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Friday, August 17, 2012

Blood of Valhalla

  My son went down for a nap and I decided to see what was going on in the Eve universe. Usually during the day it is rather dead and I end up just looking at ship fits, haul a bit of gas or rock around, or talk to whoever is on at the time.

  I did most of that this time. Although, thankfully I got on around the time a few corpmates were scanning out the last few holes in our chain. For a time there wasn't much to see or do. There were a few active and flying ships in one of the dead end holes, which we were hoping to catch and kill. Alas, nothing came of it.

  But our attention was drawn a few holes over where we found a POS that was left entirely undefended. By that I mean it was void of defensive modules on the outside. That's just too tempting to pass up. If that wasn't enough, there was quite the list of ships inside the forcefield.

  Two Revelations, a Chimera, a Charon, Nidhoggur, a bunch of T3s and a few others.

  But they are being boring and annoying by shipping into and out of the Chimera multiple times, warping in and out of the POS and so on.

  So I got bored. And then warped to their POS. And kind of shot at it in my Cynabal...cuz I can.

  Even then it took them a few minutes to notice and react. The Tengu motored his way out of the shields and threw a few volleys at me. It tickled. Others reshipped and warped out or just plain logged off entirely. That's just plain disappointing. After all we knew they had skirmished with our friends in TRECI just this day, they had left their EC-300s 300km off the POS.

  When he retreated I cut my engines to see what they might do. That was when one of our scouts mentioned combat probes that were right on top of us. Sneaky little things, those probes can be.

  So I warped back to our connecting wormhole and jumped through, to see if they knew where it was and would follow me. Sure enough, the Loki was a couple minutes behind me and jumped through. I had been orbiting at range and when he broke cloak was too far to bump him. He wimped out and just cloaked anyways, even when all he could see was my Cynabal. Lucky for him since I had been joined by a cloaked Pilgrim.

  It then turned back into a waiting game...which I again grew bored of and warped away. I made it all the way back to our home system before they did anything. And then it was a whole lot of things.

  The Loki was joined by more T3s and then did some jumping. They all ended up on their side of it, though, and most of them warped off. However, a Tengu had not. That was when we sprung into action, with our scout grabbing an initial tackle. The rest of us piled on, including a very ballsy covert ops frigate.

  What a tough nut to crack he was, too. We didn't have spectacular dps, but he was webbed down and apparently had polarized himself. He forced one of our cloakies out and decided to take a few shots at me instead. We ate away at his shields bit by bit until he was bleeding into armor. That was when his friends finally showed up again. Not before he was blown into oblivion.

  A Loki landed first, followed by a Scorpion off at 70km and more incoming. So I quickly looted the Tengu's wreck and called for everyone to jump out. As they did so I locked up the Loki and got his attention with a few good rounds of Fusion.

  Then it was my turn to jump.

  I began to burn off the hole and got ready for the party to come with me. They all piled after and apparently they decided they just loved me since I got red-boxed immediately. A Raven Navy and others added to the blob of hardware. My shields dropped to half, nearly causing me to think they might actually kill me. So I told the rest to get themselves out safely and continued my way off the hole. It was a bit slower than I would have like, being webbed and pointed and jammed at one point, but I kept shooting. Capless guns are so much fun that way.

  It was an odd thing that happened next. I should probably mention my Cyclone is dual ASB fit. So when I saw it drop to half shields, I kicked in some tanking and it shot from half to full in one go. That must have discouraged them more than I thought it could because I was still boating my way 30+km off the hole and they started jumping out.

  That fleet...jumping out...when all that was left was my Cyclone and abandoned drones. A nice WTFmoment right there.

  I wasn't going to complain so I lit my warp drive up. I was still webbed but they had lost point on me. So I slid into the tunnel and went homeward with a hold of shiny faction loot.

  We had some log ons of our own, hoping for a good old fashioned slugfest with the forces they had showed but in the end it just ended up with us shooting at their POS while they logged off and were generally pretty boring.

  For losing a bil, I was thinking they would want blood in the worst way. Oh well, my Cyclone proved itself admirably and I had fun blooding it. Top damage no less.

