EVEOGANDA

Week Off

2012-01-26T16:16:00.002Z

It didn't start that way. But this has turned into a week away from Eve and the Eve Community. Bad week and a bad week to be away. I haven't even been at my computer long enough to download the new patch yet!! That alone tells you all you need to know.

Rest assured, I'll be back. And eventually all this will be in the rear view mirror once again.

Life rolls on.

Until then, a few links to keep your feet wet:

Joanna Newsom
I discovered her by accident last weekend because my television came on tuned to Austin City Limits and I had never seen a band were the lead singer played a Harp before.
Here is one video and here is her Wikipedia page. Treat yourself to something different.

Iron Sky
Speaking of Nazis on the Moon. The long-gestating internet phenom is finally coming to the big screen, Iron Sky will be premiering at the Berlin Film Festival ( Natch!) and they've released a full trailer.

I also played Minecraft for the very first time earlier this week. It was to be the subject of an actual post, before the chasm opened and swallowed me whole. I found it, in the first instance, to be harder than I imagined it would be. I realize that I am a video game sadist since I typically play at the highest difficulty level. I died a lot at first. Mostly because I knew nothing about the game. Just like in Eve, I opened it and jumped right in. You'll be happy to know that since then I haven't played it at all. But I think it'll become a slight time-waster in the future.

Our regularly scheduled programming will resume momentarily. Stay tuned.

My Uncle

2012-01-25T14:01:00.002Z

Been a tough week here at Eveoganda HQ, real life rears its ugly head in many ways and then two days ago I got the news that one of my Uncles had passed away. I don't normally mention much about RL events here on the blog, since it is supposed to be about Eve, but this one actually does have a correlation. Hang with me if you'd like to find out how.

My Uncle was an extremely private person, he wasn't much for hanging out, showing up for family events, or coming over to visit. I found out this week that he wasn't much for going to the Doctors either, the man was in his early seventies and hadn't been to a Doctor since he was 20 years old. He was one of the toughest men that I have ever known. We weren't close, I probably haven't seen him more than a few times in the last fifteen or twenty years. But for two Summers, back when I was a struggling College student, we worked together.

I admire true craftsmen, I always have. My own Father is one of those. It runs in both sides of my family. I like to think that in some ways, I have continued that tradition. Although my contribution being more digital than reality. But there are times when I get my hands dirty, working around the house, fixing my car, building projects with my boys. And in those times I think about those that taught me. And I often think about those two Summers.

Another Uncle of mine owned a concrete business, pouring driveways, sidewalks, pre-fabbed pipes, etc. General contractor with a concrete specialty. He did a little of everything. The Uncle that passed away this week was the Foreman. It was a natural job for a young man during the Summer. It paid very, very well. But it was back-breaking manual labor, as an un-skilled laborer. But in those days I loved physical labor, the mindless repetitive nature and the great tans you'd get from working in the sun outside all day.

And yes, I'm getting to the Eve part. Be patient.

My Uncle was a genius when it came to working with concrete. The stuff that people used levels for, he could do by eye alone. I've never seen anyone create patterns, or dry brush the surface, or measure out the frames, the way he could do it. He took great pride in the finished product. And, more importantly, he took pride in showing a snot-nosed kid how it was done. And while I would rarely, although sometimes, directly use that knowledge in my adult life. The lessons I use every single day. Patience, pride and professionalism. Doing a job right the first time and doing it better than anyone else.

Eve is a craft. There is a beauty to it, a repetition of task, an art, but underneath it all it is a craft. And it involves space-craft. There is a right way and a wrong way, but in the middle there are lots of mediocre ways. Half-assed attempts and wrong-headed fits and stupid execution. To take your game to the next level, sometimes you need someone to show you the way. To take the time to teach, to show the why and why nots. To educate and illustrate.

I've had many Mentors along the way in this game. People who took the time to show a Newb how it was done. And while many of those lessons don't get used on a daily basis, especially the ones involving mining, I appreciate the knowledge all the same.

I'd like to thank those people. I never got the chance to thank my Uncle. I don't feel sad about that because it wouldn't have meant anything to him. It would've only embarrassed him. He didn't teach me as much as he shared his passion with me. And for that, he didn't need my thanks. He needed my respect.

To all the mentors out there, thank you. You have my respect.

Sons of Chaos

2012-01-22T18:22:00.000Z

Every once in awhile I like to bring to your attention a science-fiction themed short film that I've stumbled upon. Shorts happen to be one of my favorite story telling forms and I enjoy watching them and helping to spread the word.

Today's film comes from Mathieu Turi and is called Sons of Chaos.

I'm not a big fan of introductory copy. And I think this film would play out much better if we didn't get the set-up text at the beginning. The set-up confines our imaginations and also confines the story, already we're asking ourselves questions that we shouldn't be asking. Why are their only "thousands" of survivors? And if that is the case, why is what happens so potentially devastating to the remaining population? Without the opening set-up text we wouldn't know, or be asking ourselves these questions.

If you can remove yourself from the set-up however, the film is expertly filmed, oblique in all the ways that moody science-fiction should be, and strangely, and open-ended ended. For lack of a better way to say that. If you can't however, it may cause you brain pain.

I enjoyed it. My recommendation however, remove the opening text.

BONUS: 1v1 Eve Comic #39

2012-01-21T17:06:00.001Z

Click to embiggen!

I almost never, ever, ever post on Saturday. But I had thought about the poor, lonely Ogre II I left floating in space the other day and figured it was time to see how he was doing. Obviously, having been out of touch for so long... he is making some assumptions about us that may or may not be accurate. Enjoy, and have a great Saturday!

1v1 Eve Comic #38

2012-01-20T14:01:00.001Z

Click to embiggen!

People never ask me, "Rixx, Where do you get the ideas for these amazingly complex, deep, and horribly un-funny Eve comics?" I just get that goofy little smile on my face, you know the one, and sigh ironically. Shrug my shoulders and wisely say, "I dunno."

In fact I know exactly where they come from. Traffic. Stuck once again in the commuter crawl into work each morning my brain leaps thru the rolodex of Eve facts, mods, materials, and assorted whatnots that it seems intent on remembering. For example, this morning. After all the thoughts that came before, my brain excitingly mentioned that it was Friday again, so why shouldn't we work together on another 1v1 comic for the ~~three~~ six people that care about them.

The other night a few of us Tuskers had run a "C" gang ( thanks to Grog!! ), a gang in which all the participating ships had to start with the letter C. We had a Crusader, two Comets, and a bunch of Coercers. So my brain says, Hey Rixx, that Coercer is a funny word!! It sounds like someone is trying to talk you into something. My brain isn't always stupid and I agreed, it did sound funny. And poof! That is the entire sum total of thinking that went into the strip above and that is pretty typical. I hope I haven't shattered your vision of me working tirelessly for hours on end, scouring the potential humor of Eve... then again, I suspect most of you realized long ago the sad truth.

Well "poof" in the sense that I had to draw the Coercer and then write some obscure, snappy dialogue. These two, the Coercer and the Rifter, remind me of those two dogs in the old Warner Brothers cartoons. For those of you cool enough to remember old Warner Brothers cartoons, one was a huge Bulldog and the other one was a tiny little Terrier that would jump up and down and ask, "What ya wanna do?" or something like that, over and over again. Fun stuff. Look it up.

Oh, and for those diehard fans of the 1v1 series, you may recognize the Rifter. I only draw the ships once and then re-use them over and over again. I had never drew a Coercer before, so that one is new. But I suspect it may pop up again down the road.

Secrets. So fun to share.

Click here for an example of the Warner's Brothers cartoon I mentioned.

Happy Skippy Fun Time Systems

2012-01-19T18:03:00.000Z

I'm about to tell you something that will automagically transform the entire Universe of Eve, increase subscriptions by 400 gazillion percent or more, increase revenues for CCP and ultimately, eventually, lead to the harmonization of peace and prosperity throughout the known world. You ready?

Introducing Happy Skippy Fun Time Systems, or HSFTS. What are HSFTS you ask? Quite simply the best idea ever in the history of Eve. So let me back-pedal and try to explain this insanely great idea.

Imagine with me a moment. A brand spanking new system is discovered, let's say one new one per Empire. These systems don't have CONCORD protection because they simply don't need it. Because, for some unknown but gloriously happy skippy reason, weapons mods simply DO NOT WORK in them. Whoa. I know right? But that's not even the great genius bit yet.

These systems are full of Kittens. Oh yeah, big-eyed, fluffy kittens of love. The asteroids are cupcakes, the planets are marshmallow, and the stations are open-air atriums of love and understanding. Old school Hippie style.

Oh sure it's magic. Love is magic baby. Unicorns, which are in your CQ, are also magic. This is a magical place of love, harmony and understanding. No one gets ganked here, no one gets war dec'd, or aggressed, or laughed at, or made to feel inferior.

Chicks will dig HSFTS!! Just think about it. Mining Cupcakes all day, drinking from the chocolate waterfall desert tray of life, kicking it to the local bands, trading clothes with the Nex Merchants... I can imagine my own wife subscribing in about two seconds!

Oh sure, the evil, dark, dangerous Eve still lives on outside the gates of the four HSFTS systems - but after awhile no one will go there anymore. And why would you want to? Why not spend time consulting the EFT Wizard, who is actually a Wizard that lives on top of the Sun? You can spend hours talking about the latest fitting you worked up for your Drake, cause the EFT Wizard never tires, never sleeps, and never judges. Or why not join one of the fun-loving Gate Camps on the conveniently located Gates? These are real, honest-to-goodness camps of friendly, helpful, and non-aggressive girlie men, sleeping under the stars and pondering the deeper meanings behind deep stuff. It's just like College!!

Oh man, the ideas just keep coming. And that's when you know you are a genius!!

And the HSFTS systems don't have Wormholes... ewww. No, they have FluffyHoles, where fluffy critters of all shapes and sizes live. Like the Space Gopher! Or the ever lovable, Ground Hog of Hugs!!

Oh man, there is something for everyone in Happy Skippy Fun Time Systems. No one is left out, no one is punished, everyone is a very special snowflake. And isn't that special?

But I don't want to give away all the secrets! Plus, I'm sure by now your own head is full of wonderful idears all your own. So share, get into the spirit of a Happy Skippy Fun Time place in Eve, where we all hug, love and care. Carebears, one and all, LOLOLOLOLO!

I feel all warm inside.

Blog Banter #32: Your Ship is out of Control

2012-01-18T15:28:00.001Z

"A quick view of the Eve Online forums can always find someone complaining about being suicide ganked, whining about some scam they fell for or other such tears. With the Goons' Ice Interdiction claiming a vast amount of mining ships there were calls for an "opt out of PvP" option.

Should this happen? Should people be able to opt-out of PvP in Eve Online. Should CONCORD prevent crime rather than just handing out justice after the event? Or do the hi-sec population already have too much protection from the scum and villainy that inhabits the game?"

Over the past two years I have written extensively regarding PvP in Eve, the challenges that new players face, the perils of Null, Low and Hi sec space, and offered solutions from both sides of the fence. A few months ago I even wrote the entire opening Chapter on what could potentially become a paradigm shift in the new player experience - The Sanctuary Training Program. ( Essentially Newb systems would become Sanctuary systems, plus other incredibly intelligent stuff )

I've even spent a good portion of time debating a way to make consensual PvP actually work within the framework of Eve with The Thunderdome concepts, HERE and HERE and even HERE.

Despite all of those attempts and more, the truth remains the truth. Player Versus Player combat remains the cornerstone of the Eve experience. And it should remain the cornerstone of the Eve experience for all of eternity, in my mind it is sacrosanct. Almost Holy.

Having said that, let's move on to the real issue at hand. Fundamental changes are needed to the underpinnings of that experience. In order to make the universal experience of Player Versus Player combat more fair, more even and more predictable for all of our players.

True Sec status needs to be implemented universally across the board in all systems.

That Sec Status, per individual system, needs to be used to generate Global Criminal Countdowns. Aggression timers need to be eliminated, as they serve little purpose other than confusion. GCC needs to be based on the True Sec status of the system in which it was initiated. Period. The lower the Sec Status the lower the GCC timer. Predictable, fair and even-handed.

As a consequence of this system of True Sec based GCC, True Hi-Sec becomes virtually impossible to engage in ganking. War Decs would continue, and they really are a side issue like Faction Warfare. But "ganking", while not 100% eliminated, would become very, very rare. And here's why. Anyone with a negative sec status that enters a Hi-Sec system with a high enough True Sec rating - would be destroyed at the gate. Boom. Anything other than a Pod gets blowed up real good.

This does not eliminate ganking in Hi-Sec. In fact it would keep it the same in systems with TS status hovering above low-sec for example. It would only make it increasingly difficult the further up the TS rating you went. And virtually impossible in say .9 systems. I'm certainly not against ganking, heck I've done it myself more than a few times.

It makes perfect sense. Why does CONCORD tolerate criminals in Hi-Sec anyway? They say they don't, god knows I get enough warnings, but they never do anything about it. They should.

In order to "gank" someone in Hi-Sec the attacking party would have to manage their Sec Status, pick systems on the borderline of True Sec Hi Sec, and hunt only when those two things matched up. Conversely, the rewards for those mining, missioning, or otherwise using those systems would go up correspondingly based on lower True Sec ratings. Higher risk means higher rewards for everyone - both hunter and hunted.

This doesn't change anything about Eve that we all love, it works within the already established frameworks, and ensures an almost safe haven for anyone willing to spend their lives in highly rated Hi Sec systems. The reward for living a life like that would be small, to encourage them to move along, but for new players especially it would give them a fighting chance to get started off on the right foot. Not 100% safe, but very close.

I don't think we need special mods, special ships, or special anything to achieve what we all want to achieve. A viable, vibrant, dangerous universe with a few places that are safer than others.

So let's do this. Like next week, k?

For more opinions on this exciting topic, visit FREEBOOTED!

The Tuskers Limited Recruitment is OPEN

2012-01-17T23:06:00.002Z

You can discover the details by following this link. Everything you need is presented there, including information on requirements, procedures for applying and general Tusker information.

If you happen to be thinking to yourself, maybe I should join The Tuskers... then now is the time to actually do it.

I've been a Tusker for over three months now. And, all things being equal, I may be a Tusker for a long time to come. Regardless of my own personal path however, if you are dedicated to a Player Vs Player style of playing Eve - you really should consider becoming part of the Tusker family.

How do I sell this? Do I really have to? I won't bore you with the obvious. The thing is, it should be obvious. If it isn't, then you probably aren't Tusker material to begin with. That is not intended to be "elite" bs either. It just is what it is. First of all, the Pirate play-style isn't for everyone, we all know that. Second, the Tusker play-style isn't for everyone either. Focused mainly on solo and small gang performance, it is a tough, gritty, hard-scrabble life that demands certain things for those that choose it.

That doesn't make it better or worse than other play-styles, just different. For me it works extremely well. Tuskers are great people, I enjoy the attitude, the common swing, the general undock and go find a fight fu of it all.

If you are still with me, maybe it's time you considered it?

2 Year Bloggerversary

2012-01-17T16:04:00.000Z

This week is the second anniversary of EVEOGANDA.

The exact date is this Friday, but for a variety of reasons, I'm celebrating it today. Mostly because this is a week from Hell and I'm honestly not sure how much posting I may be doing this week.

So I've been at this thing for two full years now, over 700 posts, nearly 200 pieces of commissioned work, over 100 freebies, 40 cartoons, almost 200 Twitter Hats, 10 Corporation changes, 6 different Alliances - two of which I helped create, not to mention untold chaos and exploded ships, a Death Race, several events and uncounted opinions, jokes, stories and assorted whatnots.

And that doesn't mention the responsibility of the Eve Blog Pack, something I take somewhat seriously.

Nor does it mention the friends, both real and virtual, that I've made along the way. Some of whom are still with us and some of whom have moved on from our little, albiet dedicated and insane, community.

How does one sum it all up? One doesn't try. The past is dead as someone once wisely said and it would be the height of... well, not arrogance per se, but something approaching it, to wallow in it. To me, more importantly, is the future. What happens next?

So where do we go next? Frankly I don't have a clue. In fact, based on the current real-life situation I've been fighting for the last six months or more, the future is a foggy, indistinct, hard-to-fathom place right out of reach. This doesn't mean that Eve won't be a part of that future, it simply means that, pushed against a proverbial wall, I can't pretend to know what it holds in store.

But that is true of all of us. If you believe for a moment that you know what the future holds for you, tomorrow, next week or next year, then you are fooling yourself my friend. I had no idea when I started this little blog what would happen in the years that followed. I had no way of knowing just how important those ten to fifteen minutes I spend every day writing these posts would become. Or just how much the Eve Community would come to mean to me personally. How could I?

And so we move forward into the unknown together. Just as we always have. A journey whose destination is unknowable. The milestones we land upon along the way as mysterious and unfathomable as the deepest ocean. Whatever the future holds, I'll face it the same way I always have. In good faith and with a smile in my heart.

I hope that you will continue to make this blog one of your stops in your own journey.

The fact that so many of you do, well, that is the one thing I am most proud of.

Thank you.

Getting Around the Neighborhood: Year Four

2012-01-13T22:11:00.002Z

Click to Embiggen

My first two years in Eve I published the map from the in-game "Places I've Visited" settings, you can see the previous two years by clicking this link. Above is the same map as it exists today.

Actually, not much is different about this map compared to the one from March of last year. Many of the dots are bigger, and certainly low-sec has filled in nicely in certain regions. The main addition being Fountain and Delve in the West. Mostly that comes from several long roams I undertook from Syndicate and the short-period of weird time I spent in Morsus Mihi last Summer.

I don't expect the map to change much this coming year either. While I continue to drive anywhere I want in New Eden, I don't get out into Null much these days. Nor do I anticipate that changing. Having said that, anyone that has followed this blog long knows anything is possible.

At some point I'll become bored and take a nice long drive up North, mainly so I can get some red dots up there.

1v1 Eve Comic: #37

2012-01-13T15:23:00.000Z

Click to embiggen

Friendz Und Da Bad Guys

2012-01-12T14:25:00.002Z

An Excerpt from "Piratez Und De Scum-Suckinkt De Do" By Doctor Pieter Butthurtsky, Ph.D.

"Ya, de Piratez are a very very interestink culture in da many ways. Ya? Von of da most interestink, in mah own humblez opinion, is da questionz of Blue or da friendly status.

It is so very hard for us more culturaled types to comprehensky. The idea of honorz is warped and twisted yes, but in ze way that make total sense to ze Piratez demselves. Ya? On da one hand you can haz friends and on de udder, you can haz enemies und fight. At ze end, each parties can exclaim good fightz in de local and go on from der. It is a mind twister ya? But for dem, it is way of life."

Being a Pirate in New Eden is the hardest playstyle choice in the game and it isn't for the faint of heart. Being a criminal in the opinion of the rest of the Universe is tough and it forces you into a corner as a player, a corner with its own rules, its own conduct and its own expectations. Expectations that can change depending on the Pirates involved.

One of the aspects that have intrigued me the most since I moved from a Null based to a Low-Sec based life in Eve, has been the concepts surrounding Blues, Reds and Neutrals. In Null these conditions are set-up by the Corporation or Alliance you are a part of and are based on political conditions. Reds are Red and Blues are Blue, in most cases the two shall never cross, the amount of gray area in Null is very low.

Perhaps it is because I grew up in Providence that I've always seen things a bit differently. Since Provi was one of the few regions to "allow" neutrals to work, and we had clearly defined borders with -A- for example, the region was constantly a melting pot unlike other regions. The idea of interacting, almost on a daily basis, with Reds and Neuts was not a foreign one. I came to respect and in some cases even talk to our enemies. Even while on the "hunt" in some cases.

Low-Sec isn't all that different. For the Pirate, having official Blue standings is the antithesis of a good idea. For every Blue standing given you've eliminated a potential target. And with targets hard enough to come by, that isn't such a good idea. But that doesn't mean you can't have friends. Many, many times over the last year I've flown in gangs or fleets with people that were not officially Blue to me. Often I'll pick up a few guys in local to go roaming with, or some of us will get together on the spur of the moment to kill a Carrier or something.

In my opinion, it is the highest form of respect to a fellow fighter. The idea that we can fight each other and still get together to fight others, to take advantage of opportunities and still be "enemies" in name but not fact.

