so I decided to get a bit beefier. Hence Olga coming out to play. Even this was in a bit of jest, since I never thought to actually use her. Just pretend to crash our hole and force their hand or give them shiny bait. The hippie pants can be quite compelling.

  More back and forth between the two sides and finally one of ours logs in with his Mach to go straight for them. At this point, the opfor finally amassed two Tengus, a Rokh, Legion, Proteus, Scorpion, and a Harbringer. I thought there were more T3s but it's late so who knows. Anyways, they decide to finally engage our poor lone Mach. This brings the rest of our fleet, which had refilled and then some to quite the force. Then it was on.

  I urged Olga through the wormhole with soothing murmurs of blood to come. She must have understood, because she went eagerly. The only Tengu to actually arrive was first on the menu, but out of my range so I went to work on the Legion who was in hump range. Webs and point on, drones launched and snack time commenced as he graciously began to melt. It was not quick enough, however, as he decided to jump out of the fray. Sad Vindi is sad. Back to the Tengu!

  No matter, there are others about. It was at this point I noticed neuts from the Rokh eating my capacitor away. So like a booze hound begging for change, I drank from the faucet of cap boosters and kept my point bouncing around to targets I didn't hear were pointed. Bad idea that, since the Legion came back through and poofed away along with the Rokh leaving our party. No worries, as we had a few others to chew into. As an ECM enthusiast, it was my pleasure to burn this terribad fit into space since he had been shutting down most of our points. Then I noticed the naughty little Harby that was trying to sneak out the back, like some bad houseguest. Well, 90% webs will do the trick for that and make short work of poor manners.

  Alas, twas all that we would have of these fellows after we cleared the field of debris. I guess their friend was not worth it as we soon found his corpse in space...what a tease. At least it has a good home now.

  It felt good to get a bit of blood all over Olga, she's kinky like that. It also gave me a good gauge for what she can handle as far as cap warfare and engagement range or engagement type. But I loved every second of it, expense justified.

  And with that I bid you adieu. I believe I shall make my fashionably late analyzation of the latest dev blogs in my coming posts, but for now sleep beckons.

  Don't be afraid to get a little wild sometimes
-Mem

Monday, August 15, 2011

Wormhole Wisdom #3

  Wormholes are for fighting and surviving, leave your NAPs in Kspace where they belong.

Thursday, August 11, 2011

Wormhole Wisdom #2

  Apply anywhere there is use of POS


  Having trouble with your hangar loading? Can't get to your favorite ship or modules? Stick that bad boy on list mode and watch things come up faster than lightning...space lightning.

Sunday, August 7, 2011

Caveat Emptor

  I knew my 4 years of Latin were good for something. :P

  An old tip for you, but one that I need to keep remembering as of late. When you are looking through contracts on the new system, be very careful. Just because you sort the column of prices from low to high doesn't mean that's the lowest contract. Hit the drop down menu in the top right corner and sort it that way.

  I was price checking for my Vindi and was wondering why prices had gone up for a few modules. Thankfully, I got saved quite a bit of money and grief by being reminded. I am starting to try to think of contracts I've taken where I did not sort that way. Doh!

  Also, I am about to get back into the new school year. My last, thank goodness, but things will be a bit nuts for the next couple weeks so I apologize for slow or uninteresting posts. I'll try to keep it up nonetheless.

  When you are about to hit the accept button, stop and double check o/
-Mem

Thursday, August 4, 2011

Wormhole WIsdom #1

Wisdom #1

 Learn thy D-scan, love it, live it and it shall guide you always.

Wednesday, August 3, 2011

There's Also A Reason...

  That I should go to bed at a reasonable hour. If I don't, like tonight as many other nights, bad or crazy things happen to me or I do them myself. Either way, it can have interesting outcomes. So, while my last post was a sleep deprived night of loss and anger, tonight is a night of elation and poverty.

  Why, you ask? Just pretend you asked, alright? Well, I kind of went of a spending spree. My wallet has been rather healthy lately, thanks to my usual frugal nature and some work I have been doing that rewarded me in isk. My legion loss was a big hit, but I didn't want to get back into one anytime soon.  But if someone offers you a new T3 for free, just because "they have one sitting around"...don't think, just thank them profusely as you accept the contract. You might wanna check it, just to be sure it's actually that T3 :P

  Ambiguity aside, someone gave me a Legion hull like a saint. I had subs sitting around from a second fit I forgot about and some in Jita just waiting to be sold. So I fit up my new shiny Legion after buying a final subs and fittings, over-tanked like a mothertrucker, and happily took it home. I also noticed 3% armor implants are only 10 mil...really?...so I nabbed that while I was out. Yay, more EHP! If you're on grid trying to shoot me...you might wanna switch targets.

  But my free-flowing ISK didn't stop there. T3s are the new HACs, after all, so what we need is a big buck expenditure. Something to really make 'em say oooh and aaah. So I give you, Olga! Temporary name, though, methinks.


  Thanks to CQ, it's a crapshoot trying to get decent screenies and I'm too tired to care. I'd get in-space shots, but there's no heckin' way I'm undocking her yet. If it's too dark or hard to tell, yes it is indeed a Vindicator.

  Now, before you run off to trying getting your locator agents to find me you may as well not. Like I said, this baby ain't going anywhere for a loooong time. I have all of 30mil ISk to my name, so she has no fittings. I want her tricked out properly for her maiden voyage, and that will only be at an undisclosed time. I should probably figure out more than one or two uses for her as well. I'm sure I can find some for a ship with well over 100k EHP and 1500dps...and don't forget the ridiculous web bonus ;D

  But there you have it, from one end of the spectrum to the other. This was not, believe it or not, a complete impulse buy. I have been debating a faction battleship for a loooong time. I just finally decided to pull the trigger on one of the more useful ones. Everyone has Bhaalys these days and I gotta represent my Gallente pride after all. Besides, the Mega hull is so sexy.

  Anyways, it's about time I sleep.
-Mem