  So the next time I see comments like this:

[22:25:11] Cpt Solano > i remember when adhoc used to fight not gank
[22:25:21] Cpt Solano > no wait they used exploits wolololol
[22:25:31] MooCowofKow > aharm?
[22:25:43] Cpt Solano > same shit isnt it
[22:25:47] MooCowofKow > nope
[22:25:48] Cpt Solano > wh elite pvp
[22:25:53] Cpt Solano > all the same group
[22:26:00] KAOS Maximus > wait.. what is this?
[22:26:03] StrydeTaz > I remember when low sec pirates brought fights. instead of ganking freighters

I'll just start linking killmails that say otherwise. (That quote is entirely unrelated but was stated in a situation where 2 of ours killed a hauler. The other bits of ignorance are wholly amusing too and there was much more than that, but I'll leave it at snickering instead of explaining the stupidity.)

  So, go out and blow something up. You don't need a lot of pilots. Just a lot of courage and disregard for your clone's well-being.
-Mem

Thursday, August 16, 2012

Blog Tidy Up

  I know most of you probably read my posts through an RSS feed, so this doesn't affect you much. But if you ever get the hankering to visit my site through a browser you may notice I've changed things up a little bit thanks to a bout of insomnia.

  I don't know if it was mainly ignorance, laziness, Blogger changed or what but I had a lot of unnecessary stuff around here.

  So I nixed my old page of blogs and now have a shiny feed on the right hand side. I pruned some that were dead links or hadn't posted in ages. Any that haven't but are still on the list have a special place and it means I WANT YOU TO POST AGAIN GUIZE!

  I've also added a twitter feed on the left so you can stalk me even more if you want. The title is finally centered...omg that thing bugged me to no end ever since I started this so I finally edited the HTML myself since blogger has no option for it otherwise. Kinda changed the font too, but nothing is as I want it until I break down and just design a whole new site.

  Headings were changed to be a little more creative, colors were played with, and overall width was increased because my goodness it was cramped before. What was I on for two years? I also have a new background that I'll implement shortly because my current one is boring and has been there for far too long.


  In other news, the Wormhole Fundamental video series that I've been helping voice is still chugging along. There's a handy link to it permanently on the right there, if you ever forget the URL. We are up to 10 episodes or so now and still have topics to be done. If you have any suggestions for something you want to see done there, feel free to leave a comment here, on the youtube videos, on my twitter or in-game. We will only be fielding topics that are unique to wormholes so leave your capital-ship-building questions at the door.

 In game, I have actually been able to get play time in more than usual lately. Thankfully, I have been able to keep my account active thanks to awesome corpmates and the power of PLEX. So my skill training has at least not faltered too much, allowing me to now effectively fly a Moros class Dreadnought. Pretty spiffy if you ask me, especially considering I used to think I would never ever fly a cap ship. I also grabbed T2 cruisers and battlecruisers for all races which makes small gang work so much more fun. Now I'll be working on perfecting some Int/Mem skills that have been waiting and maybe even drones. Sad that a Gallente drone user doesn't even have T2 sentries or heavies. Whatevs.

  This recent spurt of playing and being able to blog again is refreshing to me. I've missed it and for a while I was burnt out on Eve and anything related. Hopefully this will last but I do have RL to attend to much more now since I have my first job out of college and my son just keeps growing up.

  I guess you could say I just prefer to see it all as..*puts on sunglasses*...my progression's horizon.

Yeaaaaaaaah
-Mem

Monday, August 13, 2012

Wormhole Etiquette

  I will warn you now, this post is a bit of a venting on an Eve pet peeve I've developed through living in wormholes for nearly 2 years now. If you don't care about anyone outside your corp or enjoy being a jerk, feel free to stop reading. And thanks to insomnia, it'll be a surprise if it's even coherent for the rest of you.

  My motivation for this post comes from yesterday after getting crashed out of my home system, something that pissed me off quite a bit. It is a straw-that-broke-the-camel's-back kind of thing, but opens up a potential discussion for those that call themselves wormholers.

  Here's the skinny: A corpmate had been scouting around our scanned out wormhole chain to see if anyone was out and about. Most of the systems were dead, but farther down there seemed to be some sort of party between Bite Me Inc. and another corp. With a very good potential for combat or at least crashing the party in some way, we assembled a small fleet that was supported by a couple Guardians. Nothing to write home about, just a force that would be enough to smash something and leave.

  So we begin to make best speed through the chain toward the target system, with some new logons following us at their convenience. We had transited about 3 systems when someone typed into fleet that there was most likely an unscanned hole in our home's static with the corp QUL living in it. It was unconfirmed that there might be a cloaky HIC around as well, but instead of worrying about unconfirmed things we kept on to what we saw as a sure fight.