When I was in Lucifer's Hammer and nothing was going on, I'd fly into Hevrice to see if I could get a fight with a Tusker. We shared some channels with the Tuskers and I often flew with them in gangs, but I knew if I wanted a good fight I could count on them. They were officially my enemy, but they were also my friends. I got many good fights, won some and lost some, and in the end I joined them when things fell apart.

At one point or another I've flown in gangs with just about everyone that flies in our general region of space. Heck, even some that have flown in from out of town. It is one of the things I like best about Low-Sec. The camaraderie of Pirates.

On the other hand, it is always good to have enemies. And in some cases those enemies have to be created from nothing. This was a tactic I used to great effect in Lucifer's Hammer and it works to unite and focus your Corporation. A Pirate without enemies is lonely. You can't be friends with everyone, but you can respect your enemies. And they, hopefully, will respect you. But that isn't required.

In the end, for Pirates, any Official Blue standings are doomed to eventually fail. One day, one side or the other, will exhaust the available targets in the region and start thinking dangerous thoughts. It always happens.

A Fight in Parts

2012-01-11T16:24:00.000Z

I was out messing around in my Wolf yesterday, generally feeling like I wasn't going to find anything to kill. Or even fight. My small circle roam took me into my old home of Lisb, so I grabbed my "other" ship, parked myself on the station and started writing and working.

This was a habit I picked up when I was in Lucifer's Hammer. It isn't Station Camping, instead I call it "Work Camping". It allows me to work and also keep an eye on local, eventually something will or won't happen. To be honest, it rarely works. When I'm doing this, if anything does undock, I usually let it go. Several smaller ships and a Thorax undocked, but I didn't engage. Why waste the GCC? I was waiting for better fights, but they didn't happen.

On my way back to Hev in the Wolf, the Demon Suli announced he might have a target in Jov. I docked up and jumped into one of my Arty Canes and undocked. Sure enough, it wasn't long before he called point and a few of us kilt the hapless Myrmidon. I didn't know it, but this was the beginning of what would end up being a 16 kill night.

I re-docked in Hev and started thinking about the next ship I would take out. When you have almost 60 ships fitted up, that process can take longer than you might think. I noticed the chatter was picking up on Comms, so I started listening a bit closer. I missed the beginning bits, so I'm not sure how this all came to be known. Either way, Intel isn't something I'd be sharing here anyway, suffice to say we discovered a few Battleships were camping a hi-sec gate up in Parts.

We managed to put together a decent little gang. Marc Scaurus brought his Harbinger, which he said he hadn't flown in a fight yet, and Anzwi and I brought our Drakes. The Devil Suli was already on his way in a Stilleto. It is important that I repeat that. A Harbi, 2 Drakes and a Stilleto. That's it. If you know anything about the space between Hev and Parts you know we had to travel thru Hi-Sec to get there, so nothing bigger than a BC would probably work. The only worry at this point was if the targets would still be there when we arrived.

They were. Not only that, but their ranks had grown. A Harbinger, Tempest, Raven, Dominix, Megathron, Myrmidon and an Armageddon were hanging out in a pounce off the Hi-Sec gate. There was another Cane in local, but we couldn't be sure if he was with them or not. We played a little GCC timer game with them at first, we had some to burn. This also allowed us a chance to slightly re-fit our ships. I can't reveal exactly what we did to our Drakes, but we replaced one mid-slot mod with another one. If your smart, you'll already know what I'm talking about.

The enemy was grouped up together ( tsk tsk, spread out people! lol ) and Suli went in first to find a good spot. Since they didn't have tackle he could fly around at will and get us a great warp-in. Which is what he did, being awesome and all has its perks. Now a word about tactics. 3 BCs and a Ceptor against 5 BSs and 2 BCs, despite the numeric odds of a 4-7 fight, we were certainly outclassed in some ways from the start. More than likely the Domi had neuts, maybe some of the others as well. And we had limited points. So coordinating distance, range and points would be crucial. All in all we did a good job of it, things got a tad confusing at times and we lost two of the enemy ships because of it. But that happens.

This is the battle report. We had the Raven into structure before he managed to get away from us, someone had switched point and someone else forgot to pick it up. None of us know how that happened, but I have my own suspicions. I think it was my own fault. At one point the Domi neuted my Drake down to zero while I was pulling range. I think I may have lost point on the Raven at that moment. Fog of war, I don't remember losing point, but I might have.

With no losses and a nice amount of kills we waited out our GCC and decided to head back towards Hev. Reports of another gang in the Aeschee area prompted us. On the way back a Myrmidon jumped into us and died. Yeah for Webs on a Drake!

The gang running around Aeschee turned out to be a mixed Shadow Cartel gang, with some other elements thrown into the mix. Mostly those other elements included former Burn Away members the Corporation for Noble Sentiments and my friend and fellow Blogger Nashh Kadavr and his Corporation. This was starting to look fun.

We put the call out for more pilots, this time we couldn't engage about 18 ships with just the four of us. Again we played the GCC timer game and waited it out while our gang formed up around us. In the end we managed to just about equal their numbers in BCs at least, they still had the edge with a Talos.*

The fight plan wasn't all that different from before really, although this time we started out split up into three groups. We decided to engage and primary the Talos first. Upon landing the field was a mess, ships and drones everywhere. When ever I land in amongst something like that my first inclination is to properly orient myself, I can't tell you how many times I go burning off in the wrong direction and get myself kilt. The Talos runs, can't blame him, but the rest stay and fight it out. God bless 'em.

This is the battle report. We slugged it out and it was a good fight all the way around. They stayed on the field, even when it was obviously going the wrong way. So well done. We ended up 10-1 in favor, although I think our loss actually happened before the real fight started. But I can't be sure.

My killboard shows 16 kills yesterday, although I think there is a pod or two missing. Either way, it was a great start to what I hope is a more regular return to Eve. The last two months have been tough, between RL pressures and stress and my other outside commitments, finding time to play the game I love has been tough.

Good way to kick back into it. And sorry for blowing you up yet again Nashh. lol.

Nashh wrote his version of events HERE.
And Marc "Binger" Scauras wrote his version HERE.
Check 'em out!

*Early Battle Reports indicated ships that were not actually on the field. This post has been edited to reflect the actual situation.

A Few Milestones

2012-01-11T14:16:00.002Z

They say life is like a river. They also say a lot of other things. Excuse me... that was a poorly written opening line.

Eve is a lot like life.

Screw it. Not in the fancy writing mood this morning. Yesterday I happened to notice a few interesting milestones along the path that I thought were worthy of mentioning.

700* - Yesterday's post was the 700th post in almost two years worth of writing here on Eveoganda. Our second anniversary isn't for a few weeks yet, so that works out to just a hair shy of one post per day over a two year period. When I started blogging I promised to write a post every day that I played Eve... I had no idea then that eventually that would switch around and I'd end up writing more than playing. ( Slight edge, very slight )

1,000 - Yesterday I managed to help kill about 14 BS and BCs ( I hope to write a post about that later ) which pushed my total win/loss record to 1,339 kills to 327 losses. Which means the goal I set myself early last year has finally been reached, 1,000 kills more than losses. It is a small thing to many people, but given my general disdain for the killboard, aggressive play-style and general lack of concern regarding losses... it means a lot to me.

15,000 - Which brings up breaking the 15,000 ceiling I've been hovering around for a year on BattleClinic. Again, I don't care in so many ways it isn't funny. But I also do care in many ways at the same time. I have no desire to be a "top-ranked" anything in Eve, but the personal satisfaction and the indication of professionalism, contribution to Corp and whatnots do mean something. So it is kind of cool. Next, breaking into the 10k club.

2,476 - That is how many spam emails my main account got yesterday. While it has nothing to do with Eve, it is scary. Three weeks ago my email got spam attacked and I ended up losing my entire inBox. I'm generally anti-regulation, but seriously, something needs to be done about this on a higher level than my anti-spam software and server rules. ( In the time it took me to write that my inBox has 9 new spam emails in it )

I hope to be back later on today with another post about something or other. I honestly have about 45 posts in various forms lying around on my desk, just finding the time to finish them...

*I've actually written and posted 719 posts since the blog started. There are 699 currently active posts on the blog, including the one above. The 700 number comes from Blogger and not me, yesterday Blogger informed me that the post was #700. I suppose this is some aggregate number or something? I am going with the 700 number anyway, since I've really written more than that and I had already announced it on Twitter. Consider this full disclosure. Like it matters anyway. But it makes me feel better being honest. Aww.

Twitter Tuesday: Twits from the Tweetfleet

2012-01-10T13:56:00.001Z

It has been almost two months since the last Twitter Tuesday! So today I asked my fellow Tweetfleeters to ask me anything and I'll answer it here on EVEOGANDA! The post will be updated all day, so check back often.

@Grideris
What is the best way to dispose of a dead body?

According to Brick Top the best way to dispose of a body is feeding it to pigs. According to Breaking Bad it is dissolving the body in Hydrocloric Acid, but that didn't work out so well. So there are actually two answers, depending on your circumstances. If possible, burning is the best thing. Incineration even better. Once the body is ash, you can sift thru and remove the teeth. Teeth should be crushed with a hammer and disposed of. Burning is difficult,mostly due to access and the smell (it is distinct believe me), so the next best thing is actually burial. Clean the body well, wrap it in layers of plastic wrap if you do not have access to lime. Dig a deep hole in the forest somewhere, six feet is good, eight feet is better. A forest is better than a desert, because of the surrounding life. ( If you want to be sure, remove the teeth before burying the body and dispose of them as above ) Bury the body being especially careful to restore the surface to original conditions.

@gamerchick42
If you could be anyone in EVE, ie: have their power, fame, isk, pvp abilities, etc, etc, who would it be and why?

If I could just snap my fingers and be someone else in Eve? Tough question. Tough because I am pretty darn happy being Rixx, three plus years into a career that has spanned the length and breadth. But the question remains and it deserves an answer. It would have to be The Mittani, not because of any special ability or prestige, but simply to have dominion over Goons. The temptation to wreck havoc would be great, no doubt about that, but I would do the opposite and return Goons to the scoundrel, no-care roots from which they sprang. Over the last two years the Goons have not been the Goons. It would be good for Eve if they went back to being Goons again.

@MyrhialArkenath
What to do when it feels like others beat you to writing great blog posts on new ideas?

It does happen. And when it does it affords me the unique chance to take a deep breath and step back for a moment to consider the idea from a fresh angle. I can usually find something new in that thought process, something to add to the discussion and write about that instead. The Eve Community is just that, a community. And like any good community it works best when ideas are shared and expanded upon. After all "ideas" are a dime a dozen, it is the thinking that really matters. On the other hand, if people continue to beat you to the punch, maybe you need to get up earlier?

@h311ra1z3r
When will CCP implement True Sec in Empire? Inquiring minds would like to know.

True Sec needs to be implemented across all systems in New Eden, High, Low and Null. This is the only way to ensure across the board reforms and set the stage for continued growth. True Sec can form the basis of GCC Reforms that are needed and have been for years. So I am a huge advocate of sooner rather than later. I suspect we may be a ways away from implementation though. The soonest I could see anything happening is this Summer, but I have no reason to believe it. Maybe the new CSM can help move things along?

@KareesMoonshade
Of the new T3 Battlecruisers, which one do you enjoy the most, and how do you fit it?

I have had a chance to try three of the new BCs in combat now, the only exception being the Oracle. Believe it or not I am still missing a gun and, even though I went shopping yesterday, still forgot to pick one up. Once again the Minmatar win out and I like the Tornado the best. It is hard to argue with the ammo selections and the options they give you, and the Tornado is quick and tough enough to withstand damage. I went toe-to-toe with a Cynabal and came out victorious. I fit it for DPS with a buffer shield tank, dps in the lows along with a nano, and ACs in the highs. I like all of the new BCs but the Tornado is the best for killing things.

@MarcScaurus
Is it better to be loved, feared, or thought a fool as a pirate?

It is better to be loved by your friends, feared by your enemies and considered a fool by those in local.

@eenbal
Why are the Amarr so shiny?

The common joke behind their backs is it is because of all the Minnie slaves polishing the metal. But that isn't the real truth. In fact, the Amarr are generally an extremely dirty and repellent people in private and among themselves. Over the centuries their cultural psychotic bent took on many forms, fervent religious insanity, subjugation of other people, and highly polished metal surfaces, among others. This clean-sheen is only surface deep however, their insides, private quarters, undergarments, are hideous and foul. Try a surprise visit to an Amarrian friends house someday and he'll be "not home". When in fact he is hiding behind the curtains because he didn't have time to tidy up. Little known facts.

Pod Gods Get All The Chicks

2012-01-09T14:07:00.000Z

In my darkest hours I feel that I will never get the hang of this Eve thing. I study, I practice, I read, learn, talk, discuss and write about Eve and yet - after three years - I still don't really feel like I'm any gosh darn good at it. There are moments of course, moments when I feel like a God.

But during the last three plus years I've had the distinct pleasure of meeting and flying with about a half-dozen players for whom Eve makes total sense. This "sense" has nothing to do with knowledge, ability, rhyme or reason, it has everything to do with... what exactly?

Let me try and explain the person I'm talking about first and maybe, just maybe, by doing that we can help to explain this "sense" thing. There are 'elite' pilots in Eve, well-respected pilots in Eve, well-known, regarded, feared, pilots in Eve. But this thing I'm talking about doesn't have anything to do with that. Perspective isn't a part of it. Especially outside perspective.

I call them Pod Gods for the sake of this post. And I think it is an apt term. So I'll stick with it for now.

I can undock and travel solo thru eight or nine systems and find nothing to fight let alone kill. A Pod God gets two solo kills in my home system. I get bushwacked by two Canes and a Caracal and explode, the Pod God manages to escape. I land on the belt 145k away from the Naga, the Pod God lands right on top of him. Coming back from a roam in my Drake I come out of a Gate into 40 fast-locking FW ships, the Pod God comes out into a small gang of Frigates and kills three of them. I could go on and on.

Are you starting to think of pilots you know?

When I was younger I played a lot of Basketball. I loved basketball. And I was very good at it. I worked hard, practiced and really loved playing the game. But there was this one kid that never practiced, didn't care one way or the other really, and yet he could hit shots like there was no tomorrow. One after another, with little or no effort. He was on my team and I loved that guy like a brother with a different mother, but secretly - I wanted him to fail. And suddenly Rixx reveals a bit much about himself on the blog. Back to our story.

This "sense" has nothing to do with Killboard stats and everything to do with something that can't be measured. You either have IT or you don't have IT. The same phenomenon is true in all walks of life. In all facets of your life there are always people that have IT and those that don't. The falling into shit and coming up smelling like roses people. The ones that always win the office pool. The guy whose rich Uncle left him everything. The ones that roll easy and life pushes forward with a gentle breeze.

This phenomenon in Eve reveals itself in the Pod Gods. Pilots for whom Eve comes as natural as a stroll in the park. Things just work out for them. They just happen to find the missioning Carrier, just happen to land right on top of the ratter, just narrowly escape the War Dec gate campers, warp off before the reds land, are in the POS when dog poo hits the fan, and every other way in this game that one thing works out better for someone else.

Being around a Pod God comes with a dark side though. IT doesn't always translate to YOU. And YOU can become rather prickish about it can't you? All that happenstance piled onto the shoulders of that other guy really rubs you the wrong way doesn't it? Why him? Tell me, in secret back rooms of your mind, you want him to fail don't you?

I don't. I'm not a third grader playing basketball for the first time any more. I'm an adult now and I'll continue to play the game the way I want to play it. I may never have IT the way other players have IT. Not all the time. But there are days, moments, when I do. When I can feel the Pod God blood flowing, and I live for those days.

That kid in third grade? Came down to the last play of the game in front of a big home crowd, he cut the ball away from the other team and took it to the basket. No one on him. Easy lay-up. And he missed. Guess who got the rebound and made the winning shot?

Yeah, that was me.

The Portal is Down

2012-01-08T14:18:00.001Z

Back before you were born, our ancestors travelled to New Eden thru a massive Wormhole that came to be known as the Eve Gate. At some point, for reasons still unknown, the Gate closed forever and cut our people off from home. We literally could never go home again. Those podless, death limited freaks were cut off. Poor things.

I feel a bit like them today.

The Eve Online Bloggers Portal will be closing down at the end of the month, as reported over on Black Claw's blog The Travels of Black Claw. My buddy Seismic Stan has already written an excellent post regarding this news and I encourage you to read it.

I'm not writing to cover ground already covered, so I won't even try. Mostly I just want to point out the stories and help get the news out to the community.

But the Eve Online Bloggers Portal is more to me than just another great Eve community service that is going to be lost to us. In many ways, it has become my home over the last three years. It was, next to CK's Eve Blog Pack, the way thru which I discovered the Eve Community in the first place. I spent the first year of my time in Eve reading other people's blogs before I decided that maybe I should start writing my own. And since day one, the EOBP has been open in my browser almost every single day.

It is my gateway and without it I'm feeling a bit like those schmucks that got left far from home when the Eve Gate crashed on them. Uh, now what?

Everything changes and I wish Black Claw nothing but the best. But as much as we all except the facts of change, the more resistant we become to the fact of change. We'll move on and try to re-start civilization somewhere, but it won't be as easy. Centuries of chaos may ensue.

Or not. Either way my life just got harder. The EOBP will be missed by me most of all.

Things I Miss

2012-01-06T22:32:00.001Z

Click to embiggen

Don't get me wrong here, I love being a scum-sucking Pirate. But still, there are things about living in Null that I do miss. As long as I'm in Low-Sec I'll probably never see something like the above screen shot again... at least, it won't be a fleet that I'm in.

There is something about being in a fleet. No matter what ship you happen to be flying, the feeling of power as hundreds of ships align and warp together... well, if you haven't felt it yourself then I suggest you go find it. At least once. It is an awesome and amazingly wonderful, and somewhat unique, feeling.

I don't even remember what or where the above screenshot was taken, but does it really matter? ( Ok, it was in X6AB-Y on August 2nd, 2009 and that there is a CVA Fleet of 75 ships, mostly BS, waiting on the X-RSMN gate I think. So I lied. Sue me. Just sounds freaky admitting that I remember such a thing. )

The one thing that Null has going for it in my opinion is that sense of common goals. While we Pirates tend to be more self-sufficient and self-reliant types, those that make their home in Null tend to flock. And I'm not saying that as if it is a bad thing, in fact it is often a good thing. Community is important. To many people it is impossible to live without.

And while I'm comfortable in my own skin these days, I have to admit that I miss it sometimes. The sense of working together to achieve something, to build something, to make things, all together and all for one. It sounds alluring to the memory.

And then you remember that nothing lasts. That everything you work for turns to dust eventually, that those you relied on will turn their backs on you, or log-off when the going gets tough, or move out to save their precious assets, or fall back on role-playing convenience when they need to help you... that goes along with Null space as well.

I enjoyed my time in Null. And someday, I may very well go back.

But that day isn't today. Until then, I can remember it fondly. And then poke my head in every once in awhile and blow them up some. And then leave before they make me shoot at a POS for eight hours. Or join a CTA.

Eve Blog Pack Update

2012-01-06T16:36:00.000Z

People ask me all the time, what do I have to do to get into the Eve Blog Pack? And despite all the complicated bullshit I've written about it in the past, it really comes down to a few simple things.

1 Have a strong voice.
A strong voice isn't one that is always opinionated, angry, or ranting... although it could be. More importantly however is having something to say that others might find interesting. Having a blog is a lot like having a soap box in front of the entire Eve Community. Use it.

2 Be Consistent.
This might be the hardest one. While you don't have to post every day, posting often and consistently is important. The Eve Community demands fresh new perspectives and the EBP needs to represent that. It is a tough row to hoe and not everyone is up to the challenge. That's ok in the larger sense, but not good enough for the EBP.

3 Luck of the draw
Variety is the spice of life. And I strive to keep the EBP as full of variety as possible. This means that while you might have a great blog about low-sec pirating, there are already plenty of great blogs about low-sec pirating in the EBP. This is going to make it harder for you to get in. That's just the way the Cynabal spins.

So today, in the first major upgrade to the Eve Blog Pack for 2012, it is my honor to introduce six new members. Each one of which has consistently written from a strong voiced perspective and deserves to be included. Welcome to the Blog Pack.

