Trust Me

Rule 30: A little trust goes a long way. The less you use, the further you'll go.
The Seven Habits of Highly Effective Pirates - Schlock Mercenary

After checking out the insanity of Curzon Dax's scam(thanks Mynx), I thought I'd point you towards another guy who's trying to take your money.

Whatever you do, don't trust this site. It's entertaining, but be wary of his "contests". The fella that runs it is a very smart guy who likes to take people's isk.

I had a post last week about how important honor is to me, and I think it got misread. You see, I have a great deal of respect for the shadier elements of eve. They make playing eve a real experience instead of some stupid child's game. I don't lie, but if no one ever lied, this would be such a boring game. Hell, it'd be a boring life.

I've never been taken in a scam, never been taken in a ransom, never once been suckered into a duel that didn't have my guys closer than the gank squad about to drop on me. The few times someone came into my missions to salvage and loot, I let him(mostly I just blitz missions, so they come away doubly disappointed).

I've yet to be victimized. But this is a game where it can happen anytime, to anyone.

So please, remember this:
1: A little trust goes a long way. The less you use, the further you'll go.
2: You will trust some people eventually. Some people really won't scam you... but...
3: People will build trust in order to get your money. Take care to recognize real friends.
4: If you somehow get caught in High-Sec by PvPers, never... EVER pay a ransom. Low-Sec is hit or miss, but High-Sec ransoms are almost always scams.
5: Making money takes work or patience. Some IPO's are good, the unrealisticly good ones are scams. Banks in Eve are always scams. Money is never free unless you give it to someone.

Most of all? For gods sake, pay attention.

Damn Carebears

I've been rapping for about seventeen years okay?
I don't write my stuff anymore.
I just kick it from my head, you know what I'm sayin?
I can do that.
No disrespect but that's how I am.
Ratatat - Seventeen Years

Turns out a post of mine last week seriously pissed off some carebears.

This was to be expected.

To show there are no hard feelings, I thought I'd give the Honorless Internet Jerks a bit of free publicity by linking their latest recruitment video.



Since they tend to take things pretty seriously(I mean, apparently anyhow) I should mention pretty strongly that this is a joke.

They're pretty good at high sec ganking without war decs, which is something I lack as a skill. Though it doesn't look hard at all, looks can be deceiving.

Merry Christmas!

Giving In

Take all of your wasted honor
Every little past frustration
Take all of your so-called problems,
Better put 'em in quotations
John Mayer - Say

Honor isn't something to be poked fun at. I see folks making jokes about the kinds of people that use real world principles in an online game. E-Honor they call it.

I don't use real world principles in an online game, I use real world principles.

I respect that some folks play differently. That's just not me, and I hope we can see more respect for my kind of mindset in the future.

I honor ransoms. I honor duels. I do what I say I'm going to do. If I don't, I can't pretend it's just my character doing it, because I know better.

You might not agree, but leave me alone about it.

Good Day

Dramiel Personae

When in doubt, make a fool of yourself. There is a microscopically thin line between being brilliantly creative and acting like the most gigantic idiot on earth. So what the hell, leap.
Cynthia Heimel

I had a feeling I wasn't the only one to figure this out.

There are a few of us pilots who've been keeping something from the rest of you. Nothing about it's abilities jump out at you when you're looking at it's stats. However a fair few of us have plugged it into EFT and found it to be an unrivaled frigate.

With an unheard of combination of speed, tank, DPS, and maneuverability: Say hello to the Dramiel.

[Dramiel, AB Tanky]
Overdrive Injector System II
Overdrive Injector System II
Damage Control II

Medium F-S9 Regolith Shield Induction
Invulnerability Field II
Coreli C-Type 1MN Afterburner
Warp Scrambler II

200mm AutoCannon II, Republic Fleet EMP S
'Arbalest' Rocket Launcher I, Caldari Navy Gremlin Rocket
200mm AutoCannon II, Republic Fleet EMP S

Small Polycarbon Engine Housing I
Small Polycarbon Engine Housing I
Small Core Defence Field Extender I


Hobgoblin II x3
Hobgoblin II x1


Start with the basics. It's a cheap fit compared to other Dramiel fits you'll see floating around. While scrammed you'll still go 2500 meters a second. Overloaded it goes 3500 meters a second. It aligns with the Afterburner off at the insane speed of 1.9 seconds. It does the same at 3.2 with it on. If single webbed, you'll go 1000 meters a second while also being in scram range of the target.