  Until someone called on comms that a hostile fleet landed on our static link. With an Archon. And a  Bhaalgorn and T3 support. WTF.

  They kinda missed us if they were looking for a fight. But of course they weren't and they proceeded to throw the Archon back and forth to kill our hole. For no reason. They must have watched us transit through, waited, and then done what they did to be complete dicks. That is the only reason I can find even after a day of thinking.

  If they had wanted a fight, they would have done this when they saw us in that system and crashed us in with them to slaughter us. We hadn't poked at them at all, so it wasn't retaliation for anything in the day's events.

  Pure, unmitigated dickish move.

  This was the second time in 3 days that one of our fleets has been crashed out of our home system shortly after leaving it by forces that obviously couldn't care less. It is actions like that which burn me into a short temper and make me want to table flip.

  I have no problem with crashing holes. It is one of the things that makes WHs awesome when you can be strategic in limiting opfor abilities or becoming all the more reclusive. We have fought QUL before and every. single. time they will crash the hole behind us and proceed to stalemate or force us to retreat with capitals and marauders. It's smart in many ways, but crap like what they did here had no strategic value. It only served to screw us out of going home and there was no way we were going to be dumb enough to engage a force that could shut us down and pick us apart just because they were there.

  Oh and that target system we were going to before it all? We decided to go back to that original idea....until we found out that had crashed too. /facepalm

  So without much other choice, we headed out into kspace and I ended up logging in Jita. Btw, you know you've been in wormholes way too long when you get to Jita and rightclick, only to have a small panic attack wondering why you don't have a BM to the station. xD

  Anyways, my whole point with this post is to say: Don't be a dick. If you're going to close a hole, do it to force a fight or even out odds or to get a better chain to explore. I have no patience for people who do it just to inconvenience others without provocation. It's also a bad idea because if you piss off ADHC one too many times...you may find we come a knockin' months later. Just sayin'.

  Perhaps I'll make this a running thing too...lol. Wormhole Etiquette, aka what pisses Memoo off.

Cheers
-Mem

Sunday, August 12, 2012

Versatility: Amarr Victor!

 It has been a couple of months since my last entry into the Versatility series. This time we have the shiny Amarr. Remember, any stats given for these fits are set as "All Vs" in EFT.

 Since the whole spin of this series is versatile ships, I'll start off this segment with one of the most versatile ships in Eve...IMO, of course. There is the logically standard fit of full lasers with point and web Legion, like a monster Zealot. You can also fit it in the fashion of a Sacrilege, with heavy missiles. My personal favorite(s) is what I affectionately call the Mini-Bhaal.

[Legion, Mini-Bhaal]
Heavy Pulse Laser, Conflag M
Heavy Pulse Laser, Conflag M
Heavy Pulse Laser, Conflag M
Dark Blood Medium Nosferatu
Medium Unstable Power Fluctuator I
Medium Unstable Power Fluctuator I

Medium Cap Booster, Navy Booster 400s
10MN Experimental Microwarpdrive I
Warp Disruptor II
Stasis Webifier II

1600mm Reinforced Rolled Tungsten Plates I
Damage Control II
Energized Adaptive Nano Membrane
Energized Adaptive Nano Membrane
Corelum C-Type Energized Thermic Membrane
Heat Sink II

Legion Propulsion- Chassis Optimization
Legion Defensive- Augmented Plating
Legion Offensive- Drone Synthesis Projector
Legion Electronics- Energy Parasitic Complex
Legion Engineering- Capacitor Regeneration Matrix

Drones to choice.

  It functions as a multi-tool. You can apply reasonable dps (409) while giving good neuting power with your nos and neuts. The nos will mitigate capacitor loss, as will the cap booster to keep your power on. The drones will keep constant dps on even if you are low on cap and you can hold something down pretty well. While a Curse can be fit with an armor tank and have much better range, the sizable tank on a Legion means it can handle brawler fights that are common in wspace. Curses are best when left as shield ships. Faction it up even more for better performance.

  I have about 5 other variations for this, ranging from cap stable full neut boat to a lighter neut power, 200k EHP dual tackler meant to make sure a target never leaves and yet another that is the mini-bhaal with a repper. So as you can see, the Legion has dozens of useful combinations just like the Tengu...that one will come later ;)

  But you came for lolfits and lolfits you shall have!