Dsan's EVE-Online Blog

Sand, Cider and Spaceships

Gun Turret Diplomacy

A Scientist's Life in Eve

Through Newb Eyes

Ardent Defender

Be sure to update your blogs with the EBP Feed to support the other members as they support you. And feel free to grab some swanky EBP Badges from the EBP Page to dress up your blog and announce to the world your new membership in an exclusive club.

Keep up the great work guys and welcome aboard.

1v1 EVE Comic: #36

2012-01-04T22:06:00.001Z

Click to embiggen

Oddly enough, after organizing all the previous 1v1 panels into their own page (link above), I was inspired to do a new one. This is the first new panel since June of last year. Hopefully it won't be as long until the next one. Or, depending on your view of the humor, maybe that isn't long enough...

Good Fights: Try to kite me willya?

2012-01-04T14:57:00.000Z

So yesterday I log on for a few minutes to drive over to upgrade my clone, training Recon V over the Holiday put me over yet another clone. I figure I'll take the Dramiel and maybe find a decent fight, see what the changes to the ship have wrought and generally just be on for a few minutes.

To the Rifter pilot in Lisbo that said Howdy to me in local, stay frosty my friend. I wasn't trying real hard to kill you, since you said hi in local and all. But if I had landed just a tad closer, I would have. Just so you know.

Anyway, Itsme and Monty asked if I'd be interested in joining them for a quick jaunt around the neighborhood. Duh.

Itsme was in a Hyperion and Monty was driving a Myrm ( don't ask! ), so I figured this would be a good time to fly one of the new 3BCs. But which one? Since they were both flying what I figured would be short range ships, I'd bring the Tornado along to hit a bit further out. Since I haven't had the chance to fly the Tornado in combat yet, my fit is still in the prototype stage. Oh sure, it is an excellent fit. But I don't consider a fit to be combat proven until I prove it in combat. So I didn't fit a point, although I had one loaded up in my hanger.

Fast forward thru the frustrating bits of system after system with no one around and eventually we found ourselves up near Kinakka. Nice sounding five man gang hanging out in a safe spot above the high-sec gate. I don't remember the exact ships they had, but they outnumbered us and they had a Curse. So we decided to see if they'd attack us. Being in big, dumb, slow ships like we were, maybe they would?

So Itsme warps on them in his Hyperion and they are all aligned except for the Ferox. Somehow he manages to get point and the rest of us jump in, while we are in warp their Curse decides to try and help the Ferox. Nothing much to report from that part of the fight, once we landed and got points, the poor Ferox and Curse sploded nicely.

While we were looting the field and getting ourselves nice and spread out ( which is a tactic to encourage someone to try and attack you btw ), a Cynabal landed about 40k from my Tornado. I was certain he'd made a mistake and would warp off, but instead he locked me up and started shooting. I liked the guy instantly.

Itsme and Monty were too far away to help much, but they sent their drones in, which was a huge help. Knowing the Cynabal like I do I figured his tactic would be to kite me from range and use his speed to stay alive. Not sure if he'd tried this with a Tornado before or not, but I suspect he was counting on a glass tank. Which I didn't have. (35k with nice resists!) And as expected he started doing just that.

So here is what I did. I went along with it. At various times in his orbit Monty was able to get point on the Cynabal. When this happened the first time I left my leisurely drive back towards my friends and burned straight at the Cynabal with my MWD overheated. The first time it worked like a charm and I managed to burn almost all the way thru his shield. I back off the MWD and waited as he pulled range again. At this point he should have turned tail and ran, so credit where credit is due, he stayed and fought. Remember, I didn't have a point fitted.

So I continued to pick at his tank, his kite range was still inside my own optimal, so I was hitting for decent damage. And then his cap started running low again and Monty called point and I burned straight for him again... when WAM!! he exploded. I alpha'd the rest of his tank in one shot, I think I hit for like 1,400 or something insane on that last volley.

Good fight.

So far I like the Tornado. I did dock up and put the point on, but we couldn't find any one else to fight us. In a gang situation I'm leaning towards not fitting the point, but I haven't decided yet. The increased buffer kept me alive against the Cynabal, I only got down to about half shields, so there is that. But flying a ship into combat without a point... well, that just isn't done. lol.

Looking Ahead to 2012

2012-01-04T14:44:00.002Z

In about two weeks I'll be starting my third year of blogging here on Eveoganda. In September I'll be starting my fourth year of playing Eve. So already, looking ahead to 2012 brings with it some long-term benchmarks.

But those are the calendar ones, the easy ones. The more important question for me looking forward into 2012 is what now? Where and what should Rixx be doing in the coming year?

The one thing I know for certain, having played for 3+ years with this character... I have no idea! Not me that's for sure. This time last year I was a Director in a Null Sec Corporation that had just started a new Alliance and moved to Syndicate. In order to help grow the Alliance I thought it might be a good idea to re-start an old Corporation of mine called Lucifer's Hammer...

I do know that I will be staying in The Tuskers for the foreseeable future. The Tuskers are a great group of guys whose play-style, demands ( or lack thereof ), location, friends and support, are exactly what I need right now. I've toyed with several ideas over the last two months, and while many of those are interesting to me, right now I want to concentrate on some unfinished business.

And what might that be you ask? Only one answer to that my friend - PvP.

I've been in the Hevrice/Lisbo/OMS area now for almost a year ( with some short diversions ), which is probably the longest single stretch of time I've ever been anywhere. Other than Providence, but that wasn't one long stretch. During my time in HevLisbo I was running a Corporation and then an Alliance, then taking both of those apart. ( Still sorry about how that worked out, but ehh. ) This year I don't want to start any new Corporations/Alliances, or support any far-flung wars, or help someone else do it. I just want to focus on being a better pilot and Fleet Commander.

Last night I went out with Itsme and Monty, two former LUCRH pilots, and flew up around Kinakka in our Hyperion, Myrm, Tornado. It was the first time I'd had a chance to fly the Tornado into combat. And while we were only out for a short time, I had a blast. It was a little slice of the old days. And I want those days back again. We also managed a couple of good fights, especially this one.

The reason I play Eve is for the player versus player combat. The rest, while awesome and rewarding, is simply window dressing for that. It is, on a deep fundamental level, all I care about. And this year, for as long as I can manage, I'd like to just focus on that.

Let's see how it goes.

The Eve Blog Pack: Boss Level

2012-01-03T17:21:00.002Z

Back in August when I first took over the Blog Pack from CK, I tried to keep things running as smoothly as possible. Any change like that is going to be problematic in many ways, so the idea was to keep it as simple as possible and minimize the bad.

This worked pretty well if I do say so myself.

Since then there have been a number of EBP Updates, changes and issues that have popped up. And, in my humble opinion, the EBP continues to be a vibrant reflection of the "best" of the Eve Blogging Community.

And there is that word.

I thought it would be a good time to define a bit more what I believe the Blog Pack is and isn't as we move into 2012. To me the EBP is a snapshot of the Eve Community of today, not of yesterday or tomorrow. A snapshot, not an album. Other people have lists, my personal favorite is Eve Blogger for example - it does an excellent job of linking Eve Blogs. Other people also have limited lists, or Best of lists, or friend lists, or any number of other ways of linking to Eve Blogs. But none of them are the Eve Blog Pack.

I am, in many ways, honor bound to uphold what I believe to be the spirit that CK created the Blog Pack for in the first place. Not to provide a comprehensive list of Eve Community Blogs, but to provide a snapshot of the ones that stand apart and that represent a wide selection of topics interesting to other members of the Eve Community.

So the EBP is about the reality of today. Getting on the EBP is no guarantee that you will be staying on the EBP. This isn't a Hall of Fame. It is a vibrant, living list. If you stop blogging for three months and then return, don't expect to see your blog on the list. It doesn't work like that. You will be replaced with someone else.

You need to write about Eve and write about Eve often. You need to do so in a way that is interesting, vibrant and important to the greater Eve Community. If not, you will be removed. And there is no warning, no head's up. I do try to help our EBP members if they are having problems, and they all know this is true, but I am not your babysitter. I still love you, but the list is the thing when it comes to EBP.

So moving forward the list will be updated more often under slightly more stringent personal guidelines from me.

The goal isn't to favor anyone, or punish anyone, the goal is to create a vibrant, strong, important snapshot of the Eve Blogging Community. It isn't easy to get on the list, it shouldn't be. And it isn't easy to get taken off the list. But staying on the list is more than getting on it in the first place. It isn't easy to continue to write about Eve and to stay excellent, that should also be true.

There will be changes coming this week. The first update of 2012 has been in the works for several weeks now. Already Eve A to Z has been removed due to non-Eve related postings.

More updates coming.

UPDATE: The Altruist moved his site. The Feed should have been working fine for a few weeks now, but I finally got around to fixing all the other links on here as well.

Walking In Station Pneumonia

2012-01-03T14:19:00.001Z

Christmas night I got hit hard by the flu, wham-o!! This effectively knocked me out of the Holiday spirit for four straight days of misery, coughing, snot producing, shivering burning, blah blahs. But I fought, as usual, without giving a single thought to seeing a Doctor or taking actual prescription meds. For me, traditionally, the flu is like a 3-4 day misery, nothing serious, then fine.

This one wouldn't go away, even after I got better. I ain't stupid, just tougher than nails. But even I know when I need help. At first the Doctors thought I had Walking Pneumonia, but it turns out it was a badass case of Bronchitis instead. I'm on meds now and feeling much better.

I don't get sick, but when I do, I do it right. The last time was about six years ago when I was sick for an entire month. The Doctors couldn't figure out what was wrong with me, poor things. Eventually it was just killer meds, soup and time that healed me then. In my house we refer to that sickness as the "time I had SARS" cause that' was the hot sickness back then.

You know it's bad when the Doctor looks at your chest x-ray and says, "Huh, never seen that before."

I mention all this to let you know I'm back. And to give you some idea of what it takes to keep me away. My life is incredibly complicated, but it has always been incredibly complicated. Because that is exactly the way I like it. I always laugh when people used to say I could never keep up the pace here on Eveoganda. And while burn-out is always a possibility, I mean seriously, how am I supposed to know exactly how long Eve will interest me? Writing in this blog, doing art, helping the community... in my life these are the fun things I get to do.

Heads up. There are some changes coming to the Eve Blog Pack this week. We'll be adding a few new blogs and there may be some other changes. Today I had to remove one of the EBP Blogs over concerns it may have been compromised, I'm waiting to hear from the author on that.

Happy New Year my friends. The start of the third year of Eveoganda!!!

Eve Predictions for 2012

2011-12-30T21:33:00.001Z

This time next year we shall all be atomized by some sort of cosmic Mayan revenge fantasy, otherwise known as "Oh great leader we have charted 2,000 years on this calendar... and our fingers are sore." "Sheesh guys, take a break, it isn't like our civilization is going anywhere!" They all LOL'd and went off into the jungle to wait for the Spanish.

Where was I? Oh yeah, 2012.

Here are some boneheaded predictions for our little Eve Universe (ish) for the coming year. Live it up while you still have time.

Prediction 1:
Mord Fiddle will admit that I am right about something!
Granted, this has about as much chance of happening as the aforementioned Mayan Apocolypse, but my crystal ball is telling me it is bound to happen sooner or later. The problem is, it'll probably be something small and insignificant. But a victory nonetheless!!

Prediction 2:
Ripard/Jester will be revealed to be four lonely teenage brothers living in a trailer outside of Birmingham, Alabama.
C'mon, this isn't that big of a reach. I write a lot, almost 700 posts in two years, but this guy puts me to shame. It can't all be the work of one person. Granted he has only been blogging for a year and the inevitable blogger block happens in the 14th month (proven btw by Google research, most blogs die after the 14th month!). Not that I wish that to happen of course.

Prediction 3:
The Russian Null Bloc will finally realize they actually hate each other and fight amongst themselves. Vodka prices in Jita climb to all-time highs.
More then a prediction, this one is more like a wish. Just remember my Russian friends, everyone is talking about you behind your back. Especially that Serbian character! And don't forget about the Georgians!!

Prediction 4:
CCP will come to their senses and universally adopt all Gooder Eve suggestions.
And really, that would just be so awesome. Especially the POS BattleStar!! Woot.

Prediction 5:
Rixx will start a new Corporation that grows into a thousand man powerhouse that takes back Providence!!
No he won't. Yes he will. No he won't. Huh, that does sound interesting though... anyone else up for it?

Prediction 6:
The new T3 Frigates and the new Tier3 Destroyers are friggin' awesome, spawning a new era of good fights across new Eden!
Ok, some of these are pure wishful thinking. But you never know who might be reading.

Prediction 7:
GCC gets lowered to 5 minutes in an intelligent new system based on the security status of the system in which the combat aggression takes place.
Those responsible at CCP win the coveted Noble Gaming Prize in Stockholm and are universally hailed as geniuses. World peace follows shortly.

Prediction 8:
Mord Fiddle will admit that I am right about something!
Maybe that last prediction is the one Mord will admit I was right about?

Prediction 9:
The number of women playing Eve rises dramatically from 1 to about 12.
Schweet. Sadly this has more to do with the dropping costs of sex-change operations than anything else.

Prediction 10:
I'll finally have that moment where you go, "oh yeah, that's how it works" and suddenly Eve will make total sense and I'll be - like - awesome at it.
Had to throw one in here for me! Ok, so I hope it happens to all of you!!

Happy New Year. Let's hope it doesn't actually end next December, I'm really starting to get the hang of it.

My Ten Favorite Posts of 2011

2011-12-30T01:03:00.002Z

These are the ones I am proudest of. If you missed them now is your chance to catch up and avoid the eventual loss of self-respect that you'll feel from not having taken the chance when it was offered to you.

These are presented in no particular order.

THUNDERDOME

In this post, which is a follow up to this post, I managed to lay out a viable solution to the idea of planned, agreed upon PvP content in Eve. This was in direct response to many people saying such a solution was impossible within the context of Eve and since I hate it when people say something is impossible, I went about proving that it wasn't. This caused quite a stir and eventually led to even more debate. Which is why I write these things in the first place. Just to be clear, I personally do not want THUNDERDOME in Eve. But it could work.

Later in August, the topic came up again in a Blog Banter.

Large Coalitions Are Not Bad For Eve

I love playing Devil's Advocate around here and sometimes it gets me into trouble. Which is the whole and entire point of doing it. Funny looking back on this post now that the NC doesn't even exist anymore. Muhahahaha.

TOP 10 (Double Post)

The Top Ten Most Frustrating Things About Eve and the follow-up Top Ten Most Amazing Things About Eve. Written back in May the frustrating bits are still frustrating and the amazing bits are still amazing.

The Thin Green Line

A few of these "best" post came about because of Incarna and the subsequent shit-storm that hit over the Summer. This one was written right at the beginning of the tide and it lays out my own beliefs about vanity items and "gold ammo" perfectly.

EVEOTORIAL: The Mass of Men

And then this one. You have to read it for yourself. This was one of the most popular posts of the past year and I am pleased that it was, in fact it got a lot of proper attention if you know what I mean.

Rixx Internally Debates Being a Pirate

These are actually several posts in which I debated the personal merits of the play style I have recently chosen to pursue. It all sorta started with this post I wrote about how docking up in the face of combat made you a coward. I then wrote two follow-up posts about the topic, here and then here. And then that thread sorta ended with this post. Now all that talk about cowards, haters, trolls and whatnot really got me thinking.

And then I wrote this post, which is just friggin' brilliant, about Criminal Intentions. Really it boils down to my own RL personal morality and how that balances with being a scum sucking pirate in-game. Writing that caused Rixx to write his own letter. Which finally all got wrapped up nicely in this post called Morality and Moral Bankruptcy.

I know it is a lot of posts, but it is worth reading.

EVEOTORIAL: The CSM and Why It's Bad for Eve

I wrote this and the next one in response to continued frustration over the Incarna issues that plagued Eve over the Summer. Much of what I wrote was based on events on-going at the time it was written, which is the hallmark of good editorial writing. I stand by much of what was written, especially in light of the changes that happened as a result. But especially in light of the next post...

EVEOTORIAL: Why CCP is Bad for Eve

Much of this post was simply me best-guessing my way thru the issues surrounding the events of the past Summer, using my own experience and knowledge the best I could to try and explain what was rapidly becoming obvious. I know for a fact that many people at CCP read this post, many of them contacted me off the record to say as much and more. I know I missed on a few things, but even on those it was a glancing blow. Whatever the final results, and I don't care one way or the other, the facts are obvious. Something changed at CCP and we, the game of Eve and CCP are better for those changes.

Swinging Lucifer's Hammer

A work of fiction that I wrote. It won a contest.

2012: Sanctuary Training Program

And finally, I wrote an entire series on what I think 2012 might bring to Eve. Or, more to the point, what I think it should bring. But this one is the most important as it brings to life an idea that I believe Eve needs. A total re-build on the new player experience.

And those are my personal top ten.

Most Popular Posts of 2011

2011-12-29T18:08:00.001Z

2011 was a year of big changes in Eve for Rixx. His transformation from Null Space Soldier to low-sec Pirate started in late 2010 and early 2011 with the creation of Lucifer's Hammer and ended with him joining The Tuskers.

Now that I can actually see and think a little, my Flu is dying a slow death, I thought I'd look back on the year that was by posting the most popular posts based on traffic. These are not my favorite posts, that list will be coming later, but these are the ones that grabbed the most attention.

Death Race II: Bath of Blood

While over 55k people read this post it wasn't enough to save it from being a victim of bad timing all the way around. You can read more in the post that announced the reasons behind the cancellation.

Golden Rokh

Over 45k visitors liked the Wallpaper of the Rokh hovering over the Golden Gate bridge. That is more than the two Pirate Cruiser Wallpapers combined. And yes, I plan on doing more of those in the future. Both of them.

Gang Tactics

The Gang Tactics series was extremely popular and yes I do plan on continuing those as well, just as soon as things calm down a bit from the Holiday madness.

EVEOTORIAL: The Mass of Men

This one would also make my "best of" list and I remain extremely proud of what I wrote during the heat of last Summer's turmoil over vanity items and the CQ. If you haven't read it I recommend every Eve player do so, it is a strong call to civil disobedience and the responsibilities that come with it.

Goodbye RK: You've got Red on your Orchestra

I still maintain good relations with many pilots in RK, both former and current, but they were not the Alliance for Lucifer's Hammer. It is a funny story and if you are not familiar with it then it is good reading. The whole thing started with one of our pilots fitting a small neut on his Vagabond, mostly because he was waiting for AWUV to finish training, and bloomed into an epic Troll of mammoth proportions. It was all in fun, at least from our end, and helped secure our little corporation some much needed attention. I still find it fascinating that people that proclaim to be "trolling" are so sensitive when they are being trolled.

BOOTED: Muppet Ninjas Endorse Blue Vs. Blue

And then an even better Troll came along. This was classic and one of the best laid plans that I have ever been involved with. Over 50 comments on this one, and they are probably just as much fun as the actual post.

There were things about that moment in time that I couldn't write in the post, but they really aren't important now. Seeing as that was back in April, who really cares anymore?

What Tomfoolery awaits in the coming year? Guess we'll have to wait to find out...

sickness pervades

2011-12-28T19:58:00.000Z

even one as stalwart and physically, mentally fine a specimen as yours truly sometimes, rarely, succumbs to the mundane, asinine, trivial failures of the flesh and creeping, swollen, cough infested malignancy known commonly as the flu. stop bah. hit me hard christmas night and hasn't let me out of its icy heat tinged grasp. stop. feeling better, must not lose hope. sweat. dripping mucus factory imbedded in my own head and uncontrolled workings. stop. mundanity.

trivial. stop. but all so repellent when it comes calling. one thinks, professionally, i shall return to full strength right soon. stop. love to mother. stop.

send iskies. stop.

Happy Holidays

2011-12-21T14:52:00.000Z

Everything has a way of changing around the Holidays. The plans and schemes of men are given over to the twisted whims of family, friends and obligations. This is the way of things. Neither bad nor always good, in the end it is what it is. We endure.

Beyond endurance however, lies a land of peace and harmony. I've never seen it, but the stories persist. The idea that some truth lies at the heart of those tales is what keeps us going. The tantalizing thread of hope that one day we might just stumble upon such a place.

In so many aspects of my own life, I have found that land. After tribulation, trial, effort, failure and more lawyers than... well, best to leave that for another day. The point is this, I have tasted of that land my friends. At various points I've lived in its suburbs, glimpsed its white towers and smelled the wafting breeze of its glorious foodstuffs.