It has a 7.5k EHP tank. That includes a 69.4% shield resist to explosive. Which covers the Warrior II's that you'll most likely see sent after you.

Oh and for the hell of it, why not 187 DPS? While that's not as great as a Taranis or Daredevil, it is impressive for a frigate, and that is on top of all the other things it does well.

It is, in my opinion, the ultimate frigate heavy tackle.

I managed to pick up two Blue Prints for 70 million a little while back. I built them and I've flown them, and I love 'em.

That said, get the Dramiel for one very simple reason above all else: It is among the coolest looking ships in Eve. Seriously.

In the Winter

Richard tells his brothers not to cower but to take it like men and Geoffrey says, 'You fool! As if it matters how a man falls down.' And Richard says, 'When the fall's all that's left, it matters a great deal.'"
Toby Ziegler - The West Wing

"You don't think it's funny?" A prisoner looked up from his plate to the man sitting on the cot across from him.

"Son, I don't think it matters," The man on the bunk shook his head sadly and looked at the shadow the bars were casting on the floor of the cell, "I'm here to listen. You told the courts you were Monathian. I'm a priest with the local order,"

"I told them that because the Monathians don't believe in a death penalty. I figured the broken Gallente system would spit me out or something. Turns out they want to respect my religion all the way up to the part where they kill me. Watch out for that drip,"

"What?" The priest looked up just as a drop of water fell onto his cheek. He flinched for a moment before wiping it away. He then stood and moved further down the bunk.

The prisoner took another bit of his food, before continuing, "That drip's been there like clockwork for the last year. I could keep time with the thing. It annoyed me at first, and I'm sure that's why it's there. These bastards probably set this place up to be as annoying as possible. No rest for the damned, right?" The man laughed softly as he drank from the cup on his right, "But after a while, I realized something. See, no matter how hard they try to keep things out of here... it always finds a way in. Always,"

"Son, isn't it possible that the leak is just from a sink or something on the floor above you?" The priest motioned his hands upwards.

"You're uh... you're kind of a downer," The prisoner shook his head and smiled, "You want to know about my sins?"

"What sins would those be?"

"Well, I believe... and you can correct me if I'm wrong here, but I believe that I'm guilty of conspiracy and treason. All of course in the service of the Caldari State,"

"Those are crimes son, not sins,"

"Then I'm not guilty of anything,"

"Alright son," The priest stood up and moved towards the door.

"Wait though. See, I'm not long for this world. It would be nice to have someone to talk to,"

The priest stopped for a moment as if to think, then sat back down, "Ok,"

"See, one day I looked out at the stars, and call me crazy, but I got scared. Lots of stars, and lots of possible people carrying bullets with various names on them. Maybe mine. So why don't we start to work together I think. Why be at each others throats? Lots of things out in the darkness will eventually come to gobble us whole... why wait for it while weakening ourselves?"

"Son," The priest began before being cut off.

"No, let me finish. So there I was, looking up at the... one day we'll unite with them, you know? We've got to. We were one before and we'll be one again. It's just a matter of time. One day soon, we'll be brothers again and inherit the stars. If I gotta be a martyr for that to happen, fine. I can do that. I hear it's not that hard,"

_________________________________________

The prisoner stood, strapped to a table. His eyes wide, the lighting just perfect. The cameras of the various news networks sat poised like vultures.

"You have been accused of treason against the Gallente Federation. You have been found guilty in a court by a jury of your peers. Your sentence is to be carried out immediately. Do you have anything you'd like to say?"

The speaker pushed his microphone forward as the prisoner yelled at the top of his voice, "Unification!"