  Need a lasery boomstick but have to contend with a Pulsar effect and low on ISK? I give you, the Shpoc!

[Apocalypse, Shpoc]
Mega Modulated Pulse Energy Beam I, Imperial Navy Gamma L
Mega Modulated Pulse Energy Beam I, Imperial Navy Gamma L
Mega Modulated Pulse Energy Beam I, Imperial Navy Gamma L
Mega Modulated Pulse Energy Beam I, Imperial Navy Gamma L
Mega Modulated Pulse Energy Beam I, Imperial Navy Gamma L
Mega Modulated Pulse Energy Beam I, Imperial Navy Gamma L
Mega Modulated Pulse Energy Beam I, Imperial Navy Gamma L
Mega Modulated Pulse Energy Beam I, Imperial Navy Gamma L

Large Shield Extender II
Invulnerability Field II
Invulnerability Field II
Large Shield Extender II

Heat Sink II
Heat Sink II
Heat Sink II
Tracking Enhancer II
Tracking Enhancer II
Capacitor Power Relay II
Damage Control II

Large Core Defence Field Extender I
Large Core Defence Field Extender I
Large Core Defence Field Extender I

  Don't count it out just yet. This puppy has a nice 103k EHP tank while kicking out 611 dps at about 30km and is even cap stable. Not bad for something that is rather hideous.

I'll keep the battleship theme going with the Bhaalgorn. It is now a staple of wormhole life, as it can singlehandedly screw a triaged carrier and is hell for any subcap. So if you have stupid amounts of ISK and want something that is as ridiculous as it is pretty awesome, I give you the Pimpmobile.

[Bhaalgorn, Pimpmobile]
1600mm Reinforced Rolled Tungsten Plates I
1600mm Reinforced Rolled Tungsten Plates I
Shaqil's Modified Energized Adaptive Nano Membrane
Shaqil's Modified Energized Adaptive Nano Membrane
Damage Control II
Draclira's Modified Heat Sink
Draclira's Modified Heat Sink

Vizan's Modified Heavy Capacitor Booster, Navy Cap Booster 800
Domination Stasis Webifier
Domination Stasis Webifier
Domination Warp Disruptor
Cormack's Modified 100MN MicroWarpdrive

Vizan's Modified Mega Pulse Laser, Multifrequency L
Vizan's Modified Mega Pulse Laser, Multifrequency L
Vizan's Modified Mega Pulse Laser, Multifrequency L
Vizan's Modified Mega Pulse Laser, Multifrequency L
Draclira's Modified Heavy Energy Neutralizer
Draclira's Modified Heavy Energy Neutralizer
Draclira's Modified Heavy Energy Neutralizer

Large Egress Port Maximizer II
Large Egress Port Maximizer II
Large Trimark Armor Pump I


'Augmented' Ogre x2
'Augmented' Hammerhead x2
'Augmented' Hobgoblin x1

It's a bit light with 161K EHP, although with the new T2 plate buff you could get a bit more out of it.  But it spits out 1138 dps while also sucking over 3k cap and has 30km point and webs. A force to be reckoned with indeed. This also assumes Talisman implants, Pasha implants, etc.

But if you are thinking "I never fly battleships, you fool! They're for chumps!" and yet still want to blow a stupid amount of ISK on something, I have just the one for you. The Damnation is know for being a hard nut to crack and if you spend the money, it can be nigh impregnable.

[Damnation, wtf?]
1600mm Reinforced Rolled Tungsten Plates I
1600mm Reinforced Rolled Tungsten Plates I
1600mm Reinforced Rolled Tungsten Plates I
Draclira's Modified Armor Thermic Hardener
Draclira's Modified Armor EM Hardener
Draclira's Modified Armor Kinetic Hardener

Corelum A-Type 10MN Afterburner
Republic Fleet Target Painter
True Sansha Stasis Webifier
Cormack's Modified Sensor Booster

[empty high slot]
Black Eagle Drone Link Augmentor
Small Tractor Beam I
Salvager I
Armored Warfare Link - Passive Defense
Armored Warfare Link - Damage Control
Cynosural Field Generator I

Medium Trimark Armor Pump II
Medium Trimark Armor Pump II

Wolf-Rayet Star Class 6

'Augmented' Hobgoblin x5


Assuming All V's, slave set, ZMH2000, ZET3000, ZMS1000, and Akemon's ZET500 for implants, its own leadership and command bonuses this 737k EHP normally and 1265K EHP in the Wolf-Rayet Class 6. Obviously the highs are an afterthought and the mids are rather optional on what you put there.