And this Holiday season, in the context of Eve or outside of it, I have one fervent holiday wish to share. It is my sincere desire that each of you, the carebears, the pilots, the wormholers, the hi-sec gankers, the mission runners, the transporters, the miners, the scammers, the Corp CEOs, the folks at CCP, everyone, each and every, have a chance to taste, to feel, to live - even for a moment - in the fabled land of peace, joy and harmony.

The book that is Eve is closed until next week. I'll be spending my time on-line with friends and family until then. And I won't pod a single one of them, I promise.

Next week we'll spend some time looking back over the past year, at some of the best and worst that 2011 brought us. Until then, whatever your personal beliefs might be, my sincere and heart-felt best wishes for you and yours.

Keep the courage.

The Next Step

2011-12-19T16:06:00.001Z

Click to embiggen

This is the time of year when we sometimes pause to reflect on where we've been and where we might be going next year. I suppose in the coming weeks I'll be doing my fair share of that as well. But today I thought I'd spend some time talking about it from a skills perspective.

This time last year my goal was to train Sabre/DIC/HIC and start flying those ships. Funny, since I spent only a few short months after writing that in Null Space. I did achieve that goal right away and even though I don't fly those ships much, they have still come in handy from time to time. Even in Low Sec they have their uses. The super long point of the Broadsword, Devoter are especially useful on Cap kills. And while the Devoter sucks at delivering DPS its tank makes it useful when breaking up gate camps or station camps.

I never got around to training Logi V, it is still stuck at IV and probably will be for another year. Rixx is a combat pilot and his focus remains on training combat related skills. Eventually he will get around to it I suppose, but not any time in the near future. My ultimate goal for Rixx remains, to fully train all four races up to and including Battleships. The underlying principles behind that goal are largely finished, the support skills, the gun skills, the weapons, powergrid, etc. Most of the coming year will be spent on topping off some key skills to level V and expanding the ship skills underneath BS.

For example, Recon V, which he is training right now. At least two of the four BS skills to V and I'll probably get around to finally finishing Gal Cruiser V which is the only one of those I don't have.

As for Ana, her goal next year is Black Ops, JF, and then Dreadnaught or Super Carrier, depending on how much I can afford. She has spent the last nine months training every Carrier skill you need to level V and she is right in the middle of training Cap Armor Rep to V at the moment. She is well on her way to being a truly badass Carrier pilot.

At a little over 55m skillpoints it is interesting to think about where Rixx will be this time next year. While I was looking forward to the Sabre last year, I don't really have a ship class I'm looking forward to next year. So instead my focus is going to be on getting better at the ships I do fly, filling in some of the remaining holes in my skills ( there are still a few, do they ever really go away? ) and becoming even more of a terror. To myself and others.

If I had to do it all over again ( ugh ) I wouldn't have jumped into the cross-training so soon, it did hurt early on, but having done so is finally starting to pay off now. So no real regrets.

What are your plans for the coming year in regards to skill training? Anything you are looking forward to?

Blog Banter 31: The Rollercoaster Thrill Ride that is Eve Online, with Cookies, Review

2011-12-16T21:58:00.004Z

Eve Online is a massively multiplayer online role-playing game that works within a science-fiction universe. It is a deep, dark, complex universe that is hard to have fun playing and will probably kill you dead. Be warned, if you are considering playing Eve, you will probably suck at it.

It has taken me over three years to write this review. I set out to take a deep dive into the Player Versus Player combat scheme presented in CCP's on-line internet spaceship "game" called Eve Online. You probably haven't heard of it. Mostly weirdoes play it.

Wait a second... that isn't working. Time to try another angle.

Hello! My name is Rixx Javix and I'm an Eve Online enthusiast that spends an inordinate amount of time wasting my life shooting internet spaceships...

That makes me sound pervie. I need a good angle here.

By jovian! I've got it. I started playing Eve for one simple reason, I could fly spaceships and shoot other people who were also flying spaceships. And while that might sound all groovy and cool, it isn't. What I mean is that Eve is much more than that. It comes down to people man, the people are so friggin' awesome. They taught me so much about myself that...

Uh, this is harder than it sounds. Seismic Stan asked us to write a community centric review of Eve Online. It could be from any angle, section, piece, corner or whatever we wanted. Open ended huh? Eve isn't like a movie I just saw, or a new album I just listened to. Eve is very strange in so many ways, especially for me, since it incorporates into so many aspects of myself and what I do on an almost daily basis. It isn't that I'm one of those weirdoes, or that I attend Eve conventions dressed like a Jovian, but Eve permeates so fully that it is always there. Even though it might be lurking behind a corner, it is hard to remove yourself from it in order to see it clearly.

Rationally it makes little to no sense at all. I mean, most of the time it isn't even that much fun to play. And even the word "play" is wrong, cause you really don't play Eve as much as you experience Eve. Even thinking about it in terms of "play" is wrong-headed and will only result in your frustration. Believe me, I've been there several times.

Emotionally it can be crushing. I spent an entire year helping an Alliance grow only to watch it crumble and squish and be betrayed and ultimately destroyed. I've actually done that more than a few times now. It can be emotionally disturbing to invest so much time, literally hundreds of hours, effort and dedication into something, only to watch it melt away as if it never existed in the first place. Poof. Gone. That hurts and hurts hard. That kinda thing can kill you dead.

Eve is horribly harsh and unforgiving. I have worked my butt off to buy ships and 99% of those have been blown up by other players. I've sunk billions of in-game money, they called it ISK, to buy ships only to have them destroyed by other players. I've lost 255 ships and I have less than 50 in my hanger, what kind of odds are those?! Oh sure I've blown up more than my fair share of other people's ships, almost 1,500 of them, but that just means I am part of the problem - not the solution.

I'm trying to make a point by painting a negative picture about something I love. Eve is all of those things above. It doesn't make much sense, it is often emotionally crushing, harsh and unforgiving... and that is exactly what I love about it.

From day one I have only been interested in one thing about Eve - combat. I sucked at it early on in my career and got my ass handed to me on numerous attempts at shooting other players. Slowly, but surely I got better at it. Some days I feel like the king of the universe and other days I feel like the court jester of the universe. You can't be in love with something that makes rational sense, that doesn't have the potential to crush you emotionally, that isn't often harsh, cruel and unforgiving... because it loves you back.

What other virtual internet based digital universe can deliver that kind of passion? I don't know of any. That might make me weird of course, I have to concede that possibility. But if so, then I welcome it.

Combat is my thing. My only thing. I've fought countless times across the width and breadth of New Eden. My Eve map is full of colored dots from one side to the other. I've fought in every type of space the game has to offer, from Empire to Null, Wormholes to Low and every where in-between. On the side of thousand man fleets to small five man gangs, to creeping around by myself looking to pounce on some unsuspecting pilot. In all that time I've learned a lot about fighting in Eve over the last three years, but still I manage to learn something new every single time I fly.

Ask yourself this? How is that even possible?

I mean really think about that for a second. I've been playing for over three years, I write a blog about it, spend hundreds of hours doing it, talking about it, thinking about it, planning about it, reading about it... and still there are things to be learned?

I can't say that about very many things. But I honestly believe, that when it comes to Eve, I may never be able to learn it all. To encompass the breadth and width and height and depth of it. How remarkable is that?

So then. For this rambling, disjointed reviewer, I give Eve unlimited stars for potential and 4 out of 5 stars for reality. Eve is, as always, an on-going work in progress. It ebbs and flows between utter collapse and the heights of accomplishment. The most recent expansion Eve:Crucible has raised the bar once again.

I can highly recommend Eve Online.

Art About Me for a Change

2011-12-16T13:45:00.002Z

So I see this link on Twitter this morning that has my name on it and click thru casually, one never knows what might be on the other end of such a thing, and this pops up in the window! Lo and behold it is a piece of art featuring none other than your friendly neighborhood blogger and pirate, or me as I call myself. ( in my head I sometimes call myself Studmuffin, but you probably didn't need to know that )

Said piece of brilliance was made by HighRezEVE, you can see his growing portfolio over on DeviantArt. The idea of producing art based on Capsuleers is a good one and I'm glad someone else is doing it instead of me. I am extremely flattered by this unexpected bit of awesome sauce and would like to thank HighRezEVE for the honor.

I will even mention that HighRezEVE does take commissions and will produce one of these pieces with you in the spotlight. Details are on his DeviantArt page.

One just never knows what lies on the other end of a link. Sometimes it even turns out to be something quite awesome.

The Power of 100 Voices Wallpaper

2011-12-15T22:39:00.000Z

My fellow blogger and podcasting genius Arydanika is running a very interesting... hmm, what would you call it? Sort of an open casting call for Eve Voices I guess. She is compiling as many voices as possible to produce a "Colors of Beneton" style commercial for the in-game NPC Corporation CreoDron. Who happens to make drones.

You can learn more about the project by clicking over to her blog post. Click right on thru the verification thingie, she doesn't bite.

I was so inspired by her enthusiasm for producing commercials and her creativity that I decided to create the Wallpaper Ad above in support. You can click on the image to download various sizes.

So go on over there and lend your voice! Go on. We should all have microphones, voice comms is mandatory y'know.

Star Raiders: Eve's Great-Grandfather

2011-12-14T15:36:00.000Z

I'm going to date myself horribly in this post. Way back in 1979 when it came to video gaming the Atari system was all the rage. The Atari 2600 was the coolest thing you could own and one of the coolest games you could play was a game called Star Raiders. ( Asteroids was fine, Space Invaders was popular, but for my money Star Raiders was better. Oh and Defender was awesome too! )

The more I think about this game the more I've come to realize the direct lineage between it and Eve. And while SR was four-color 8-bit and cheesy by todays standards, the game-play and strategy sounds awfully familiar. Let's take a closer look.

While SR was the direct ancestor of today's first-person shooters, other aspects of the game can't be ignored when considering its Eve heritage and inspiration.

Consider the "Galactic Chart" pictured here. Each square represents a Star System. Your ship could fly around each star system in sub-warp speed, but to get to another star system you needed Hyperspace. You selected another system and jumped to it, much like our Eve Gates today. Some of these systems even had Starbases in them, which you could use to repair your ship.

For those of us alive at the time, the sight of the SR Hyperspace warp tunnel in store monitors was extremely common. Video stores would run loops of the warp tunnel effect to showcase the graphics of the Atari. But the similarities don't end there.

The whole point of Star Raiders was combat. And to aid you in that combat you had radar, in fact you had two types of scanning, short and long range. This "overview" type system also let you know when enemy ships were locked and ready to be fired at. There was even a primitive version of tracking to enable hits on the bad guys.

Unlike many of the multiple lives games out at the time, in SR you only had one life. One ship. Your ship could be damaged by bad guys, by collisions with asteroids ( or Meteoroids as they called them ) but could only be destroyed when your shields get low or won't work. In fact, multiple damage types could hurt your ship in different ways, shields, weapons, engines and even your overview could become damaged. ( something even Eve doesn't have ) You even had to manage your Cap ( Energy reserves ) to effectively stay in business long enough to keep fighting.

Oh wait. While you could dock at Starbases for repair, the enemy could also destroy your Starbases. If they surrounded one and you failed to defend it, it could be blown up and lost to you. Sounds kind of familiar doesn't it?

The picture to the right shows the screen view of a Starbase and the shuttle you used to dock with. You can see the ship information along the bottom and the "overview" on the right.

The entire game took up only 8k of ROM and worked with only 8k of RAM. A far cry from today's system requirements huh.

Understand, I am not saying that Eve is a rip-off of Star Raiders or anything nutty like that. That would be silly. But anyone can see the direct lineage that today's games have with those that came before them. Star Raiders isn't the only game on that tree, but it is probably the most significant example and truly the Great-Grandaddy of Eve.

For me personally, Star Raiders represented the first time I had played anything remotely like a real, immersive ( for its time ) space game. It wasn't the arcade classic Asteroids, or Space Invaders, in which you were displaced from the action by the screen. Star Raiders was unique for putting you into the action, it was first-person before first-person was even a concept.

And it planted a seed in my young brain that became fully grown when I saw Eve for the very first time. And for that, I thank you Great-Grandfather. You rock.

A Sense of Place

2011-12-14T14:06:00.000Z

Lately I find myself actually looking off into space while I'm flying around in New Eden. For the last three years space was mostly the same dark inky place, much better than when I first started playing ( heck, just a month ago I would've sworn it was cool!! ) but still... I mean, just look out of your window!

We all get that. We've seen the purty nebula, the stark contrasts, the deep blacks, the crispy color, the sharp defined edges, the new shaders, models, and other unexplained something or others that make New Eden post-Crucible just friggin awesome to look at. We get it. It sure is real purty.

But there is something else going on here. When I'm looking off into space now, I can see home. It is over there. And it keeps getting smaller and smaller the further I fly away from it. And the place I'm going for nefarious purposes? Why, it keeps getting closer.

For the first time EVER New Eden is an actual place. You can drive thru it and kinda tell where you are headed. And where you've been. Somewhere out there in the twinkly stars is the one star you call home. It used to be those stars were like a randomly generated background not much different than the old Atari Star Raiders star-field. ( And yes, Star Raiders is the direct ancestor of Eve, but that is actually the post for tomorrow! It has been sitting in the dust bin unfinished for long enough. ) But now, even though they still might be randomly generated, they don't feel that way.

One of the biggest reasons is the new wonky Star Gates. They tilt, lean and generally point DIRECTLY at the next Star! In fact you can watch the Gate thingie shoot your disassembled and suddenly incorporal mass directly to the destination star, which is all big and twinkly in the path of said beam thingie.

What an odd and unexpected thing. A sense of place in this vast and virtual universe, a place we like to call home. Huh.

The other day whilst out on a roam, the nebula were all around us. Off in the distance was Cloud Ring and other still un-named ( to us anyway ) nebula. Back behind us though was the one featured in the post image above, which is my own home system of Hevrice. It was much smaller and more distant than when we started the roam. It was actually far away. Really far away.

My point is this. I think the impact of this perception goes way beyond the purty pictures and sense of time and place. In fact, I think this single little thing might very well become the most significant and important change to come out of Crucible. Over the Summer CCP held a contest/event called "Eve is Real" in which players were asked to contribute things that made Eve seem real to us. But we had no clue yet how real Eve could potentially be, how much we were missing this sense of place. You can't miss what you don't know you don't have. Cause we thought we had it. But we really didn't.

And now we do. It sends chills down my spine.

I could almost navigate New Eden without using my map now. Simply look off into the steller distances and see something that interests me... and head in that direction. Like our Fathers before us, navigating vacation without GPS and Navigation Systems, sure we'd get lost every so often. But on those trips getting lost was sometimes the best part, the discovery of the World's Largest Ball of Yarn, or the Weird Hole, or Gravity Hill.

New Eden. One of those twinkly stars is my home.

The Ninja Blog Pack

2011-12-13T22:04:00.003Z

Since Ninja are sneaky and covert and clever, you might not know that there is such a thing as a Ninja Blog Pack. But there is. My good friend Aiden Mourn ( who just happens to be a Ninja, shhhh ) runs it over on his awesome blog that he calls Finders & Keepers.

Memorize that link and then destroy this... oh wait. Huh, quandary. Ok then, this blog post will self-destruct in five, four, three, two...

A permanent link will be going up around here shortly.

Oracle Kills Zealot & Other Random Crucible Musings

2011-12-13T14:32:00.004Z

I was fitting up my shiny new tier3 Battlecruisers the other day and musing on the changes that Crucible has brought to New Eden. A bit stunned, disoriented and overwhelmed by the multitude of paper-cut fixes, the major game-changers seemed lost in the pile at first.

Then, as I was fitting up my shiny new Oracle, I happened to glance at the Zealot sitting in my hanger.

It hit me, that poor ship is dead.

Which made me wonder, what other ships in my hanger are also dead? Gulp. Suddenly Crucible started to seem like a religious death-squad intent on antiquating my personal collection of death-dealing wonder ships! What would it devour next? My Vagabond?!?

For all intents and purposes, the Zealot and the Vagabond have seen their day of glory and will never again be the ships they once were. They have been regulated to the dusty back bin of the hanger, to be brought out only because you were to damn lazy or poor to buy a new tier3 when you were in Jita last week.

The Oracle is twice as cheap as a Zealot, hits for BS damage at better than Zealot ranges, doesn't have the same cap issues and, did I mention, it is twice as cheap? ( It varies of course, but eventually it will be. And while this might be over-simplifying a complex issue, it is the truth. Plus, oversimplifying a complex issue is what I do! ) The Zealot, poor thing, just can't hold up under this kind of pressure.

The story isn't the same for the Vagabond. It wasn't directly killed by one ship, but by a combination of events that put it squarely in the middle. The Tornado started it. Once you introduce a 900 dps warrior that can hit at Drake range with the ( relatively ) same tracking as a Cane, with nano Cane EHP ( close enough! ) you've upset the apple cart. But the Tornado is a tough nut to fit a point on, so how does this kill the Vaga? It doesn't directly, but follow the logic tree down a bit and you'll see why. Once again, it comes down to cost relationships. The Vaga is to expensive. Just like the Zealot, the Vaga is killed by being more expensive than it is worth. Heck, when you can make a Catalyst into a Taranis ( call it a Fat Tranny if you want, but with the right skills the Catalyst is pretty badass right now ) for a fraction of the cost, you begin to see what Crucible has wrought.

After all the Dramiel talk, the nerfs/buffs, the balancing and whatnots that Crucible has brought us. It is fascinating that the most significant changes might be to the overall market value of our traditional thinking. Battleship DPS at Battlecruiser prices is about more than meets the eye.

And we're only in the opening weeks.

I love Twitter. Having banged this around a few times I just wanted to focus the post a bit more on the important point. Cost. Eve is all about risk/reward and ISK balance. I'm not saying the Oracle is a better ship than the Zealot. In many ways it is not. But what I am saying is this - it is much, much cheaper and it does more dps! These are hard facts to ignore. And while the Zealot has a slightly bigger tank and can have a lower sig radius, that dps thing is hard to get past. Especially considering the price.

And that is the thing. Take a look in the comments and notice what Kirith says about the Naga compared to the Rokh. 1/3 the cost, better agility with a damage bonus. Forget the EHP when you can field more of them for the same cost.

Unless something weird happens and T2 prices fall significantly, and they probably can't even do that anymore, the world has changed and it is time to start thinking differently.

And if you are counting on a buffer I wouldn't be so quick. I seriously think this is exactly what CCP wanted to happen.

Stuck in the Fridge

2011-12-12T13:51:00.001Z

If I've learned one thing during the last 3+ years playing Eve, writing about Eve, drawing things about Eve and generally being so cool doing all of it, is this - sometimes even I need a break from Eve.

The past month has been, for me, a break from Eve. Although I've stayed mostly active here on Eveoganda and in other places, my in-game time over the last month probably amounted to about 2 hours in total. This had nothing at all to do with Eve itself, in fact I couldn't be more excited about Crucible and the direction the game is going right now. This had everything to do with the usual things these things have to do with, a confluence of events both in-game and out, that crossed streams in places they shouldn't have crossed streams. Hence causing additional stress and poo-poo crap'ola that needed to be dealt with.

Yesterday marked my general return to form as I undocked Rixx from Hevrice for the first time in over two weeks with the intent to blow something up. Mostly I've been logging in to Ana to move stuff and buy nifty new ships. But yesterday I wanted some much needed action and explosions.

It didn't happen like that. Oh I had fun, don't get me wrong. I lucked out and logged in just as a Tusker Dessie gang was forming up. Sounded fun. I quickly fitted up a Catalyst and waited to head out. The FC was asking in fleet chat for some pilots to fly Interceptors and I volunteered, so no Catalyst for me. He wanted a long point Ceptor, so I had to scramble to find one. I have several Ceptors fitted up, but since I don't fly in Null Space much anymore, almost all of them are short pointed. Ranis, blaster/web. Daredevil, blaster/web, Dramiel, Malediction all short range killers. Maybe the Slicer or maybe the Crow. I had the Crow fitted with AB/Scram but it was easy enough to switch out.

We ran all over and couldn't find anyone to engage us. Not really. There was a decent sized PIRATES gang that was full of potential but they wouldn't engage us and kept docking up. You'd think 4-5 BCs and support ships wouldn't be afraid of a gang of Destroyers...