Safety Breeds Sleepy

There are literally few things in the world that put me to sleep like piloting through high sec without a war dec active.

At least when I was in low-sec the promise of a gank could keep me awake. Now? Nothing.

Been moving stuff for a couple days, I'ma go get some sleep now.

Peace.

That Seems Like a Pretty Big Bug to Miss

Facepalm.

Not to mention the annoying ass killmail bug that's going around. Am I the only one missing a fair number of killmails since the update?

Gawd damn.

Beautiful Release

Hey, Jude! Don't let me down
You have found her, now go and get her.
The Beatles - Hey Jude

"This is Provi traffic control, we've got an unconfirmed gatefire. Get me an ID,"

"Roger that Provi TC, This is KBP7 tac G. Wilco,"

"Copy that, what've ya got?"

"Ooh, it's a 'ranis on the naughty list,"

"Roger, sounding the alarm,"

"You catch the name?"

"He just left local but yeah, Hallan Turrek,"

"I've heard of him, that guy's a tough son of a bitch,"

___________________

"Look, I don't give a good goddamn what you think," Hallan said sternly into his comm unit, "Crepes are like a tortilla or something,"

"Whatever," a woman's voice on the other end piped back, "Don't you have some dieing horribly to do out there?"

"I'll have you know, Janelle, that I've got one of the best records in the corp for... you know, not dying horribly,"

"Yeah, and I bet your corpmates are really happy about that,"

"So good in fact, it makes the other guys look bad,"

"Cause in a group of hired killers the first thing you want to do is make them all look bad,"

"...Aren't you supposed to be making me feel better?"

"I'm your girlfriend, not your life coach,"

"I'm hanging up on you now,"

"You called me!" She said with a laugh as her end of the line went quiet.

Hallan jumped his ship through the DNR gate and waited for his senses to adjust. Local chat was empty, so he continued on to the K1Y gate.

As he jumped through he noticed five pilots in local. Hallan immediately warped to the nearest planet and began to run his scanner. Nothing appeared that promising until he noted a Drake called "Rat Raper" on scan with an asteroid belt. He kicked his Taranis around and bounded into warp after it.

"I just looked it up," His comms blasted as they shot back to life. Janelle continued, "Crepes are thin pancakes,"

"Hon, I'm a little busy right now,"

"With what?"

"Got a Drake. No. Damn it, he's seventy kilometers away,"

"Tackle him anyway?"

"Look at you with the pod pilot parlance. Where'd you pick that up?"

"I'm dating one who can't stop talking about his job,"

"Sounds like he's kind of a dick," He said as his voice trailed off.

"You don't know the half of it. You just wanted to say pod pilot parlance didn't you?"

"Uh..." He paused, "Hey he's tackled. He let me crawl seventy kilometers in an afterburner fit Taranis,"

"No seriously, you've had that on in your pocket for days, and you were just waiting to say it to somebody,"

"Whatever, I'm still busy,"

"Alright, I'll talk to you when you get back then. I love you," The comms went dead and Hallan focused on the battle. The Taranis had no shields left, while the Drake still had most of his. So far no one in local was coming to help.

"Yo need help. Planet 10, Belt 2," The Drake pilot loudly shouted in local as Hallan remained quiet, "Hallan Turrek 'ranis," He added before another pause, "Hull 50%"

Hallan wondered a bit to himself why he'd said that, since the Taranis still had 75% armor. No matter. The Drake was hitting 40% shields just as Hallan overloaded his blasters. His two hobgoblin's did their work as well while he waited.

Over the next couple of minutes he worked the shields down which finally dissipated on the Drake, just as the Taranis entered structure. Hallan stopped overloading his guns.

The Taranis took even less damage now as it's structure took small hits. Hallan's gun were punching hard into the Drake's armor and then structure.

Very quickly the Drake simply exploded.

"Wait a minute, did you just say 'I love you?'" Hallan said into the comms as he popped the pod and scooped the loot. He warped out just as a flycatcher landed and Hallan chuckled a bit as he plotted a course out of Providence.

"Did you just laugh at me?" Janelle's voice said quietly.