Now I know very few of us can or would really want to do the last two fits. Too much ISK and in most cases too much risk. Well, that's ok because you can go cheap and still have fun. The new tier 3 ships are known for being glass cannons that can fit battleship size guns. Why not give the opfor a confusing few minutes of baiting fun with the Baitacle!

[Oracle, Baitacle]
1600mm Reinforced Rolled Tungsten Plates I
1600mm Reinforced Rolled Tungsten Plates I
1600mm Reinforced Rolled Tungsten Plates I
Energized Adaptive Nano Membrane II
Armor Explosive Hardener II
Armor Kinetic Hardener II

Warp Scrambler II
Stasis Webifier II
Warp Disruptor II

Dual Heavy Pulse Laser II, Scorch L
Dual Heavy Pulse Laser II, Scorch L
Gatling Pulse Laser II, Scorch S
Gatling Pulse Laser II, Scorch S
Gatling Pulse Laser II, Scorch S
Gatling Pulse Laser II, Scorch S
Gatling Pulse Laser II, Scorch S
Gatling Pulse Laser II, Scorch S

Medium Trimark Armor Pump I
Medium Trimark Armor Pump I
Medium Trimark Armor Pump I

With a respectable 84k EHP, it is cap stable so it can constantly deal out that impressive 220 dps and still hold a target or two down.

And now we come to our last fit of insanity. While small and odd, even the Amarr in all their arrogance and hate will have to give a bow of respect. Another ship that will give the opfor a WTF moment that will prove their downfall

[Guardian, Battalian]
Large 'Regard' I Power Projector
Large 'Solace' I Remote Bulwark Reconstruction
Large 'Solace' I Remote Bulwark Reconstruction
Heavy Pulse Laser II, Scorch M
Heavy Pulse Laser II, Scorch M
Heavy Pulse Laser II, Scorch M

Corelum A-Type 10MN Afterburner
Shadow Serpentis Warp Disruptor

1600mm Reinforced Rolled Tungsten Plates I
Centum A-Type Energized Adaptive Nano Membrane
Centum A-Type Energized Adaptive Nano Membrane
Imperial Navy Heat Sink
Coreli A-Type Thermic Plating

Medium Ancillary Current Router II
Medium Ancillary Current Router II


Hornet EC-300 x5

It doesn't look like much and by itself it is more of a stupid fit than a funny one. But think...a cloud of these, tankball repping each other while still applying dps. The opfor would see a giant fleet of Guardians, wondering where their main fleet is and then wondering why the Guardians are targeting and OMGWHYAREWEDYING! Hehe...hehe....hehehehehehehe...*cough*


Having fun yet? I definitely am having a blast with these.
-Mem

SUPERBONUSFUNTIEMZ:

[Curse, Hot 'N Heavy]
Reactor Control Unit II
Reactor Control Unit II
Reactor Control Unit II
Reactor Control Unit II

Y-S8 Hydrocarbon I Afterburners
Small Capacitor Booster II, Navy Cap Booster 400
Invulnerability Field II
Invulnerability Field II
Large Shield Extender II
Large Shield Extender II

Imperial Navy Heavy Energy Neutralizer
Medium Diminishing Power System Drain I
Small Diminishing Power System Drain I
Heavy Missile Launcher II, Caldari Navy Scourge Heavy Missile
Heavy Missile Launcher II, Caldari Navy Scourge Heavy Missile

Medium Ancillary Current Router II
Medium Ancillary Current Router II


Hammerhead II x5
Vespa EC-600 x5
Warrior II x10

  You'll need at least a 3% PG implant for this but the faction heavy neut gets an 88km range while still delivering nearly 300 dps, 31k EHP and actually pretty cap stable. So that annoying Falcon that is sitting at range? Neut him dry and let someone chase him down to die. Enjoy!

Saturday, August 11, 2012

Small-gang Shenanigans

  The summer heat takes its toll on many activities, even an indoor one like gaming. Although in this respect it takes the toll by drawing the moon-tanned, mouse clickers out into the world to enjoy sun and fun. Thus it is natural to see a smaller number of pilots in Eve to kill. It also means you have less pilots to help you kill what you find.