I did manage to get in on a Hurricane kill. And seeing just how fast his tank melted, maybe people were right to avoid us.

One more thing. It is pretty awe-inspiring watching your home system Nebula shrink into the distance the further you get from it. And seeing Cloud Ring off in the distance, or some of the other Nebula, really gives Eve a sincere sense of location. It would be easy to dismiss this in the heat of hunting and killing, but I think the impact of this most recent level of immersion may have a lasting impact on New Eden. Very interesting.

Twitter Hats: Clearly Spoken

2011-12-07T20:17:00.001Z

It's my own fault. Sometimes I can be unclear by trying hard to be clear and all I do is confuse people by trying to be clear, so let me be perfectly clear. (With apologies to Richard Nixon)

For almost six months I did a Twitter Hat every day, some days as many as six. That is over. No more daily hats.

But I will still be-hat your Twitter Avatar for you if you ask me nicely. And that hat will become part of the Tweetfleet Hat Collection here on Eveoganda. Which will eventually result in a printable poster and more fun Wallpapers.

In exchange I will accept small donations for my efforts, or not, totally and 100% up to you. I am a Pirate who doesn't play as much as he used to, so every little bit helps me afford more ships.

That's it. You can request hats thru Twitter, thru email both out and in-game, or by leaving a comment on a post.

Thanks.

Year End Gift

2011-12-05T20:52:00.001Z

Every year I like to give Rixx a year-end gift that comes in various forms. Part one of the "gift" isn't a gift at all really, more of a long skill train that takes him thru the Holiday. Since the time around Christmas isn't usually one that holds a lot of play-time, it is the perfect time to plan a longer than usual skill.

Last year it was two skills, Propulsion Jamming V and Destroyer V on my way to flying the Sabre, Onyx, Broadsword, etc. The year before that was BCV. This year took some thought and planning to determine which would be the best skill to train. There are many more skills now that need taken to the final V level. But I've always tried to make it one that leads directly to having more fun. Either in flying something new or in flying something better.

So this year it'll be the long put off Recon V. I kept putting it off because I wanted to focus on other things, like gun skills, drone skills and shooting stuff dead skills. Plus flying Recon ships like the Rapier, Curse and others isn't as big a deal in Pirate Land as it would be out in Null. Don't get me wrong, having Recon V is a HUGE deal. But lower on the totem pole than other skills in low sec.

The second gift is an actual gift. If I can swing it by Xmas, Rixx will finally be getting his Machariel. And there is no really good reason why this will happen. I don't need a Machariel and I probably won't fly it very often. But I want one anyway. Last year when I wrote this post I mentioned wanting a Machariel for Xmas and I didn't get one then either. I've put it off long enough, I want a fully fit and fully operational Mach in my stocking.

And, in typical American fashion, I can't afford one. Which won't stop me from figuring out a way to get one.

Twitter Hats

2011-12-05T14:39:00.001Z

Mockery is a powerful tool.

Back on June 9th it occurred to me that the only real way to express my utter contempt for vanity items in Eve was to use the only visual tool at my disposal, the head and shoulders avatar. And what would I be able to do to it to express just how silly it all was? The answer, as all such things tend to be after the fact of inspiration, was obvious. Hats.

The mere idea of our seasoned, scowl infested, tough-as-nails avatars wearing silly hats was profoundly funny. At least in my own humble opinion.

At first I simply used Rixx as the target for the silly hats, along with my own Twitter campaign in the midst of the Incarna Summer outrage. Along with various posts here on Eveoganda, it seemed like the perfect way to straddle the fence on what I considered to be a difficult razor. On one side the obvious silliness of CQ/Incarna, Aurum, and clothes no one could see. On the other a passionate caring for an Eve gone wrong.

Towards the end of June the little protest of mockery took a turn in a slightly unexpected direction when Mark from Eve Travel requested a Dunce hat for his avatar. Neither of us can remember the exact reason why he wanted such a thing, but he started using it on his own Twitter account. And so was born the expansion of what would come to be known variously as the Twitter Hats, or the Mad Hatter, or other descriptions.

Six months have passed and almost 160 hats. And Eve has moved on from Incarna to Crucible. The universe isn't the same anymore. Many of the Twitter hatted avatars aren't even using their be-hatted avatars anymore. And it seems obvious to me that it is time to put that moment of Eve history to rest.

The hats have served their purpose. Perhaps to a small degree, perhaps more so, who can know these things. They were part of the process however, that cannot be denied, not when so many of CCP's own are proud owners of hats, even the big guy at the top with his fluffy Viking hat.

But it is time to put them behind us and move on. However, since I am such a nice pirate type person, I will still be-hat your avatar, but only on request. And while I will still do them for free I would consider a donation to Rixx a small price to pay, since he is a poor pirate that tends to get things exploded a lot.

The hats were a blast to do and I'm glad they made so many people happy. It still makes me smile when I see one of the hatted avatars pop up on Twitter.

So thanks to all of you that are wearing or have worn your hats with pride. That was fun.

Rixx JavixX is fake

2011-12-01T13:48:00.001Z

That isn't me. Although it does look like me a little.

Yesterday Ana was in Dodixie buying one of each of the new ships, plus fits and some assorted other things, for us. Once she had flown them back to Hevrice she went to put them up on contract. Imagine her surprise when someone else named Rixx JavixX ( the cap is mine, the character is Rixx Javixx).

He is even a member of a FAUX version of my old Corporation, Lucifer's Hammer.[LRUCH] - the dot and the scrambled call letters. This was done on October 31st, so I have to appreciate the Halloween aspect.

I have no proof regarding who is responsible ( not that it really matters much tbh ), there have been several "Rixx Javix" lol clones since I started playing. I can remember nine, but I think there were a few more. So this isn't very creative. Sorry Lex. Plenty of others have trodden this same road over the years, from -A- to Ash most recently with his funny Rixx Javix Jr. character.

I know it is my former Corp member Lex because of the Bio. Pardon the language, I didn't write it and I suspect he was probably drunk when he did. (It is all in Caps, so I've taken the time to de-cappify it for you)

"My Butthurtometer is going into overdrive. God damn those blaggard Directors and their Corp member stealing skills. I hope they read my 100% legit Nano Drake Guide that I wrote even if it doesn't actually include any useful info and is a total copy and an awesome pro pvpers version (that is way better btw)

Further more I am so butthurt even my butts that are hurting have little butthurts growing on them like little butthurt pustules that hurt my butt"

The Nano Drake Guide he is referring to is HERE.

I admit to some confusion regarding the capitalization of "butthurt", so pardon me if I erred. I know Lex is behind the creation of this version of Rixx simply because of the reference to the Nano Drake guide. Apparently because Lex posted a similar guide on the Lucifer's Hammer forum he believes he is the expert on Nano Drake gangs. And that somehow I stole from him to create the brief guide that appeared on this blog Sept 31st.

The fact that I've been flying such gangs for three years doesn't seem to matter. Or the fact that lots of other people have also. Y'know, unknowns like PL, -A-, Co2, Goonswarm... people like that.

I am flattered. This obviously came about as a result of me calling him out on the blog at some point regarding his role in the death of Lucifer's Hammer and Burn Away. It is comforting to see the path that Lex and Cyber have managed to take since then has been so rewarding for them. Just to be clear I am joking here. Let's see. Targeted Aggression for five days. New Eden Renegades (the best Corporation Evah!), Kadavr Black Guard ( Sorry Nashh, but you can't say I didn't warn you), Kicked ( Back with my friend Itsme, shame that didn't work out) and now in Blue Republic. Nice track record.

Credit where credit is due. Lex is a great PvP pilot and I was proud to have him in my Corporation. We had a lot of great times together and his particular brand of insanity was tremendously entertaining, especially when he backed it up in space.

But once again I apologize if my special needs child got in the way of your internet spaceship game. Because it didn't get in the way of mine.

Sometimes it rocks to have your own hugely popular and well-read blog.

True Love

2011-11-30T13:40:00.001Z

It took me five seconds to fall in love with Eve the first time I saw it.

It took me five seconds to fall in love all over again yesterday.

I won't soon forget dragging my ships into the hanger one by one to see how they've changed and giggling like a school boy when I kept hearing the subtle 'thrum' noise when they slowly changed into the next ship. I may never forget the sheer unadulterated joy I felt when my Myrmidon slid out into... into what exactly? Words fail to describe the beauty of the new nebula surrounding my home Station in Hevrice. I quickly docked the large Myrm and undocked in a small fast Daredevil so I could swim in it, watch the engine trails swirl and... well, gosh darn it, my ship and I danced in space.

We danced.

I just kept undocking all my ships one by one, just so I could see how incredible they now look in space. And I have over 50 ships. I wasn't in a hurry.

A moment of panic when my bookmarks seemingly lost their folders. That had happened once before during one of the previous expansions and with over 4k bms it can take a long time to re-organize them. It all snapped back into place once I opened the People & Places window. Nice.

I love the new font. I love all the little touches. I love just how amazingly beautiful space is now. And here I thought it was pretty gosh darn beautiful before.

A few of us spent some time shooting a Customs Office. And then I had to leave New Eden for the night.

I'm sure there are issues, problems, concerns and whatnots to deal with. I'm sure the forums will be full of the usual usual, the haters, the whiners, those without joy in their hearts. Goodness knows those of us that love Eve complain because we simply want it to be the best it can be. Like caring parents we want it to grow up to be something, anything, we can be proud of.

I warped away and left my drones at the Customs Office. When I warped back later and they were not visible in space, I feared they had been lost. Then I remembered. Reconnect to lost drones. More joy.

I've used the word 'love' a bit in this post. There are those that will probably consider that a negative. Those are the immature that do not fully appreciate the meaning of the word yet. The young. For those of us a bit more 'mature' >cough< who have been around the block a few times, the feeling is appropriate because of what Eve has come to mean to us. I mean, c'mon, I write a stupid blog about it. I do artwork to it. And I play an internet spaceship game! I should know better.

I should grow up. Seriously.

But that's love for you. Thick and thin. Good times and bad. Sticking it out. Refusing to allow the worst to over shadow the best.

What happened this past Summer. Don't EVER do that again. Don't confuse love for Eve as love for CCP. Don't take advantage of us again. Love forgives, but love isn't stupid either. They say love is blind, but those of us that know better, know that true love sees everything.

All is forgiven by that moment yesterday when my ships kept undocking into a Hubble photograph. The fire was rekindled.

I could just undock and fly around the universe and be perfectly happy.

But happiness is only one emotion. And I have others that require more immediate and thunderous attention as well. So I will enjoy watching things explode against the backdrop of glorious space. Ka-Blooie.

It ain't all sappy love songs baby. Some of it can get a bit rough. But you like it rough, dontcha?

Oh baby. You are such a bitch.

State of Commissions: Update

2011-11-28T19:07:00.001Z

Some housecleaning items:

Commissions
Between today and the end of the year I will not be taking on any additional commissions. That doesn't mean you can't continue to email me your requests, you can, it simply means I won't be working on anything "new" until the first of the year. I have enough on my table at the moment and some of these poor people have been waiting a long time. So my focus between now and then will be to clean off the work table.

This is good news for all of you that are currently waiting. Once again, thank you for your patience. I hope the final results will have been worth the wait.

Blog Pack
There will be another update in the next few weeks. So keep your eyes open for that.

For those that have written and asked me to share the process for getting selected to the Eve Blog Pack, it is extremely simple. Make sure I am aware of your blog and add it to the "Eve Sites" Blogroll in the right sidebar. That blogroll is my own personal reading list and the source of my opinions about the blogs that get added to the EBP. Please remember, there are well over 500+ blogs currently active about Eve! Selecting the blogs in the EBP is a purely subjective process and is based on my own personal opinion regarding quality, longevity, subject matter, interest to the Eve community at large, and the sheer amount of bribery involved! ( That is a joke, I don't accept bribes.)

Seriously, if you want to be considered, send me a link to your blog. And then write awesome stuff about Eve.

Eve of Crucible

2011-11-28T14:45:00.001Z

Back from four days away and the patch notes are already on-line for tomorrow's release of the newest expansion.

Like the rest of Eve I suppose I am simply waiting. Waiting to see what it really means, what it really looks like, what the short-term and long-term meanings will be. A lot of changes, in fact I can't remember a longer list of patch notes. Maybe Dominion? My mind doesn't remember the details and human nature dictates that the moment is more important than the past anyway.

So today is a good re-entry day for me as well. Time to get caught up and move Ana into the nearest trade hub. I'm not sure when the new ships will be available and how expensive they will be when they are, but either way I want her to be ready to scoop them up. Right now I'm planning on buying at least two of each. Rixx can fly all four, so why not?

And while many people believe the new ships may only be good for killing SC in Null Space, I think that is a tad short-sighted. Certainly 40 or 50 of the new tier 3 BCs will play havoc with SC fleets, and I'm sure many null Alliances will take advantage of that, I think the longer-term use will be in small gang battles. The sheer amount of DPS that one ship brings to the mix is staggering. And while survivability might be an issue, that is one issue that can be dealt with easily with small gang strategy and tactics. Either way, I'm anxious to give them a try.

Other than that, for us low-sec dwellers at least, the remainder of Crucible is mostly a cosmetic change. The only real issue remaining will be Player Owned Custom Offices and I'll have to wait and see what, if any, impact that has on low-sec. Some have predicted it might be the "golden calf" that brings more people into our systems. I'm not convinced yet.

But new ships, new nebula, new UI enhancements, new 'fixes', new ship skins, all add up to a ton of much needed and welcomed changes. And probably the most anticipated expansion that I can remember.

But my own personal play-style, my in-game moment to moment, won't be impacted that much by Crucible. New Eden looks to be a much better place tomorrow, but still full of ships that need to be exploded.

Turkey Shoot Wallpaper

2011-11-23T17:37:00.001Z

Happy Thanksgiving. The wallpaper above is available in various sizes by clicking on the image. I thought it was funny, your opinion may vary.

So I'll be away from Eve for the next five days or so and won't be posting, emailing or otherwise around in a significant way. This is a time for hanging out with family, eating way to much food and generally forgetting about the rest of it for a few days. Mostly I'll be traveling to visit my own family.

It is also tradition to take a moment to give thanks for those things we are thankful for. Last year at this time my list was significantly different than it will be this year. Last year at this time I was still in Null space, down in Providence as part of the Co2 Alliance, believe it or not. Wow, a lot has changed in the last year needless to say. So where will I be this time next year? I guess we'll all just have to wait and see.

Until then, here are just a few of the things I am thankful for this year:

> The Eve Community. You guys keep me going. Thru your blogs, the tweetfleet, the forums and everywhere else, the Eve community is strong, awesome and full of good people. So thank you all for everything you do.

> CCP. Last year I said I was thankful to you for creating Eve in the first place. And while that still applies, I think this year I am more thankful to you for not killing it. Crucible looks to be an incredible, much-needed expansion back to the way things should be. It was a rough Summer, but you've gone a long way towards rectifying those issues. So thanks.

> Eve Friends. Say what you want about virtual friends, but they are pretty damn awesome. And during the last three years I've made a lot of them, both in-game and thru commission work. Thanks to all of you that remain a part of Eve. And to those of you that no longer play, you haven't been forgotten.

> Tuskers. I know I haven't been in-game much the last two weeks, but you guys are great and I'm looking forward to flying with you all more in the coming months. Thanks for taking me aboard and giving this old guy a new home.

To everyone else, my readers, commenters, visitors, haters, those that say "hi" in local, those that sneak me intel, those that kill me or are killed by me, those that I once flew with and those that I fly against, thank you as well. Without you there wouldn't be an Eve and I wouldn't have a reason to log in.

I hope you all have a great Thanksgiving with your friends and family. And for those of you that don't celebrate Thanksgiving, enjoy the next few days without me around. You are microscopically safer in space for the next few days.

Unintended Lapse of Forward Momentum

2011-11-22T13:48:00.001Z

I have to admit several things today. Get them off my chest. Confess my sins. Clear the air. Wave the magic blog wand of self-indulgent introspective wanderings, so I can get back to the business of writing about, making fun of, and generally enjoying this thing we call Eve.

Funny that the next expansion is called Crucible.

Killing your own Alliance and dumping your own Corporation takes a lot out of a fella. Who'd a thought?

So I've been taking a break from Eve lately. You probably didn't even notice. I hide it well. During the last two weeks I've been in-game a total of about 90 minutes. I haven't kilt anyone in two weeks. This has been on purpose. A mini-vacation if you will. Time to take a deep breath and just chill for a bit.

All the usual. I know better then most that you can't keep the burning pace up for long, without losing the flame. Everything piled up towards the end of Summer, the Alliance, the Corp, the blog, the commissions, the Blog Pack and everything else. No big deal, but even I need a break from time to time.

But this post isn't about the break. It is about the return. And while you haven't noticed it, some have. Those waiting on commissions and my friends in The Tuskers. The new expansion hits soon, which I am very excited about. ( duh! who isn't? ) and the end of the year approaches.

So time to jump back in, undock in some shiny new ships and try to figure out why the sky has changed so much.

We now return to our regularly scheduled programming.

Take a moment and check out this bit of Eve Fiction over on Lovely Little Vagabond. I make a surprise guest appearance!

Gang Tactics: Part Four - Track & Kill

2011-11-20T15:45:00.001Z

Gang Tactics is a new on-going series in which we explore the fine art of death dealing in small gang warfare. This series is not intended as a technical exploration, but as a guide to the fundamental basics involved in small gang warfare in New Eden. And hopefully, one that is enjoyable and educational.

Part One: The Basics
Part Two: DPS
Part Three: Travel

This series is intended to encourage pilots to fly in small gangs, to remove the mystery from combat in Eve and help the new, experienced and veteran pilots better understand the fundamentals involved in organizing, traveling and fighting in a small gang. As such, I have strived to remove all of the usual technospeak from the series. For example, instead of calling certain ships "Force Multipliers" I called them "Tippers". Because they tip the scale of most fights. In my experience, this makes it much easier to learn and understand the concepts involved. If you are looking for more detailed, technospeak articles, the internet is full of them. This series is not one of those.

So we've covered the basics of forming your small gang, getting the proper mix of DPS and getting out of your system to find targets. We even covered a simple ratting ship take-down and the tactics you need to successfully kill your target. As I mentioned in the last post however, you will rarely encounter a solo ratter at a belt. Typically your potential targets are going to be a tad harder to find. So this post is going to be focused on finding those targets and successfully putting them in their pods.

Potential targets tend to be in the following areas: Docked, in a POS, on station, at a Celestial, in warp, in an Anomaly or in a Mission, or at a Gate. So let's take these one at a time and see how we can not only find them, but more importantly, what ships we might need to add to the mix in order to do so successfully. For each of these examples we'll assume a single target in a "clean" system, just to avoid exponential complications.

Docked: So this person is in local but is docked up in station. You could just move along to the next system, but let's pretend you are real killers and want to destroy him. There are actually some tactics that you can try to tease the docker out into space. If you are following the previous discussed tactics in previous chapters you only have one person in local. Assuming your scout doesn't have GCC ( if you are in low-sec and your scout does have GCC, simply have him leave local and send someone in who doesn't. If you happen to be in Null, well then, it doesn't matter. ) If there are multiple stations in local, have your scout dock and undock to find the station our ship spinner is in. Once you find him, stay docked for a couple of minutes. Open the Guests tab and watch, you'd be surprised how often the ship spinner will undock once he sees someone else in station with him. Spend those minutes looking at his info and use what you learn to help determine if this guy is worth the effort. If he happens to be a killer pilot you can sometimes use his own ego against him, remember he has no idea what you are flying or that you have other ships waiting in the next system. Don't waste a lot of time here, he could just as easily be AFK.
The last ditch effort is leave system, wait a few minutes, then have your mates jump in and see if he is on D-Scan. Sometimes they'll undock once system local is clear and you can catch him in-between your gang.

In a POS: This one is more tricky. Usually I don't bother with POS babies much, since the POS could be defended with nasty stuffs like guns, or ECM, or something. Especially in Low-Sec, POSes are typically carebear safe houses, so the odds of tricking them out are almost nill. Your D-Scan will tell you the status of the POS, what defenses it might have, etc. If you decide to make a try, send your tasty bait ship ( which depends on what ship they have, send the ship that the enemy would consider an easy target.) If the POS has guns and you don't have a ship that can take punishment, then don't bother. The idea isn't to fight on the POS, the idea is to draw the enemy out and have him follow you somewhere safe. Remember, unlike an enemy in a station, his d-scanner still works. Show him a tasty kill and see if he takes the bait.