"Nah babe, Flycatcher landed just as I got away with the stuff,"

"Ok,"

"We'll talk more when I get back,"

That TCU Really Tied the System Together

I pushed my soul in a deep dark hole and then I followed it in
I watched myself crawlin' out as I was a-crawlin' in
I got up so tight I couldn't unwind
I saw so much I broke my mind
I just dropped in to see what condition my condition was in
Kenny Rogers and the First Edition - Just Dropped In

The Vale of the Silent was quiet. But as fitting as the description might have seemed, it wasn't permanent.

In 6WW-28 a fleet of Majesta battleships sat at the only stargate out. Comms remained quiet as they tended to the sovereignty blockade unit. In a couple of hours, they could contest the ownership of the system.

After that, these young upstarts would have something to fear.

One of those upstarts kept her distance as she floated like a specter cloaked in her Nemesis. She smiled to herself as she prepared to deactivate her cloak.

A few days ago, Noir finally acquired sovereignty here. They'd planned to build it up with their own hands. Today they would defend it with everything they had.

Five systems away, a fleet of Noir bombers, recons, and transport ships huddled around a Black Ops Battleship. Deep inside the massive ship, a cynosural technician whispered as he activated the portal system, "Now they pay the price of war."

"Lock targets," the Noir fleet commander said softly as his fleet appeared suddenly on the field, "Primary the Apocolpyse," and after a pause he continued, "Give 'em hell."

Suddenly the Vale of the Silent wasn't so quiet anymore.

Karaoke Corner #7: It's Cold Outside

Wrote this one for Roc's Advent Contest. Didn't win it(that day anyhow), but beh.

To the tune of "It's Cold Outside,"

I really can’t stay (Mynxee, it’s cold outside)
I’ve got to fly ‘way (Mynxee, it’s cold outside)
The roaming has been (I hoped that you’d come along)
So very fun (There’s a Mackinaw, It’s mining ice)

The Hellcats will start to worry (Come on Mynxee, what’s your hurry)
The Bastards are roaming to Villore (Listen to those cannons fire)
So really, I’d better hurry (It’s a hulk, He’s mining without worry)
Well, maybe just a gank or two more (We’ll roam till we start to tire)

The pirates will know (Mynxee, it’s fun out here)
The militia will grow,(Roc Wieler don’t know no fear)
See how I frown? (Your guns are just cooling down)
These guy can’t spell (Local chat just said, “u got o hel”)

I oughta say no, no, no Roc (I’ve got this Nightmare locked)
At least I’m gonna say that I tried (This Firetail’s the source of my pride)
I really can’t stay (Oh Mynxee, don’t hold out)
Oh, but it’s cold outside

I simply must leave (It’s cold outside)
Log out of Eve (Mynxee, it’s cold outside)
The roaming has gone (So lucky that you came along)
Without a loss (I like looking at your exaust)

The Hellcats will be suspicious (I’m not trying to be malicious)
The Bastards will be making some noise (I ain’t worried about those boys)
My blog reader’s mind’s are vicious (They’ll understand if you’re expeditious)
Well maybe just a gank or four more (Never got so many kills before)

I’ve got quite a trip (Myxnee, you’ll freeze out there)
Say, lend me a ship (Lets kill some more things out here)
You’ve really been good (Mynxee I’m misunderstood)
Pirating is overdue (Mynxee I can pirate some too)

There’s gonna be talk tomorrow (Well, watch this battleship blow)
At least there will be many complaints (My militia doesn’t have such constraints)
I really can’t stay (Get over that hold out)
Oh, but Mynxee it’s cold outside.

Twenty-Four

So it's my birthday today. Thought that deserved a post.

Karaoke Corner #6: Ammarian Frapsody

If you cannot guess which song this is... someone needs to slap you.

Enjoy. Or not. Up to you. I had fun.

Ammarian Frapsody

Is this just Eve Life.
Is this a fantasy.
Caught in a belt by,
Interceptors, I counted three,
Warp to a pos,
Why did this Gate warp to me?
Guess I'll just log off, man these guys need a job,
Because I'm hard to kill, hard to catch,
I log off if over matched,
The logs they show nothing, why would these guys say that to me? To me...