  When you are in wormholes, finding fights or ganks can be difficult. Most days you will probably be left with people AFK in their POS, others that will POS up the second they sniff danger, or the opposite extreme where you will find yourself overwhelmed by multiple capitals and a blob of Proteii.

  Even a small gang of T3s seems to intimidate most into yapping in local about unfairness, so back to t2 and faction it is!

  Lately, we have been tooling around in the nullsec links we get in our chains since the rest of the holes are dead. And it's always fun to screw with nullsec residents.  Playing in a space that has local also means we have to think differently about getting fights or finding things to kill. More often than not, nullsec dwellers will station up and trash talk til you leave. But sometimes, you have better luck. I usually avoid them, but ADHC does the occasional roam as well.

  While I usually stick to ECM platforms or a support role in one way or another, I have been taking my Cynabal out. I have flown armor fit ships for so long that I got accustomed to the slow alignment, slow turning and slow top speeds. So jumping into the nano, shield fit Cyn?

 Omg, did I just insta-warp? Holy crap I can chase things! Weeeeeeeeeee!

  It got bloody first with a couple of gas miners a scout found. They must have had eyes, because it didn't take long for them to run from their cloud to a connecting wormhole. Our Sabre was able race them to it and pop a bubble up, trapping them so we could say hi. A little bit of me always twinges at  killing such defenseless things, but how else are we supposed to get our C540!

  Then it was out to nullsec. A corpmate had apparently been taunting residents by sitting in a Drake in space. He called for people as they scanned him down. Getting over to assist my friends is much easier in this Cyn. I could get used to it.

  As he calls out point on a Drake that came with another Drake to dispatch him, we spike local and engage our drives. Of course it is then that he gives a bit of surprise at seeing a Tengu arrive behind is T1 brothers. As soon as I load grid, I single out the Tengu and point him. Spooling up my 425s I spit Hail into the cruiser until his actively tanked shields buckle. Too bad that nice faction didn't drop. Oh well, we drop his two brethren as well. We then retreated to the unknown with smiles.

  Rolling around with few pilots and ships that don't have brick tanks means fights are decided on pilot skill and intel. I love those kinds of fights since I think ADHC excels at them.

  Which leaves us with a gank we achieved today. It was another nullsec venture that culminated after an hour of waiting on the part of our heroic scout. Initially our interest was piqued when miners were spotted on D-scan with cans out. Of course, even with only one unknown in local they disappeared into the caverns of their station.

  So, hoping to let them warm to our presence we warped a HIC to the site and logged him off. With enough time gone by, we hoped they would come back out like little hermit crabs coming out of their shell after a bump. And so it was done.

  Until our scout then noticed drones out in space elsewhere.

  He quickly narrowed it down to a Golem, Machariel, Megathron and Talos running an anomaly. I guess the locals had gotten used to us, just not our initial targets. This was better for obvious reasons.

  Warping in under cloak, he set up warpins and noted that the Machariel was sitting still apart from the others. If we were to get them all, we would need a two pronged force. But we still needed to get our HIC online and over there before they decided 2 was too many of us and warped off. It was also decided that we needed at least a solo logi to deal with the incoming dps of the pilots as well as NPC rats. Turns out I can fly an Oneiros pretty well ;)

Without much other in the way of choices, we went for it and hoped for the best. And by went for it I mean our little Anathema pilot decloaked to hero tackle the Golem. Naturally, the others scattered as soon as we spiked local like crazy which left us with only a Golem. So our numbers were a little heavy to only take him down but it was successful nonetheless. Not bad on the loot drop side of things either.

  So even if you find yourself spinning around with only one or two friends in corp to play with, get out and get blown up. Buy a dozen Hurricanes and take on anyone you find because it sure does beat not doing anything or deciding Eve isn't worth playing for summer.

  Then share you stories, that's the best part of all.
-Mem
 

 

 

Saturday, August 4, 2012

CSM7's Latest Minutes

  I don't usually post about the CSM minutes because, well, it takes so friggin' long to read them. I'm lazy, you see.

  But a thread has popped up in our corp discussing the latest round of minutes and a few things got my ears pricked up that could affect many things in Eve and wormholes specifically.

  Now, much of what goes on in the minutes is just proposals and conjecture. It's not set in stone and most of it doesn't go beyond these discussions. This edition seems to be focused a lot more on proposals of new ideas and less about working on what is already there. And of course, there's plenty of "When does nullsec get love instead of FW." Oi..