On a Station: Now the enemy is in space. But they are on station. This one simple situation deserves an entire post all its own, but I'll try to summarize the tactics involved here. Some things to keep in mind if you are in Low-Sec. Station guns hit out to 150. Station guns hurt, especially small ships. If the enemy is positive or neutral standing, then attacking him on station will result in you getting GCC and the station will shoot you. If the enemy is negative standing, then you can shoot at will. In Null these rules do not apply and anyone is fair game on station.

First example: he is in a Drake on the undock and he is negative standing. Your scout should stay off the station, since he will be mostly useless in this fight, but can stand by the catch the Drake if he decides to warp off. Have one ship jump in and warp to station at Drake range, which is usually about 70-80, so warp in at about 50. When you land align out to a celestial, something close and easy to see. ( When align-baiting never pick a celestial in a cluster, since it will be hard for the target to see exactly where you went. Always try to pick one that sits alone in the sky.) Start shooting the target. He will either dock, shoot back or warp off. If he docks he was gonna do that no matter what you did. If he warps off watch where he goes and send your scout there to catch him. If he starts shooting you don't panic yet, there are still two options in this scenario. He is sitting still shooting you or he is coming towards you and shooting you. Stay aligned! If he is sitting still, have your mates jump in and warp to station at zero and engage. They need to kill him fast if he stops aggro, which he probably will once local jumps. You can warp off and return to help. If he is chasing you, so much the better. Wait until he gets a bit further from the station and then have your mates jump in and warp to station at the enemies range. Don't forget to get points, especially Webs if you have them, since he can still warp away. Webs will cut his speed down and keep him from returning to station.

Second example: he is in a Drake but he has positive standings. Since you do not have Logistics in your small gang this scenario is much like the first one, except you do not want to fight at the station. You still warp in the same as above, align out to an easy celestial (You can have your Scout do this) and then warp off. The idea is to get him to follow the easy kill, point him, and then have everyone jump in to kill him.

There are an infinite variety of scenarios involved in fighting on station, but what I've just given you is the fundamental ingredients involved in all of those scenarios. If you understand the basics involved, you can address any and all scenarios you will face using those basic principals. No matter how many ships are involved.

Celestials: We already covered this in the last post and the tactics are the same with a ship in a belt, planet, custom office, etc.

In Warp: If you enemy is already in Warp, or warped away from you, finding him involves watching where he went and using your d-scan tactics to find him. If he warped to any of the above locations, then simply use those tactics to engage him. If he warped to a Gate you should also. As the Scout you should jump ahead of him if you can ( to determine who might be in local over there, but also the get point on him when he jumps) and have your mates jump in and also warp to the gate.

Anomalies and Missions: Both of these are easier if you have a Prober along with your gang, either in the main gang or as an alt of someone. If you do not have a Prober along Missions are going to be off-limits to you, there really is no other way to find a Missioner imbedded in a Mission. However, anomalies are a different story. You can find someone running an Anomaly without a Prober and here is how.

In addition to your directional scanner, you also have a System Scanner. The system scanner takes about 25 seconds to scan the system and show you the various anomalies in the system. Your target is at one of these, but which one? It is tricky and time consuming, but it can be done. Wrecks are the key, wrecks and drones. Your d-scanner will pull this information for you. I find the quickest way is the following, double-click the anomaly and wait until your ship aligns, then stop its warp. Now your ship is pointed in the direction of that anomaly, now run the d-scan at maximum and see if any wrecks or drones appear. Continue doing this until you get a hit on wrecks, drones or the enemy ship. There is also the option of simply warping to each one, or guessing and warping, or having your mates jump in and everyone picks one to warp to. ( We used to call that a Belt Blitz in Null, when you have as many ships as belts, everyone jumps in and warps to a different belt.)

If you do have a Prober along, then use him. He is also the only real way to find enemy ships hiding in a safe spot.

At a Gate: Gate tactics are so complicated they really do deserve their own post. So the next post in this series will be focused on fighting and killing on Gates in both low and null sec space. Once we've covered the basics of gate fighting we'll start teaching tactics for fighting other small gangs and eventually larger enemy fleets.

Eve is a complex and ever changing universe and the advice and information given here is intended as an overview to small gang tactics in that universe. I encourage you to seek out more detailed information, advice and strategy from your fellow Corp and Alliance mates, on the forums, or from other Bloggers. Feel free to ask me specific questions in the comments and I will do my best to answer them or point you in the right direction.

Wallpaper: Golden Rokh

2011-11-18T19:52:00.001Z

Click the image to download various sizes.

This is a version of a recently completed private commission that I just finished, which I converted into a wallpaper. I'm particularly proud of the sense of scale in this piece and how well the Rokh "feels" within the environment. Someone contacted me about two months ago ( I know, I am being extremely slow in responding to commissions lately, my continued apologies.) about creating something that showed the relative scale of the Rokh against something based in the real world. I immediately thought of the Gold Gate Bridge.

Anyway, I hope you enjoy it.

Swinging Lucifer's Hammer

2011-11-17T22:17:00.001Z

The following work of fiction is my entry into Mord Fiddle's Lives in Low Sec writing contest. It is based on several true stories.

The wrench slipped from his gloved hand and tumbled, end over end, down into the bowels of the Station dock. He sighed, and pulled another one from the tool-belt laced around his hips. Fourteen hours straight on the Secondary Plasma Coil Relays and still no blue light on the monitor. Once again, he cursed Muppets and the exodus from Osti that brought them to Lisbo. He banged the wrench into the side armor plate and watched the little flecks of Minmatar rust sparkle in the docking lights. A touch of sweat stung his left eye and he couldn't scratch it.

"Are you still pissed about Itsme and that blue freighter?" His wife's voice crackled in his CommLink and he reflexively glanced up into the gloom, he could barely make out the outline of the Archon above him. "I was never 'pissed' and you know it," he growled back. "Uh huh," She said and laughed, "Tell everyone else you planned it, but don't lie to me."

He sat in the Manticore cloaked off the hi-sec Gate, watching. They had talked about this, planned it - as much as anything was planned with Itsme - and now it was only a matter of things playing out. He watched the collected gate campers buzzing around the Gate. If he could spit, he would've. But the spit might pierce the hull of the stealth bomber. Fresh out of Syndicate and Curse, the Corporation needed an "incident" to spark things. This would be it. The freighter popped into local, blue as the balls on the Caldari Citadel... the freighter was already aligning. And then, like fucking Muppets, they took the bait. Blue on blue aggression. They both protested in channels. And Rixx watched two of his cargo'd ships explode. A small price to pay for being famous. He even figured he could get the ships back, they were clearly still viable on his scanner.

Blue light on monitor three. Just a few more tweaks and he could get out of the monkey suit. The CorpLink buzzed in his ear, "This is me." He held onto the wrench tightly, it might be the last one in his belt. "Carrier tackled, you coming or not!?", it was Itsme of course. He sighed and smiled all at the same time, "Where are you?" "Fleet is up, undock and warp to me, I can't hold him forever in this thing!", he sounded slightly less mad than usual. "On my way", he clicked out, already jetting back to the gantry and his Pod. "Was that Itsme?", Ana asked in his ear. "Fire up the Archon baby and get into fleet, he's got another one." He wasn't sweating now as he watched the Station crew pulling his Megathron into position.

Like a well-oiled machine the pieces fell into place almost immediately. Well practiced and maintained, the 'machine' was the Corp and the pilots that had joined since he started it back up again. Rogues, scoundrels, dregs, pirates, whatever the bastards in Empire decided to call them, each one was a proud, honorable in their own way, independent minded fighter. Wrangling them all into a cohesive machine, well that was his job. And in typical Lucifer's Hammer fashion, well, they were all drunk.

His mind felt the Megathron power up and start swinging into alignment, already the power of the Battleship coursed thru his veins. His muscles flexed and the beast responded. "The rest of the Corp is sleeping one off.", he said to Itsme as he waited to align. "No worries, Invicta is here with me." His "eyes" told him Jakkul was undocking next to him in his Baddon. "Well Jak's here and we're in warp."

He didn't trust Invicta as far as he could throw them. Itsme might be insane, but the man knew everyone. He could put a gang together faster than a Dramiel could get point, so it didn't surprise Rixx that he already had one on the Thanatos. They'd been killing Carriers at a steady pace since arriving in Lisbo, Itsme had the nose for it, and so far his nose hadn't let them down.

"You want me undocked?", his wife asked on their private channel. "No. Keep our retirement fund parked for the time being.", he tried to say it as nicely as the Megathron would let him. But flying Gal ships always put him on edge. "I know the drill", she said wistfully, "you hate it when I fight." "That's not it and you know it... hold on."

The fight had drifted since he entered warp and the Mega landed far from the desperate hulk of the Thanny. He only had one choice, so he pointed the beast towards the Carrier and unleashed some EC Drones in its direction. Hopefully he'd get close enough before the damn thing... exploded. Oh well, one less Spiritus Draconis carrier in system.

The Auto-Cannons thrummed under him, above him, all around him. The bastards were coming one by one into their gang. Two Drakes were already getting hammered and then the Claymore arrived. Immediately it started turning and aligning out, as if it had mistakenly landed in a social party for which it hadn't been invited. Itsme, Mtitus, Angor, Atro, Angor, Jushin and Dismo worked their magic like always and pinned the Claymore down. Nothing was getting away today. Rixx actually laughed as his projectiles tore thru the ships in front of them. He watched his friends, the Canes, Pests, and Ruptures firing into the night and he felt it. That thing he rarely felt in Null. This wasn't combat for God, or for ownership, or industrial might, or lining the pockets of the already rich, this was personal. These were his men, his friends, wronged by one Empire or another, tossed aside, stomped on, pummeled and forgotten. And as the Empire's Militia paid for their own arrogance with one ship after another he laughed like he had once long ago. It wasn't a happy laugh, it was madness.

The guns on the Megathron hadn't even been fired when the call came over Comms. "Rixx, you still around?", it was Jak. "I'm docked, but what'cha need?" "Remember that Rattlesnake that was with the Carrier and ran off? I've got him on scan."

The Tempest was already sliding into position and he just knew it would... "I took the liberty of fitting a Disruptor... so no worries.", as usual his wife had taken care of things just as he was thinking them. "I still think you can read my mind", he replied as his Pod entered the ship. It unfolded on the bridge and he blinked, "God knows what is going on in there!" She said laughing.

God knows.

He ran into the Parlor, out of breath, his heart pounding in his chest. Even in the gloom he knew something wasn't right. His Father's shape against the writhing shadows of the chair, slumped, in his mind he already formed the heart-attack... but reality wasn't kind this day. He threw up his stomach, he felt ashamed, but it wasn't something he could control. His eyes betrayed him and he slipped on the insides of his Father. His ears betrayed him next, his Mother's screams pierced the night. He skidded across the room and ripped open the forbidden cabinet, his little boy hands grasping at the large, heavy, weighted blackness of the Brommel 820 his Father once used to kill a thundering Teradon. The mounted beast loomed above him as he dashed upstairs. His imagination wouldn't stop but he couldn't think. All he saw was red against the flashes of lightning thru the open windows. Six of them, Gal every single one. One of them was on top, moving, his Mother was strangely silent. He braced himself against the walnut wall and unleashed his madness. He killed every living thing in that room that night. The fire burned out his eye and ripped open his face. He went on living, but he was dead on the inside.

He settled into the couch and mindlessly watched the scrolling news. She sat down behind him and rubbed his shoulders. They didn't talk. They didn't need to.

After awhile he leaned back into her softness and barely above a whisper he said, "Fuck God" She kissed his shoulder and he could feel her smile on his skin, "Who needs him." The thought that they shared at that moment went unspoken, but they both knew what the other one was thinking. They always did.

Gang Tactics: Part Three - Travel

2011-11-15T14:06:00.001Z

Part One: The Basics

Part Two: DPS

Now that we've covered the basics of small gang formation and the various types of damage your small gang should be doing, it is time to head out of your home system and find some good fights. Which is the whole purpose of getting your friends together in space in the first place.

For the sake of the post let us give you some ships. You have a Taranis, 2 Hurricanes, a Drake, and that other ship that always shows up. ( It doesn't matter what it is, someone always brings it. For the sake of argument let's call it a Caracal.) This is a good small gang, five ships ready to rumble. You have the bases covered, tackle with the Ranis ( not the fastest tackle, but a strong choice for survivability ), solid DPS with 2 Arty fit Canes and the Drake. Even the Caracal doesn't break our formation rules, since he'll be firing from the same range bubble as the other three. The Caracal also helps us get good fights. Cause it is excellent bait.

In this set-up we don't have a typical tipping ship, a Falcon, or Curse, or something else that will tip the battle in our favor. Which is ok, with the Drake along, it will fill that role for us. Remember, the tipping ship doesn't always have to be the usual, usual. In fact, this set-up will get you more good fights than bringing along a Falcon or Curse will anyway. If you happen to be in Null space a good tipping ship is the Sabre, for example.

Speaking of Null space for a moment. In this series so far I've been talking about space as a generic all-encompassing entity. I'm going to continue doing that for awhile. While we are learning the basics, the type of space is less important than how you think.

So basic gang protocol. Send your Ranis pilot ahead of the main gang. Tackle is also going to serve as Scout until contact with potential targets is obtained. Your gang will be traveling in three pieces from system to system. The first piece is the Scout/Tackle, who will be staying one jump ahead of you. The second piece is the DPS, the Canes/Drake, which will travel together. The last piece is the Caracal, which you will have one (ish) jump behind you as a following Scout. Why? If you do get into a fight, the Caracal should be the last ship on the field. So, in the meantime, he should be watching your flank. Enemies come from behind just as often as they come from in front. And if someone is following you, it would be nice to know about it.

Each pilot in this small gang needs to understand their role and what is expected of them. The Scout will be reporting conditions in the system he jumps into, based on that information the DPS will be deciding the course of action they will be following. Small gang movement is a constantly evolving and fluid organism, the smarter each piece is, the more likely you will achieve Op Success. And bring everyone home alive.

The Ranis pilot reports one potential target in system. The D-Scan reveals nothing from the Gate and the Scout warps off to a point further towards the center of the system. In warp he detects a Cane. At this point we can assume several things, the Cane is in a belt ratting, the Cane is on a Station, the Cane is running a Plex/Mission, or the Cane is in a POS. But he is alone in system, so potentially he could also be bait. A good Scout would already have linked the pilot's name in fleet chat. Why? The targets Show Info can tell you a lot about him, how old is he? What Corp/Alliance does he belong to? Is he negative or positive standing? Is he in a NPC Corp? All of these factors add up to Intelligence about your enemy, and even while your Scout is still in warp, you are learning things about him.

This guy is about seven month old and in a three person Corp. He is also, believe it or not, actually ratting in a belt. Your DPS is at zero on the other side of the Gate, you already told your Caracal pilot to get on the Gate. The Ranis is now Tackle and already in warp to the belt. Sure enough, he lands, gets point and starts holding. The DPS jumps and warps to the Tackle at their point range. The Ranis pilot is already screaming about entering structure when the boys land and start hammering the Cane. The Ranis warps off if he can. The Caracal pilot notices that local has spiked by two. As the enemy Cane explodes, a Tempest and a Curse land amid your gang...

Eve is cool huh? You might think the arrival of his buddies is bad news, but it isn't. In that case you'd still win the fight. You might lose one of the Canes and maybe the Caracal, but you could take the Tempest and the Curse. How? Well you are smart remember? The poor Cane ratting alone was dead the moment the Ranis got point on him, as a smart FC you knew this. So while you were killing him you already had your gang aligning to the Sun. Smart man. So now your options are run away or stand and fight. The Curse/Pest won't get point fast enough, so you could run. But you shouldn't because the enemy made a huge mistake that plays right into your hands. They landed right on top of you when they warped in to save their buddy. Already the Pest is at a disadvantage, because he is well inside his damage bubble with those big guns. The Curse is tough, but fortunately you have three non-Amarr DPS ships with you. Get points on both ships, primary the Curse and then torture the poor Pest until he explodes. If the Ranis can come back, have him focus on killing their drones. (If he was smart and has a Web fitted.)

That is probably the most straight-forward scenario of small gang fighting that you could ask for in Eve. It is always pretty rare. Things are rarely that simple. There are usually multiple people around, ships behind you, ships coming and going, and the Cane was more than likely a Tengu running a mission. And you didn't bring a Prober, did you?

In the next post we will learn more about getting good fights, baiting, probing, and staying away from blobs. We'll also start adding more complications, and eventually get to the point where our small gang can kill enemy fleets that actually out-number ours. Cool huh?

Any questions, feel free to ask in the comments.

Part Four: Track & Kill

Gang Tactics: Part Two - DPS

2011-11-14T18:38:00.000Z

Gang Tactics is a new on-going series in which we explore the fine art of death dealing in small gang warfare. This series is not intended as a technical exploration, but as more of a guide to the fundamental basics involved in small gang warfare in New Eden. And hopefully, one that is enjoyable and educational.

Part One: The Basics

Now that we've covered the basics of putting three or four ships together from a structure standpoint, it is time to learn the fundamental issues you'll face from a DPS standpoint. I must warn you up-front, I have never used EFT or any other fitting software. I fit my ships based on two things, 1) Real Combat Experience, and 2) The opinions of those I trust with Real Combat Experience. So when I talk about DPS, I might be talking about it in a way that you are not familiar with. Since it has absolutely nothing to do with Maths.

There are millions of variables involved with any three ships in Eve, variables that only get exponentially more complicated with each additional ship, so trying to keep track of the Maths involved is a fools errand. Any three ships involve not only the skill levels, implants, bonuses and personal skill of the players flying them, but also the ammo types, drones, ranges, distances, deployment of the enemy, transversal... ok, already my head is starting to hurt.

Gang Warfare is about having fun and making things explode, so let's get on with it. First thing first, in a small gang situation it is important that your ships are fit to their bonuses, in order to maximize their effectiveness, but also to give you some confidence sending them into battle. It does no good to send that Drake thru the Gate to bait when the idiot flying it has armor fit his Drake. That ship go boom. So for goodness sake, leave the tricky fits to solo or large fleet battles, and stick to the strength of the ship bonuses for small gang work. ( For example: The Drake gets a bonus to Kinetic damage, +5% per level. That is a significant damage bonus, so undock with kinetic missiles in the launchers!! Have others ready in the cargo, but load up on the bonus. Unlike Amarr, it takes time to switch, so always, always, always start with your strength.)

So first rule of Derp is: Fit to Bonuses.

The next most important small gang consideration is range. All damage is inflicted from within a certain range bubble. It is critical that the heart of your DPS is being delivered from the same range bubble. Let's say you have a tackle Frigate, 2 Canes and a Rupture in your gang. Once you undock and start forming up you find out one of the Canes is AC fit and the other is Arty fit. Not only that, but the Ruppie has Blasters! Sheesh, you're doomed dood. Fix that right away, get two AC or two Arty fit Canes at the very least. Then slap the guy that put blasters on his Ruppie, but bring him along for the lols. (Kidding, don't bring him, make him go put ACs or Arties on that thing. Or bring something else.)

Mixing damage ranges is not a good idea. Small gangs work best when they are coordinated, traveling together, aligning together, attacking together and generally delivering maximum damage from the same general location. (More on this in a future post in the series.)

So second rule of Derp is: Shoot from the same range (ish).

Every ship in Eve has a hole and your job is to fill that hole as fast as possible with Death. The faster you fill the hole the faster the enemy 'splodes. The cool part is there are really only TWO holes you need to worry about - Shield and Armor. So right away the complication is starting to level out. We can all handle two things to remember right? Of course we can.

The shield hole is EM. And the Armor hole is typically explosive. ( This varies tremendously, especially since most people tend to patch their natural resist hole. But we'll deal with that issue in a future post in the series.) In other words, I want to shoot bullets that do EM damage at ships that rely on Shields for defense. It is amazing just how fast their tank will melt when you are shooting the proper type of damage at them. And killing the enemy quickly is critical for your success, you are not a huge fleet, you are vulnerable small gang fighters!

Third rule of Derps: Fire the right damage type!