Dreadnaught, it's in a belt.
He just warped to a stargate.
Hold your cloak he must be bait.

Dreadnaught, is just sitting there...
Tackle him again before he warps away.
Dreadnaught ooo,
He's gonna to have to die,
Oh man this will cause his corp so much sorrow,
Pile it on, Pile it on, DPS is all that matters.

Too late, Dude he logged off,
Can't believe we lost him man,
Hey, his ship is still on scan,
Listen everybody, I've got a hit
Warp to me I've got his ship tackled again,
Dreadnaught ooo- (the logs they show nothing)
I want him to die,
We'll make him wish he'd never logged out at all...

I've got a little stilletto tackle here,
Really dude? Really dude? We will need some damage out here...
Stilletto! It is faster. And, I have to beat camps there,
He's in armor! He's in armor!
He's in armor! He's in armor!
He's in armor! Armor's gone! It's structure now.

I'm that guy's diplo, can you guys talk to me,
He's just a guy in a really fail fitting,
Spare him his ship from this gank that I see.

Easy come easy go, will you let him go?

You're crazy, no! We will not let him go.

Let him go!

You're crazy, We will not let him go.

Let him go!

You're crazy, We will not let him go.

Let me go!

Will not let you go.

Let me go!

Will not let you go.

Never Never Never Never Never!

Let me go!

No, no, no, no, no, no, no.

But it's my dreadnaught. It's my dreadnaught.
It's my dreadnaught. Let me go.
But I logged off, screw you guys. I'll talk to CCP! CCP! CC-P!

"Listen, when I logged off today I was in space.
Some guys ganked my ship and they made fun of my race.
OOO
Told them, they can't say that in local,
Can you guys ban them? You can just give me back my ship."

OOO
OOO Yeah.
OOO Yeah.

The petition is filed,
Just you wait and see,
The petition is filed, Now we'll just wait for CCP...

"The logs they show nothing..."

Without the Ironing Board

Come writers and critics
Who prophesize with your pen
And keep your eyes wide
The chance won't come again
And don't speak too soon
For the wheel's still in spin
And there's no tellin' who
That it's namin'.
For the loser now
Will be later to win
For the times they are a-changin'.
Bob Dylan - The Times They Are A-Changin'

Rather than bore you with my own bit on the Dominion patchnotes, I'll simply link you to a whole plethora of posts of others(don't worry, you'll likely get my opinion after I've given it a spin). Probably good to have it compiled.


Actual Patch Notes
Mynxee's Life in Low Sec
Eve's Weekend Warrior
Massively
My Loot, Your Tears
A Mule In Eve
Ecliptic Rift
Ombeve

If I missed you, let me know. Peace out and have a happy patch.

Fail of the Silent

I know I dreamt you a sin and a lie
I have my freedom, but I don't have much time
Fate has been served and tears must be cried
So let's do some living after we die
The Rolling Stones - Wild Horses

I believe I may become a permanent fixture in Vale of the Silent for a while after today's events. Noir'd already been staging near there for incursions into Majesta space since they dropped eighteen capital ships on our POS.

Some stuff hasn't gone well for them since then.

Apparently they failed to account for Danny X(which happens sometimes). Seems he jumped into a system with a Rorqual in a belt along with a few hulks. Being Danny X, he realizes this just means some shit is about to die, despite only having a Taranis.

He then proceeds to warp into the belt and tackle the Rorqual. The Hulks ran away and left their friend alone. The Rorqual logs out aggressed. That means Danny X has 15 minutes to kill him. Reasoning that might be unlikely, he calls up a Triumvirate gang.

In a couple of minutes they arrive. The Rorqual then dies. The kind of shit Danny accomplishes just boggles my mind.

He never would've been there if they hadn't provoked us by taking down the POS. Payback is a bitch.

A few days later we got a logoffski Carrier to half structure with a gang of two bombers and two Rapiers. Honestly, I can't make this crap up.