  A New POS Functionality
  
  The first thing that really pops out is the discussion about POSes. There's quite a bit on it and some of it is rather surprising.


"Seleene said, "I want to cloak my secret pirate starbase." Greyscale said that might be a possibility, then shocked the entire room by mentioning offhand, "I really, really, really want to let you put a jump drive on them." The whole room erupted into smiles. He then continued, "Not just right click cyno jump, but you put a beacon down and it takes something like 48 hours before you jump." He wanted to do this to allow small gangs to have a roaming base." (emphasis mine)

Uhhh...what? I mean, it sounds neat and all but I think that's just a little on the weird side unless they really developed the idea properly. But that's hardly the most interesting bit.

  The thing that really has me worried, if this idea gains any traction, is the idea of turning POSes into  what is essentially a small station, no forcefield, ships will dock there and oh yes...they want to allow players to anchor them anywhere. Anywhere. Want more than one POS on grid? Why not! Want to anchor one at an extreme deep safe, 40 AU away from anything? Go for it! And don't forget the aggression timers and station games that would result from this.

"UAxDEATH asked about if POSes would be restricted to one per moon, and CCP Greyscale said that they wanted to allow them to be anchored just about anywhere. He would have an exclusion zone around gates and stations, but would allow them anywhere else. Two step asked if there would be a one starbase per grid limit, and CCP said no. They want to allow people to build little "cities" of starbases. Greyscale said, "I want to make a major industrial outpost in nullsec a little constellation of small structures and ships flying between them. This makes CCP Ytterbium unhappy because they would be untidy." (emphasis mine)


Double face palm-tastic

  I must be the only one who is already tired of the siege put into taking down a system of POSes. Endless siege would result from something like this and could screw wspace up royally. Corps would erect 10 POSes on grid and make 8 of them into death-stars. It wouldn't matter if you brought a cap-blob or not, they would melt.

  Not to mention, scouting in wormholes depends on what you can see and determine through what you find. You have no local so how will you ever know if players are gearing up to defend their system against you, if they are afk, or simply aren't there at all? 

  Instead of trying to reinvent the wheel, can we just fix the crack in it? ie. Roles management.

  I could go on, but I don't want to belabor the point.

  Conflict Drivers


"Seleene added to this that personal animosity is the best conflict driver in EVE, not resources or space. Currently things are like a bunch of fat people fighting over how gets to eat first at the ‘all you can eat’ buffet, no one will starve, it is just the question of who is first in the line. [...] It could be said that people are perhaps ‘too’ comfortable at present and even though resources (such a moon materials) are tempting, they are not tempting enough to ignite a war."

  Despite the fact that Seleene has been decidedly absent after being elected, I have to agree with him on this. In the minutes, he is the one primarily asking if nullsec has to wait 18 months to get seen to even though CCP is busy with FW. But no matter what changes has been made or incentives added to fight over territory, it never lasts for long. The large entities smash through and control the majority of a resource and then things calm down. When everyone has access to plenty of ISK...why fight? Drama is what will really get wars going. People also need to remember that summer will always be slow. Wait til Winter when the wars kick back on.

  There's a host of other things in the minutes like DUST and New Player Experience, but those are the things that interested me for now.

  If you make it through the minutes then you are a real trooper. I don't think I have the patience since it is more painful than reading EO forums.
-Mem

Friday, August 3, 2012

Creative Anarchy: A Blog Banter


First of all, I have to thank Seismic Stan for keeping me on the list for these. I haven't done one in ages because I either forget to check my old school email or plain old forget. But here we go!

Blog Banter 38: Dogma

In his recent "That's just the way it is" post on Jester's Trek, blogger Ripard Teg posits that the established EVE player-base has come to accept many of EVE's design idiosyncrasies, rarely questioning their purpose or benefit. Conversely, he also suggests that new players might not be so forgiving of these "quirks". In an interview with Gamasutra, Senior Producer CCP Unifex describes EVE Online's developers as "relatively hands-off janitors of the virtual world", underlining that he has only four content developers but "a lot" of programmers and engineers.

Has a culture developed where CCP has started to take player effort for granted - expecting the "social engine" to fulfil tasks that might otherwise be CCP's responsibility? Or should this culture be embraced as part of "emergent gameplay" with these quirks accepted as the catalyst for interaction?