And really, that is all there is to it. The rest is all common sense, based on those three rules. Fit to the strength of your ship, fire from common distance and fire the right type of damage against the enemy. Everything else is a bonus, neuts, target painters, sensor boosters or dampeners, drones, and anything else that you can bring to bear on the enemy. The key is balance weighted heavily to your gang strengths.

So now that we have you formed up, undocked, and carrying the right type of weapons, next time we'll cover tactics involved in picking a fight and living to tell the tale.

Remember, Eve is a complicated game that involves endless variation. There are tons of exhaustive and horribly detailed guides available for further reading. Like this one on the various types of tanks and resistances. But there are plenty of other ones.

Part Three: Travel
Part Four: Track & Kill

Blog Banter 30: Stalemate Unleashed

2011-11-14T13:46:00.001Z

"With the Winter expansion possibly being named 'Crucible', it certainly is a melting pot of refinements and tweaks aimed at making the EVE experience smoother and more wholesome. If the developers suddenly found themselves some spare resources and approached you for an additional feature to include before release, what single concept would you pitch them and how would you implement it?

For bonus points, the one thing lacking from this "patchwork" of iterations is a cohesive storyline to package "The Crucible" together. How could this expansion be marketed to potential new customers?"

The news from Empire was not good. The buzz was everywhere in station, the Cantina, the Lounge, the Corporate Work-rooms, even the mechanics were buzzing about it. Rixx arrived back in quarters after his morning routine and switched on the news, flipping thru the various Empirical propaganda machines until a cohesive picture finally emerged. And there he was, the bastard leader of CONCORD, running his pie hole in the comfort of the Amarrian home worlds. The stalemate is over.

For years the Empires were content to play the "game", to bump heads over border territories, to rely on militia forces to push and pull. But the rumors lately, well, it seemed a new generation of middle-managers had become the next generation of higher level executives unwilling to continue playing the same old-same old. And while it had started with the Amarrians, as it so often did, the other Empires were forced to match their moves step by step. Escalation meets escalation and new lines are drawn.

Rixx laughed as he dried his hair. He knew what it all meant... bullshit. But his eyebrow raised when he heard about the new ships of the line. New ships? And that wasn't all, the wiener from CONCORD was talking about system wide changes to basic configurations. Rixx buzzed his wife and opened the Corp channel, just to make sure the rest of the Tuskers were watching. Of course they were, he expected half the known... and changes to Super Capital production runs? Ok then, maybe the entire universe was watching.

In the Corp Lounge later that morning the general consensus was extremely positive. The system wide changes would take some getting used to, but generally it meant little to the pirates. The introduction of a new ship class stirred the pot in just the right ways and new specs on existing ships meant more power in their hands. More options, more loot, more beer. Everyone wondered when CONCORD would stop paying out on ships that they destroyed, the whole idea being ludicrous to common sense anyway, so those Empire changes meant little if anything. Empire incursions were mostly for fun and extra bling.

So why was the mood somewhat... what exactly? Grumpy? Was that it? It was hard to pinpoint, but the news that started the morning as 'not good' wasn't getting that much better. Because it didn't make any sense, why now? The status quo, while certainly stupid and meaningless, had served everyone for years. The Empire coffers were full, Null Sec was thriving - if anything it was thriving... so that was it then? This wasn't about centuries old Amarr Gal Cal Minnie bullshit, this was about the border lands. This was a thinly disguised attempt to neuter any possible menace from the hinterlands. They just cut the balls off that horse of the apocalypse so the fat-cats in Jita could sleep easier.

Now it started to make sense. But where was the expected counter? The tightening of Empire nut crackers and null sec boundaries only had one effective counter... the rogues. The shackles need to come off the pit bull. Rixx scrolled through the incoming transmissions but he didn't see anything about Criminal markers, from CONCORD or the Empire. Didn't those fools realize that it would be pirate incursions into Null and the borderlands that would keep the frontier Alliances in check? The Militia wouldn't be enough. Not nearly.

But not a word. You can't cut off the hand that feeds you and expect them to take it lying down, not without an answer. Not without a Big Fucking Hammer. Especially when that hammer is locked away inside your tool box.

Russell, his contact in the Hevirce station buzzed in his ear. The first Tornado had just been delivered. Time to go check out this new ship and raise some Hell. If CONCORD and the Empires won't help, then goddamn it we'll just help ourselves!

Yarr.

Freebooted

The State of Commissions

2011-11-13T20:20:00.001Z

Man, what a week.

I was actually catching up on my project list when the week started. Then all Hell broke lose. Just so you know how serious it has been, I've been in-game the past week a total of one hour. Baring Holidays I don't think I've ever logged less time in Eve than I have this last week.

I could tell you about the long days, the death of an associate, the complete and utter collapse of my hard drive on Thursday and all the other elements that went into making this an extremely difficult week. But those are normal things that happen in real life, just been more of them lately.

The point is, I should be back to a normal schedule again tomorrow and starting back on the list of projects. As always, my apologies for those waiting.

The Individual Story

2011-11-11T21:27:00.001Z

There was another post here earlier. I deleted it because it was leading to some misunderstandings between myself and my good friend Mord Fiddle. I don't enjoy misunderstandings.

So let me be clear. In almost every meaningful way possible, I agree with his post. ( Which you can read here if you want to be bothered, it's mostly tripe. I kid of course. )

No one could argue that more stories are written about the goings on in Null sec than anywhere else in New Eden. You'd have to be an idiot to make that argument. And, by their very nature, such stories get more attention.

My original post was intended to expand on that idea. Mord used an argument in his post that I disagree with. He uses a metaphor to illustrate his point regarding a battle on a spit of sand. And while I totally understand his point in doing so, the argument is fundamentally invalid. A good story exists outside of context. A good story involves people, individuals, characters, engaged in small, medium and large conflicts. But at its heart, all good stories are about people. A good writer can make a compelling story about two soldiers fighting over a spit of sand just as easily as another could make one about the two armies that surround those two soldiers. They might be equally well written and compelling, but just because more people read the one about the two armies doesn't make it better. Just more popular.

So if all good stories are about people, there should be no inherent bias in the QUALITY of stories told about Null sec or Low sec or Worm-Hole space or anything else in New Eden. A good story is, by its very definition, a good story. The only difference then is in the POPULARITY of the different stories.

I look at the Blog Pack and I see a majority of bloggers involved in Low-Sec, NPC Space and other non-sov holding activities. Is that a fluke then? Are all of those bloggers bad at telling stories? Of course not. And while I understand the intent of challenging us to write more good stories about our adventures, I did take some umbrage at the assertion that we're not already doing so. Because I think we are. In fact, I enjoy many of the stories my fellow non-important, less consequence low-sec, worm-hole, npc space dwelling friends tell already.

Heck, to me, most stories about Null sec sound like I'm reading a story on a news channel like the BBC or CNN. While most stories I read about Low sec seem more compelling, interesting and engaging. We can all have our favorites, but I prefer the stories about individuals. People. In whatever part of space they call home.

More good stories? On that point, Mr. Fiddle and I agree.

Gang Tactics: Part One - The Basics

2011-11-10T15:29:00.001Z

Gang Tactics is a new on-going series in which we explore the fine art of death dealing in small gang warfare. This series is not intended as a technical exploration, but as more of a guide to the fundamental basics involved in small gang warfare in New Eden. And hopefully, one that is enjoyable and educational.

Small Gang warfare is, in my humble opinion, one of the most enjoyable aspects of playing Eve. Hanging out with your Corp mates, friends, and blowing up enemy ships. It can be very rewarding no matter your skill points or experience level. New players and veterans alike can quickly form up to go on a roam, form a defense, or plunge into the unknown.

So let's start with the basics. What I like to call Catch, Hold and Destroy. This is the basic fundamental tenant of any small gang and you only need three ships to get started. For lesson one we'll start with just these three ships. The great thing about small gang tactics is the expandability of each lesson, once you master the fundamentals, adding more ships becomes easier and easier.

Catch: What good is the hunt unless you can catch your prey? This role is easily filled by a Frigate or Interceptor. The perfect catch ship for your small three man gang depends on where you are, in low sec, null sec or wherever. But there are basic considerations that should be addressed and those mostly concern speed - both in velocity and in locking. A good catch ship has velocity on its side - it is very fast. But it also needs to be able to lock the enemy quickly before he can escape. Two points in the mids are preferred, a long point disruptor to catch the enemy from a distance, and either a Scram or Web to hold him down once you get closer.

Rifters, Crows, Taranis, Ares, Lachesis, Arazu - there are many, many ships that can fill this role depending on your own skill level and where you are in space.

Hold: Once the enemy is caught, living thru the fight is critical. If you catch him and then explode, this does no one any good. You might think it odd that this is a separate category, once the enemy is caught shouldn't we skip right to Destroy? That is asking a lot from your Catch ship isn't it? The role of the Heavy Tackler is something we'll discuss later on, but for now expecting your Catch ship to survive past the tackle is asking for it to achieve more than its role allows.

This is a role that needs to be considered. What is the next ship to arrive on the scene? Typically this role is filled by Cruisers/Battlecruisers. For example the Thrasher or the Rupture is a good ship for this role. They can deal damage from a tank that should be able to survive long enough to see the enemy explode. The Drake or Hurricane also fill this role exceptionally well for the more advanced pilot.

Destroy: The Destroy role can be filled by the Hold ships, you could have a Catch ship and two Canes for example. But it would be wrong to not consider the Destroy ship its own category, because "destroy" can take on many different meanings. For example, the role of the Destroy ship could be filled by a Falcon or Curse. In that example the destroy ship arrives on the scene last and is the tipping point of the battle. Let's say your Catch ship has tackled a Dominix in a belt. He is holding him down, but his cap is drained and he won't last long. The Cane arrives and starts delivering the DPS, but not fast enough against the tank of the Domi. The Catch ship warps off and now it is the Cane Vs. Domi. The Cane, if he can stay out of neut range and destroy the Domi's drones, might eventually win. But he might not. This is when the Destroy ship arrives. Certainly another Drake or Cane would help tip the balance, but the arrival of a Falcon or Curse (or other role player) would do the job as well.

The CHD is a thought-process that helps you determine the basic make-up of your Small Gang. If you have three Canes available, applying CHD would make you think that at least one of those Canes should probably have a Sensor Booster in his mids, for faster locking speed. It might also make you canvas your pilots regarding the types of points they have, to make sure you have the bases covered. At the very least the SeBo Cane should have a long point.

So it isn't always about the types of ships, but more about the roles each of those ships will be playing in your three man gang. This is the basic underlying logic behind ALL gangs and fleets in New Eden. From three to three-hundred, once you start thinking CHD the rest becomes only a matter of scalability.

So, now that we've mastered the basics, let's add one more ship:

Hunt: While you are forming up another Corp mate logs on and wants to join your gang. You already have your CHD bases covered, you have a Taranis, an Arty Nano Cane and a young player in a Blaster Harpy. So what role do you still need to fill? You need a Hunter. Now the Hunter/Scout role is one that can be filled by a lot of different ships and depends on the skill level of the individual pilot. It could be as basic as yet another Frigate or as complex as a cloaking T3 Cruiser. The perfect Hunter for your small gang would be a cloaking ship with Probes. But beggars can't be choosers and your Corp mate can't fly T3 yet, but he does have a Buzzard. And he'd like to learn to Probe better. How better to learn than on the field of battle?

Now we're talking. Our small gang is starting to be pretty awesome. With just FOUR ships your gang can take on just about anything New Eden has to offer, by being smart and picking your targets carefully, you should be able to kill just about any one or two man gangs you happen upon. And brawl with anything your own size. No matter your skill level.

So good three man or four man gang set-ups:
1x Frigate (long point, scram or web, maybe Sensor Boosted or Nano fit for speed)
1x Cruiser (DPS but good solid tank)
1x Cruiser 2 (DPS, with surprise - like a sensor damper, or ECM, or EC Drones, etc.)

+ Tipper = Electronic Frigate, Neut fitted Cruiser, Falcon, Curse, Blaster Thorax, anything that can specifically fill a role that tips the battle to your favor.

For more experienced pilots a good fleet comp could be:
1x Interceptor (Fast speed and lock, long point or Scram depending on how fast)
1x Battlecruiser (DPS and tank)
1x Falcon
(This is a nasty three man gang set-up. Make sure your BC is nano fit or at the very least is carrying EC Drones. In case he gets caught the Falcon is his escape clause.)

The role of the Falcon can be played by many ships, including an additional BC class or even Cruiser. The Falcon choice right now is the obvious one, but choosing something that isn't obvious (or a Falcon!) will probably get you more good fights.

Next time we'll cover small gang DPS, making the most of various types of DPS delivery in a small gang setting.

Fly safe.

Part Two: DPS
Part Three: Travel
Part Four: Track & Kill

Crucible: Features List

2011-11-09T21:41:00.002Z

Fellow blogger tgl3 has a running Winter Expansion "Crucible" features list over on Through Newb Eyes. You really should check it out. It is amazing to me just how much CCP has managed to accomplish with this expansion, and the hits just seem to keep coming.

Idiot's Guide: Being On Gate

2011-11-09T15:00:00.001Z

There are a tremendous amount of really great, detailed, technical guides available about Eve Online... this isn't one of them. This is another installment of the famous Idiot's Guide series that is specifically written for those that just want to know how to do stuff in Eve. Without all the detailed, technical stuff. This is what works. I don't always know why it works and I'm ok with that.

Let's face it, no matter who you are in-game, you are going to spend a lot of time on Gates. Either running, holding, waiting, dreading, anticipatin', or otherwise wondering what horrible blob is on the other side. So basic understanding of gates might be nice.

So let's take a quick tour of some of the basic things you might be doing on a Gate, with the primary focus being on:

Tackling something with the intent to explode them dead.

No matter how many of you there are on the Gate, there is only one of you in your ship. Your job is to tackle the incoming gate fire thingie, get point, and hold it, kill it, or otherwise stop it from escaping.

The first thing to remember is that those idiot's in your gang that are orbiting the gate are idiots. Orbiting the gate is the first sign that the people doing so have no idea what they are doing, they've never been to zero space and have certainly never successfully tackled anything on a Gate before. There is only ONE situation when orbiting the Gate makes any sense (and even that is a bit of a stretch in my opinion) and that is when you know a cloaky ship is jumping into you. In that case, every one orbits at different ranges, drones out and hopes the enemy just happens to land near someone.

So why is orbiting bad? It isn't that it is bad per se, it just doesn't make sense. There is this huge thing called a Gate. The enemy jumping into you is going to land randomly about 12k from that Gate. So yes, there is a slight chance you will be on the right side of the Gate when that happens, but it is also just as likely you'll be going in the wrong direction! More likely he'll land on the OTHER SIDE of the Gate or at an angle that puts the Gate between you and him. You'll never catch anything.

If you have at least two tacklers in your gang one of you is above the Gate and one of you is below the Gate, each about 10k off. Sitting still. When the gate fire comes turn on your prop mod. There is an honest argument about what to do next, there are two ways of doing this and I have my own method. I have an overview setting that only shows bad guys and nothing else, so when that ship appears on that overview I immediately double click it. This has the effect of shooting my ship off like a bullet towards the enemy. Now here is the tricky part if he cloaks. Once you start off in his direction, swing your view towards him in space and DOUBLE CLICK right next to him. ( Not right on him! ) This is critical, because when he disappears your ship will stop moving and you'll lose him, but not if you've clicked in space next to him.

The other way is to double click in space next to him first. I don't like this method because it assumes you are looking at that place in space already. The overview double click doesn't need that, he could be anywhere.

Believe me, I've done this hundreds of times and it works like a charm. You won't get them all, especially the cloakers, but you'll get more of them than will get away.

What's the Point?

Disrupters, Scrams and Webs. In that order. On a gate.

Stop them from warping first, turn off their prop mod second, and then slow them down so they can't get back to the gate. Depending on what you have, depends on where on that list you start. Except for webs of course, starting there will only allow the enemy to warp away faster.

From an FC standpoint the important thing is to immediately determine and let your gang know, if you can kill the ship BEFORE it gets back to the gate. If you don't believe you can, you have to tell some of your gang not to shoot. They need to get back to the Gate and be prepared to jump after him. To tackle him on the other side and hold him.

Once caught, the enemy really only has two choices. Burn back to the gate or stand and fight, but they can't do both. Burning back requires that they not aggro anyone, so you'll know pretty much right away what they intend on doing. Once they aggro everyone can join in on killing them before help arrives.

Gate Guns

Gate guns in High/Low-Sec reach out to 150k from the gate. The number of guns on a gate is directly related to the sec status of the system you are in. Each gun can only shoot at one ship at a time. Typically anything less than a Cruiser cannot stand Gate fire for more than one shot.

Now, if the ship you've tackled is of low sec status, say a Pirate, then the gate guns will not fire on you. Nice huh? That's because these people are criminals and of low moral fibre.

There is a whole other guide on how to survive gate guns and this isn't it. Just know that they will explode you unless you are tough, or have Logi on the gate with you.

So there ya go, the three most important bits about being on Gate. Be prepared to tackle, get point and watch out for Gate guns. You should also be keeping an eye on your d-scan, have a scout in the system on the other side, and generally be prepared to get blobbed if you stay there much longer.

Fly safe.

Other Idiot's Guides:
Idiot's Guide to the D-Scanner
Idiot's Guide to Bombing
Idiot's Guide to Bookmarks
Idiot's Guide to Flying in Zero Space

Thanks to Eve News 24 for picking up this story, if you don't read Eve News who knows what you are missing!

KICKED

2011-11-08T16:04:00.001Z

My good in-game friend and former Lucifer's Hammer member Itsme has gone and formed his own Corporation - KICKED.

Here is a link to the recruitment thread on the forums.

Itsme was with Lucifer's Hammer almost since day one and I had nothing but great experiences with him in the Corp. There are those that don't like him very much, and those that hate, fear and despise him. But they simply don't understand him.

If you are a fighter, truly a combat oriented person and not just a wanna-be, then Itsme is the guy you want in your fleet. He has a natural ability to tackle really, really big ships. And, most importantly, that weird thing that good PvPers have of finding good fights. Something that I used to have and seem to have lost recently for some reason. Sure, he got us kicked from several >cough< Alliances and sometimes got his Corp mates derped... but hey, it's supposed to be fun isn't it?

I wish his new Corporation well. And if you happen to be insane, or want to become insane, then you should think about joining up with these guys. I can't guarantee anything except that it won't ever be boring. Oh, and that Itsme will be in-game pretty much 23.5/7.

I think they'll be hanging around Amamake.

2012: A New Type of Space

2011-11-07T14:33:00.000Z

The ideas just keep rolling here on Eveoganda! Today, with one bold stroke, we shall re-invigorate one of the long ignored areas of play within the Eve universe. Faction Warfare.

Within New Eden we have four types of space - Hi-Sec (Empire), Low-Sec, Null and WH. (NPC Null and a few variants, but those are really the big four.) I am suggesting the addition of a new type of space - Contested Space.

If you've been following along with the 2012 Series (and why wouldn't you, they are friggin' brilliant!) then you know I've been talking about the Jovian race. Now this could be any race, even a brand spanking newly made up one, but the Jovians just happen to be a great example. Mostly because they already have an entire region of space to themselves. So I'm going to continue using them as an EXAMPLE. Get with the program people.

So, what is Contested Space?

Imagine for a moment that at some point next year reports start to emerge from Empire of ships that entered a WH only to emerge deep within Jovian space... and return? Suddenly these reports are confirmed as intrepid players themselves chance upon these newly opened pathways. At first the WH's are the only way in to this vast new region of space. It isn't Null space (since the normal Sov mechanics don't seem to work there, huh.) and it isn't Empire space - no CONCORD. So what is it?

Well at first no one knows. But then a few strange things start to become obvious. Newly discovered BPOs from those that brave the Jovian rats reveal something unexpected. Apparently you might just be able to build Faction Controlled Gates (FCG), the key ingredient of which is a newly discovered mineral that only appears in certain Asteroid belts and PI processes within Jovian space and no where else. In addition, there appears to be a new type of Probe that can be built - the Explorer Probe.

This new region of space is vast, rich and extremely hard to get to. But all of the Empires want it to themselves, certainly possession could tip the balance of power significantly to one side or the other and settle centuries long conflicts. It isn't long before players realize that by using the Explorer Probes (with the right skills) one can determine the exact location where their Faction should build a Gate. Now these Jovian gates are special in that they can be manned, they can be built with special defenses that normal gates do not have, and they can be contested. Just because you build one, doesn't mean you get to keep it.