I'm 21 jumps out when it's called and I arrive literally as his fifteen minutes is up. I'm annoyed we barely missed it, but it was a BAD call on the Carrier's part to log out. How about you stay on, keep the reps going, and clean the four man gang off you? All I'm thinking at that point is that Majesta Empire can't possibly do anything stupidier.

But then we come to the Fail of the Silent. By all accounts, Majesta Empire forgot to pay their alliance bill. In 2-3 days, autopayment will go into the game. In 2-3 days, those with Sov already will be converted over to the new system with minimal fuss. It is now of course that they forget to pay the bill, and the Alliance closes.

I swear to god, I can't make this shit up.

Among The Stars Part 3/3

Cause you're working
Building a mystery
Holding on and holding it in
Yeah you're working
Building a mystery
And choosing so carefully
Sarah McLachlan - Building a Mystery

Continued From Part 3

Things got a bit quieter from there, and we began to wait at our positions again. A bit of a rumble came down the pipe about a tech one BC and Cruiser gang. Apparently the Legion of Death had decided to remove us from the gate. A raptor came into local and began to do recon from four hundred and fifty kilometers away. We watched him, and then watched as his gang began to descend on the system, all they saw were our two Drakes, and they landed a Vexor first, to encourage us to engage. Aleks wavered for only a moment before deciding to engage. At this point they outnumbered us Seven to five.

I decloaked and released a volley of torpedos into the Vexor. The Heavy Assault Missile Drakes had already pounded him, and my torps ripped the last of his structure away. A Rupture, Stabber, Ferox, Drake and Caracal all landed just as the Vexor died. The Raptor came down from his perch as well, and began to engage. They began to primary Mon, who was having trouble keeping up with the damage. Aleks called the Rupture as primary, and my torpedos didn't even make it in time before he was dead. Next up was the stabber, who died before I even managed to get him targeted.

At this point rogue drones appeared on the gate and began to gun for me. I warped out and back in, to what was effectively a mess. Mon and Aleks had just managed to break points with their energy neuts and Mon warped out with twenty seven percent structure. As I landed the Ferox was deep into armor, and another torpedo volley ripped into his structure. He lit up just as Mon landed again to apply the finishing touch.

The Raptor pilot reasoned that discretion was the better part of valor and warped away. Time to mop up. We turned our attention to the Drake that was left on the field. His passive fit was entirely unprepared for the volley damage our ships could deal, and again he died before my torps even arrived. That left us a Caracal. He was trying to run, but with a Rapier on him, it was only a matter of time before he died as well. We'd completely demolished the opposition and held the field.

"Alright, lets get this loot back to empire," Aleks said with a chuckle.

New Dominion Trailer

All I've got to say for this one is wow. Also I'm going to leave it at it's current size. It's worth seeing.

Among the Stars Part 2/3

Give us a tantrum
And a know it all grin
Just when we need one
When the evening's thin
Sarah McLachlan - Building a Mystery

Continued From Part 1

My Manticore sat in a position between the bubble and the gate. If anything decloaked on the gate, I could shoot it, and if anything tried to warp to our gate, it would get caught on our bubble, where I could also shoot it. The first few minutes were quiet, until a couple of blues came into the system. They warped to our gate and landed on our bubble. We didn't bother them, and watched as they began to burn back towards the gate.

"I think they're shooting our bubble," Mon whispered over comms.

"Tell them to stop," Aleks said from a system over.

"I did," Mon answered.

"Give them one last warning, then blow them out of the sky. I'm on my way,"

After a listen to the local chatter, it became apparent that the two blues were pretty drunk:

Nutmegpainter > F*** yo catch n**** f*** yo coutch!
MonwrathDisortium > Leave my bubble alone
Hallan Turrek > Hey!
Pistrik > yo
Hallan Turrek > Get off our bubble.
Nutmegpainter > olololololol
Nutmegpainter > RAPIER NEGAGED
Nutmegpainter > GET HIMMM

The annoying part about this was that the Rapier was a member of Noir Academy. They engaged it, sorta. The drake continued to lob missiles at our bubble as he burned towards the Rapier. It became apparent that we were going to have to end these guys. I decloaked, our Hound decloaked, and both of our Drakes engaged the unprepared blues. We primaried the Drake, and my torpedos ripped him apart. We turned our attention to the stunned Prophecy, and he also died in short order. We allowed their pods to go on their way, but they weren't done in local.