  Eve has been praised many times for being a wide open sandbox that allows players to really define how the game evolves. Mining into jetcans and alliances are just a couple things that Eve pilots created out of desire or necessity. 

  With an MMO that last lasted almost a decade now, it is hardly surprising that the devs are more hands-off. Although I'm not sure it's entirely true that they are with the implementation. Their latest iterations on the game, fixing what is already there, has been a good thing and something the players have wanted. In that regard, I suppose it is player driven and not actually adding anything new...but the effect is the same. 

  In this regard, I don't think they've taken player effort for granted. I think they've learned to cultivate it and learn from it. They have taken player suggestions and developed them into full game content. Bethesda's release of Skyrim...now there was a company that relied too heavily on the player base to mod thing and improve the game for them. I love that game, but that's real apathy. 

  I think players accept some of the "quirks" of Eve because it gives character to the universe without making it detrimental to play. It's almost a part of the territory with the immense freedom of Eve Online. I think keeping the innovation that can come out of quirks is a good thing. Making sure that they don't make it harder to get new players in or ruin existing elements is something all players are rather vocal about, so I think it is safe to say that CCP has a good thing going.

  Perhaps I am too optimistic or simply don't see an issue with these "idiosyncrasies". Do you? Stan has done a far more in depth analysis, so I won't blather on. 
-Mem

Thursday, August 2, 2012

Worldwide Web of Whiners

  I'll go ahead and warn you now: this post will be long and pretty serious. It's about gaming, but not Eve specifically. The short of it? I'll be talking about bigotry in the gaming world. I may get a little..heated and graphic for which I apologize in advance.

  CrazyKinux, the blogfather of the Eve blogosphere, linked an article on his Facebook today that I absently clicked on to see what it was about. Little did I know what I was into then.

  In the world, there has always and will always be bigotry in one form or another. Which is why it is hardly surprising that it is so prevalent in the digital world. Thus the Internet Fuckwad Theory. What am I babbling about? The vile and unmitigated hatred directed at women gamers.

  To which my question is this: W. T. F. is wrong with you?

  When I was growing up, a woman gaming was like the holy grail. If you could find a chick that could beat you in Mortal Kombat then you proposed on the spot. So how is it that the perception that women have no place or right to be in the gaming world has become ok and almost expected? Something's not right.

  Some light smack talk as a ribbing between friends to push each other to keep up the fight or to get someone to stop station spinning in lowsec...that's cool with me. Done it plenty myself. But when someone hears a feminine voice on the other end and suddenly it turns into derogatory slander of slut and the various iterations of ugly...you're just being a dick. And proving you don't have one. This type of smack is meant to mentally cripple women and provide such a hostile, hateful environment that they don't stay. Idiocy.

  It's this kind of behavior that keeps new blood, and some of the best blood I might add, out of the gaming industry. Close minded, loud mouthed, small dicked sons of motherless goats that think it's the cool thing to abuse women. And that's what it is. Abuse.

  Got the balls to say trash without that cloak of the internet? Didn't think so.

  And the anonymity afforded an individual means the law can't keep up with anything, so that leaves it in the hands of us. We the gamers are the front and most important line, the defining line. I would hope this is not so ubiquitous in Eve, but I don't get out of wormholes much so I can't really say with too much certainty.

  In Eve, there is the Women Gamers of Eve Online and there are some movements against the bigotry in the links above. We have some of the best women gamers in ADHC and I know of others like Aevynne.

  My whole point to all of this is that it needs to stop. I know my readers don't only play Eve, so being proactive about shutting this behavior down wherever you game is important. If you think it's no big deal, that I'm making a fuss over nothing or that women have it coming...this isn't for you and I suggest you stay quiet. Whine elsewhere.

  The industry needs more people and women can be even more passionate about it than men. Troll the trolls and get 'em to shut up.

  All I know is that it makes me sick and if I ruled the world for a day, I'd beat these types senseless. And for those that harass with rape cartoons? You'll burn in a special hell.

  Be better, do better. You're gamers, not muhfucking animals.
-Mem

  Ninjaedit: I can only be a single voice in this. This is one blog in the sea of blogs. So I will put a challenge to my fellow Eve bloggers, as well as any others that read this. Add your voice and make this a worldwide movement. Information dissemination is key to success for these kinds of things. Corelin, at Mad Haberdashers, beat me to the issue and took up the mantle. Will you?