But once these gates start connecting to Empire space, the flood is on. And this opens up another new game aspect - The Treaty. Treaties have been talked about for ages, but now we have the perfect situation to implement them. Let's say you have an Industrial Corporation that would like to move into Amarr Contested Space within the new Jovian region. In order to be protected and gain access thru the FCG, you'll need to sign a treaty with the Amarr Empire. The terms of that treaty will be negotiated and agreed upon by their representatives the Amarr Faction. But most likely will include monthly fees and percentages from your operations. In return you gain access to new materials, belts, rats, the whole ball of wax. Including new BPOs to build those new Jovian ships the new Jovian players want to fly.

And yes, Pirates are a problem. And yes, other factions will be able to not only attack, but gain control of systems by controlling the gates into those systems. Let's say XYZ system's gate leads directly to Gal space, but the Minnie Faction takes over the gate... well now that gate leads directly to Minnie space.

Suddenly FW has a purpose and directly and POWERFULLY impacts the entire universe of New Eden... something that it truly needs and has never had. And the new Jovian region becomes an interesting, vital, important new arena for a brand new type of combat in Eve.

There are literally hundreds of other ideas inherent in the above, what about the Jovian's themselves, what about Stations, missions, and every other aspect of game-play?

I'm no expert at Faction Warfare, it is the one play style that I haven't tried. So I'll leave the details to those that know and the ideas on how this new system could grow, evolve and adapt will remain to be seen. But I do know that something needs to be done and within the confines of the other ideas I've already outlined in the 2012 Series - the new playable race, the Sanctuary Training Program and the others - that Contested Space is just another piece of the puzzle that would make for a very exciting 2012.

And, more importantly, keep Eve a growing vital game.

What are your thoughts about Contested Space?

Gooder Eve: Time to Clean the Database

2011-11-06T14:14:00.000Z

This is a quick one, but no less powerful and much needed for being so.

Eve is getting a bit long in the tooth in some ways, a universe that has been going strong for almost a decade now and it is slowly getting filled up with junk. One example is the sheer amount of old, dead, defunct Corporations and Alliances still in the Database. I was helping someone name a new Corporation on Friday and I can't tell you the number of times we came up with a name that was already taken - but the Corporation was long since dead. Or the single player holding it hadn't played Eve in over three years.

Mostly this hinges on the five letter Corp Ticker, there are only so many combinations available to us and most of them have been taken.

It is time to clean house. Any Corporation or Alliance that has been inactive for more than three years needs to be wiped from the Database and archived. Any holding players that remain transfered into a NPC Corporation in the off chance they return to the game. This will free up the Corp Tickers and names for new use.

Simple. Clean and much needed.

2012: Sanctuary Training Program

2011-11-04T16:02:00.001Z

This idea won't leave me alone and keeps running around in my head, so I thought it was worthy of some additional thoughts and discussion. Starting out in Eve is difficult and getting new players involved, engaged and ready to face the HTFU universe is an extreme challenge. One which has not been cracked to date.

My core idea is relatively simple. Turn the initial days of a Rookie's life into a "Mini-Game" that exists inside of Eve. Combine the best of the Tutorials, along with some serious updates and revisions, into a Training Program. Think Danger Room from Xavier's School for Gifted Youngsters for an idea of what I'm on about.

The idea is to slowly engage the new player into the world, the concepts and the functions of Eve, while also giving them a real taste of what lies ahead. And this is the radical step that is missing from today's engagement - letting the new player have a chance to fly ships he might not get to fly for years.

It makes sense. Think about training a Capsuleer, how much effort is involved, how much technology, expense and pure resources go into a Capsuleer's training. Do you think they just drop you into a Rookie ship and say, "Fly Safe"? Let's turn the experience of the new player into an experience more akin to Capsuleer Training. For real.

This is a unique situation and a unique opportunity, to engage the new player in our universe in ways unheard of in the MMO environment. A system of training that goes beyond the Tutorial boredom into an engaging, exciting and memorable experience!

So, how does it work?

First, every Rookie system is a Sanctuary for every Rookie signed into the Training Program. No one else. So it is not an exploitable situation. There are no kill-mails in the Sanctuary Training Program (STP), no loots (other than those provided to other STP participants) and no way for anyone other than brand spanking new players to get into the STP. While in the STP the Rookie player is immune to the rest of Eve while IN the STP system. This is also important to avoid exploitation. Any Rookie that leaves the STP system can be killed just like anyone else.

The STP has a stepped and tiered program that introduces the new player to the various play styles open to them as players in Eve. A PvP program, an Industry program and so on. Completion of each program is necessary for graduation.

The PvP program would involve Arena Combat. In yet another brilliant move, this program involves introducing the player to other players, building connections on the FIRST day! Such connections as we all know are critical to keeping players engaged over the long haul. The STP is designed to foster such connections in every program step.

Aura would guide the combat, slowly revealing new systems, tactics and basic fundamentals regarding ship to ship combat. And here is the important thing, while it would start with Frigates, the program would escalate into Cruisers, BCs and perhaps even other ship classes. Perhaps the student would choose PvP as their "graduate program" and more complex tactics would be revealed. The same would hold true in the other programs, students that had no interest in combat might choose Industry as their "graduate program" and be brought into more complex industrial concepts.

The idea is to show the new player a taste of what the big picture Eve is all about. Engage them in the world, while protected from it. The entire STP would only last a few days, but it would be an amazing and unique experience for the new player. It would provide that most important of elements - desire.

Of course, the Rookie player could also choose to opt out of the STP and just undock and fly off. But I don't think many, other than those created as alts, would do so.

The ideas inherent in this system are numberless, limitless and with great possibilities. I'm extremely excited about the STP concept and I can't stop thinking about it. Once completed the STP Graduate would be uniquely qualified as a new Eve pilot and ready to face the challenges of New Eden in ways that we were not.

Imagine being a new player and asked to take over the piloting of a huge transport like the Providence? Or being able to slug it out in Drakes against another Rookie player? Imagine the bonds that could be built between players, the desire to get out there and make something or yourself, to change the sandbox.

I'm sure there are holes in this and those that will poo-poo, but given some serious development and thought I believe this could easily form the foundation for a new player experience that would set the standard for the industry and engage new players in ways unheard of, especially for Eve.

I continue thinking and look forward to your thoughts and ideas.

2012: New Recruits

2011-11-04T13:31:00.002Z

In this, ~~the last of the 2012 posts~~, I want to take a look at the single most important element of 2012 for Eve - getting new subscribers. That statement being solely predicated on the assumption that the upcoming Winter Expansion and the adoption of my predictions for 2012 are in the bag, which will stabilize the subscriber base. But we don't want stability, we want growth.

So how do we get new people to not only try Eve but, more importantly, subscribe to Eve? Arguably the most complex, dense, non-inviting, dark, dangerous, incomprehensible and intimidating MMO based on a not-super popular niche genre game on the planet?

Whew. Luckily, I've had more difficult assignments. Try convincing people to give you their internal organs someday! Talk about difficult.

Getting those new subscribers is going to take some hard work, luck and serious strategic and tactical planning, but it can be done. The entire plan hinges on several important factors that need to happen to help it along:

1) We need walking, interacting Avatars in Eve.
You all know I am a huge FiS player and couldn't care less about WiS, but it is crucial to further growth of our beloved game. This is the whole reason why CCP went down this road in the first place - and I mean before WOD and DUST. Go back to the original idea, the original dream, and make it happen. A game without people in it is a turn-off to the vast majority of potential players.

2) DUST
There are 2 smart things about DUST. First of all it is set in the Eve Universe. And while that won't directly help subscribers come into the MMO Eve (Consol vs Comp, we all know the debate there. And while there will be some cross traffic, it won't be much). However, there will be a tremendous indirect benefit if DUST is even slightly successful. Taking advantage of that will require some clever PR/Marketing, but it can be done. Secondly, DUST is on the PS3, and while that might make some XBox people angry it is huge for the potential rewards... IN ASIA. Heck, XBox is considering not even selling in Japan next year. The Asian market is the largest single potential source of new players for Eve. See a connection here?

So we have further WiS development happening in the Spring which will coincide with DUST hitting the shelves (or should) and then tons of new players will jump on board the Eve train? Well, no. It isn't going to be that easy.

There will be a new sub bump in the Spring when these things happen. Heck, there will be a new sub bump at the end of this year from the Winter Expansion. Some of that will be re-subs though, but still, this is looking like a great FiS expansion so CCP will reap some benefits. Maybe 4-5%? Hard to say at the moment. ( The global economy has so much to do with all of this tbh. Family, Shelter, Food, Transportation, Entertainment and then some other stuff and then Eve - it is pretty far down the list.)

CCP has always done a good job with the promotional push, the offers, the bundles, the friends referrals, the incentives. And they have worked to make the new player experience better over the years. Increased training speeds, better tutorials, etc., all have made scary starter Eve less scary for the new player.

I actually have a lot of ideas in regards to the new player experience (so this actually might not be the last post about 2012 after all), but I have one new one that came to me this morning that I'd like to share first.

I call the idea SANCTUARY. Every race has its rookie systems, for me it was Todaki up in Caladri space. ( Oh Todaki we adore you, blinky lights of Gold... sorry, memories of the HS fight song. ) So each Rookie system becomes a Sanctuary system designed to protect Rookies from any potential harm while they are engaged in the Rookie tutorial program. Once a Rookie signs up for the training tutorials they are immune to harm within the Rookie system. The Rookie Training system would need some updates to take advantage of this, I see Rookie combat arenas being set-up to teach basic PvP skills - were Rookies can fight other Rookies IN SHIPS THEY CAN'T FLY YET! And this is the critical part, give them (within the context of the training program) the opportunity to train against each other in Cruisers, Battlecruisers and then Battleships. This is the great tease, the promise of what is to come, the destination objective. Train hard, work hard and one day soon you can fly this ship.

I liken this to the Danger Room from the X-Men comic books. This only works given some major overhauls of the Training Program, but it could be a relatively easy way for new players to be introduced to game mechanics, possible career paths (The PvP element wouldn't be the only one, you could easily set up scenarios in other paths. Imagine a tutorial where a veteran player falls ill and cannot deliver vital goods in his Providence, and it is up to the Rookie to do it! The mind races at the possibilities!)

Being a Rookie in Eve should be hard, we all did it. And I'd be the last person to suggest taking that away, but we also need to make the initial experience impact meaningful enough that they want to stay on course. Making the new player experience into a sort of "mini-game" on its own would be one way to accomplish that.

And then kick them out into the real universe to be killed.

2012: Follow Up

2011-11-03T13:24:00.001Z

If you haven't read yesterday's post yet, I would encourage you to do so.

My attempt to lay the ground-work for the course of Eve in 2012 came down to several core concepts, the details of which are not as important in the strategic sense. In the planning/idea phase you are better off keeping your attention on the big ideas, the over-arching themes, and let the details form when it comes time to develop tactics to support the strategy.

The major themes for Eve in 2012 are, in my opinion:

• DUST integration
• Subscriber growth

Tomorrow I'm planning on outlining my thoughts on building new-subscriber growth in 2012. Today however, while we are still in the strategy phase, I'd like to revisit some of the core ideas that I presented yesterday.

I believe it is time to introduce another race to New Eden. We have many to choose from, the Enheduanni, Yan Jung, Takmahl, Talocan, Sansha, and of course, the Jovians themselves. I chose the Jovians for my example simply because they have space. Certainly the folks at CCP could give any of the races additional space simply by adding it to the universe. Which is one of the great things about LORE VS. CANON.

Lore is the fictional backstory that supports Canon. Lore is constantly changing, being updated and manipulated to serve Canon. It doesn't work the other way around. Canon is the factual information present in-game. It is also constantly changing, but slower than Lore and usually in a more subtle way.

Whatever the Jovians, or any of the other races, may be in Lore can be altered, updated or modified based on Canon. So, for example, some lone ship gets sucked into a WH and pops out into Jovian space only to find it strangely empty. From that single sentence there are dozens of good writers that could form the foundation for getting the Jovians actually into the universe of New Eden. It's called imagination.

But that isn't even the point. A new playable race has been hinted at as long as WiS and it is time for it to happen. Personally I think the idea of a race based on Cross-trained multi-racial skills is extremely interesting and valid. This wouldn't limit the new race to only older players as some have suggested, you need to think differently. A Rookie player that chooses the new race would train skills the same way we all did, only he would choose from the skill sets from all four of the other races and his own. Heck, I know many players that decided to cross-train virtually from day one. This is no different.

Certainly the older players would have some benefit. Which is their right, since they are older players. But it would only be an availability issue, not one of distinct individual advantage. This kind of thing exists already. When the new BC/BS enter the game in a few weeks I will be able to fly all four of the ships from Day One. (And I plan on it!) Does that give me an unfair advantage?

And then there is the aspect that I didn't touch on yesterday, which is what to do with the newly discovered or recently available new space? My suggestion is this, since FW has been largely ignored for so long, we strive to make the new space a FW playground. Think about it for a second, newly discovered space? I think all four races would be extremely interested in taking possession of such new treasure and would fight hard to do so. So (and let's continue using the Jovians) newly opened Jovian space could be contested space. Originally it would be discovered without Gates and only accessed by jumping to cynos brought in thru newly discovered WH. But each faction now has the ability to build and control Gates for themselves. Said Gates will directly connect to their faction space in Empire only as long as they control the Gate.

Man, I am so full of idears. Heck, given that scenario I might even join a Faction and play in Jovian space for awhile. Obviously we'd need something really awesome and cool in there to make all the fighting worthwhile... and that would be the missing element. The one thing you need to build Jovian tech which can only be found in Jovian space? I dunno, I'm not as smart about industry things and anytime I try I tend to make people angry. So you guys figure that one out.

A new playable race by this time next year?

2012: This Time Next Year

2011-11-02T14:56:00.000Z

There has been a lot of discussion about the upcoming Winter Expansion around the community lately, and it certainly deserves to be discussed, debated, and considered. CCP has taken a big step in returning the game to its roots and at least attempting a major FiS focused expansion. And they deserve a tremendous amount of credit for the attempt. But I'd like to take a deep look beyond this Winter's expansion and gaze into the crystal ball. Where will we be a year from now?

As things stand right now we have to make mention of several unanswered questions that will impact the future course of events in Eve development. Where exactly does WiS stand? And when exactly will DUST514 hit the market?

Those two questions and the corresponding minutia of answers, inter-woven complexities, and fall-out will have a huge impact on what happens after the 2011 Winter Expansion. For the sake of this article I'm going to take control and tell you what I think should happen and see where those decisions lead us. This article isn't intended as a predictive model of the future as much as it is an outline of consequences.

When it comes to WiS I have a very clear vision of what I believe will happen in the Spring. WiS cannot be totally abandoned since it is integral to the support of DUST. It is also obvious that WiS expansion plans have been slowed down almost to a complete stand-still in pursuit of FiS solutions. It is easy to predict that our first establishment will be revealed sometime in the Spring. That establishment will be a sort of "Command Center" ( As hinted at in the future vision video we've all seen ) that will allow coordination between the Eve players and the DUST players. The exact nature of the relationship is starting to become clear and will mainly focus on planetary territorial engagements. To what exact benefit to either side remains dubious at the moment. But only because we don't know.

I would also think that some type of "Communal" room would also be introduced along with the Command Center. The likely hood of this depends greatly on the WiS issues being resolved and that is far from certain at this point. So we'll leave that idea to the maybe, possible, could be bin for now.

So coordination with DUST certainly seems to be the main driver for Spring/Summer plans. If this is the blueprint for future development cycles, it isn't a bad one. Spring/Summer Eve/Dust focus and Fall/Winter FiS focused. And just because Spring/Summer is DUST focused doesn't mean it doesn't include FiS elements, it will and it should. Ignoring the foundation of Eve is what brought us to this past Summer in the first place, I'd be hard pressed to believe CCP would do that again.

Corporations and Alliances are fighting over planetary territories for some benefit to the Eve Community. DUST is on the shelves and hopefully selling like hot-cakes. ( If you are a Eve player you want DUST to do well, believe me. ) So what else does 2012 hold in store?

There will be plenty to keep CCP busy during the next year. Further balancing, V3 deployments ( which means new models to stations, gates, ships, modules, etc.), T3 Frigates and further work on inter-space modifications to Null, Low and High-Sec. These are all exciting, needed and welcomed changes. But they simply aren't enough to generate the level of excitement, energy and public relations needed to seriously impact growth for Eve. But what could do that?

Next year's Winter Expansion will be monumental, will echo through-out the world and raise the stakes within New Eden to levels unheard of before. Why? Because this time next year the Jovians become a playable race and take their rightful place alongside the Caldari, Amarr, Minnie and Gal as the fifth race in New Eden. Jovian space is opened and a brand new world unfolds over a three month period of time, in a slow, deliberate and measured roll-out of new characters, ships, modules, space and time.

Why the Jovians? Well, you might as well ask, why not the Jovians? It is the empty corner, it is the big tease, the last remaining unknown, the new thing, the big deal. And here is the kicker, the Jovian ships will require not only new skills to fly, but skills from all four other races to fly. That's right, if you want to fly a Jovian ship - in most, but not all cases - you'll need skills from the other four races. While it will be possible to choose Jovian as your starting race, the true benefit of flying a Jovian ship will fall into the needy hands of the Bitter Vets alone.

This is for two main reasons. 1) It provides a new shiny to an increasingly older and extremely dedicated audience of subscribers, and 2) It provides the "aspirational" incentive that any large-scale universe requires, something to work towards, a goal, an objective beyond "this is cool" that can help drive players to achieve long-term subscriptions.

You can say all you want about the obvious challenges inherent in bringing the Jovian race into New Eden, and I'd be lying if I said there weren't some, but those can be overcome rather easily given the proper ground work. We've seen that type of ground work before from CCP when it came to the Sansha incursions, so the model for how it can happen has been tested.

The cool part? And this is just my own wishful thinking. ANY character can become Jovian if they wish. A bar would have to be set, say perhaps 100m skill-points, but it is well within the established ( with some minor tweaking ) to assume Jovian technology could achieve such an outcome. So come next Winter your 100m sp Caldari avatar can undergo a transformation (one that might even cost a PLEX or two) into a pure Jovian avatar.

In the end, whatever happens next year is going to be impacted greatly by what happens in less than two months. And then, again, by what happens in the Spring. To me the road seems more clearly defined than it was at this time last year, so progress has been made.

As for me, I'm looking forward to it. And to awesome new Jovian ships.

So what are you looking for next year, and what do you think of the Jovian expansion?

Write, Win PLEX!

2011-11-02T13:25:00.001Z

Darth Skorpius needs your help! The poor guy doesn't have any memories and you could be the person to give him some. Do so and have a chance to win some PLEX.

Head on over to The Phoenix Diaries to learn more.

11.1.11

2011-11-01T13:11:00.001Z

I had a dream.

A dream of an Eve in which obvious holes in balance were corrected on a regular, on-going basis.

A vision of updated ship graphics, where design sensibilities of a decade ago were not considered sacrosanct. Only a good start.

A dream where evolving play-styles were supported by new fixes aimed directly at supporting evolving play-styles. In which existing content was made better.

A world in which surprises often come out of left field, not hinted, not teased, only revealed.

A dream where progress is measured by a truly expanding universe. A universe that only gets larger, deeper and more complex as time marches on.

I had a dream. A vision of an Eve that becomes more deadly, more challenging for the veteran player - and yet simpler, and more inviting for the rookie player. A world in which Eve unrolls itself before you, not behind you.

An Eve that constantly adds new ships, new content and new tools on a regular basis.

A vision of a company that streams, dialogues and engages its player base consistently and openly.

I awoke with a clear understanding that often the best course of action is to shake up the status quo, that the answer "it has always been that way" is not an answer at all.

I had a dream.

I dreamed that Eve had always been this way. That Eve would always be this way. That Eve would evolve, grow and challenge us the way we want it to. For all time.

I dreamed that Eve was.

And I awoke to the possibility that it might be.

Maybe on this day of numerological oddity, dreams might come true.

Winter Expansion Name(s)

2011-10-31T21:32:00.005Z

Some potential names to consider. Apologies to those that may have actually come up with a few of these already. Feel free to take credit in the comments.

Click to embiggen baby!