Nutmegpainter > WTF?!?!?
darkvadur > WOW GO F*** URSELF
darkvadur > F***IN PIEADE OF S***
darkvadur > F*** ALL OF U
Alekseyev Karrde > Don't shoot blues next time moron
Nutmegpainter > HAHA TAHNKS FOR DECLAIR WAR B****ESS
darkvadur > doucvhes
darkvadur > go f*** urself u f***in tools
Hallan Turrek tips his hat
darkvadur > ya look at ur stocmach u old fat f***
Alekseyev Karrde > Pro pilots, would shoot again.

Among the Stars Part 1/3

You come out at night
That's when the energy comes
And the dark side's light
And the vampires roam
Sarah McLachlan - Building a Mystery

I looked around the bedroom for a moment. A new temporary home. I seldomly missed being based in a single part of New Eden. Today it was a Sebiestor Tribe Bureau around planet nine in Eram. Somewhere in this station my Manticore sat in a hangar, waiting to be used.

Of course, the ringing next to my bed that woke me up hadn't stopped yet. I sat up and pressed the call button.

"Hallan, you awake yet?" My CEO's voice asked through the phone.

"Yeah," I muttered.

"Get your ass down to the hangar, we've got a null sec camp going already,"

"Alek, come on. This is R&R. I'm tired,"

"Alright, just thought you'd be interested. Hold on,"

The line went quiet, and I laid back down on the bed. After a few moments I was already drifting away again.

"Are you snoring?" Alek's voice came back on the line.

"What? No," I said with a snort as I shot back awake.

"Alright, I'm going to let you get some sleep. We've gotta get this Domination Warp Disruptor back to empire anyhow,"

I rolled my eyes and jumped out of bed, "Bringing a Manticore!"

_________________________

As I entered the hangar, I waved the techs off my ship, "Sir, we can't get all of your modules online," one of them said as he left for the control station.

"I know, I have to manage the powergrid a bit for them all to work," I'd answered.

Fortunately this new implant would manage that for me without my having to pay it any attention. Sooner or later I'd need to learn to handle the powergrid on my weapons a bit better, or keep using the implant. For now it worked, and that was the important part.

I walked up the ramp to my Manticore and closed it up. This was a new ship with an experimental fit. I walked into engineering to review the fittings once more. I squinted as the screen lit up with the information.

[Manticore, Ewar With Online Bomb Launcher]
Ballistic Control System I
F85 Peripheral Damage System I

Catalyzed Cold-Gas I Arcjet Thrusters
DDO Photometry Tracking Disruptor I
Parallel Weapon Navigation Transmitter
Low Frequency Sensor Suppressor I

'Malkuth' Siege Missile Launcher I, Caldari Navy Juggernaut Torpedo
'Malkuth' Siege Missile Launcher I, Caldari Navy Juggernaut Torpedo
'Malkuth' Siege Missile Launcher I, Caldari Navy Juggernaut Torpedo
Covert Ops Cloaking Device II
Bomb Launcher I, Concussion Bomb

Small Hydraulic Bay Thrusters I
Small Hydraulic Bay Thrusters I

"It all fits," I said to no one in particular. I was especially proud of the low cost, by aiming for slightly less than perfect equipment, I could build quite a few of these things.

From engineering I walked towards the pod room, passing by the bridge crew's bunks.

"Hey Cap, got a minute?" The Ewar officer asked me. The crew, my nav, weapon, and Ewar officers, were all new recruits. Given that I'd left my last crew with my ship in Pure Blind it was a bit difficult for them to help me now. I'd be coming back with a terrible vengeance for Maru Ka'ge sooner or later, but for now we were bringing our variety of mayhem down on the Legion of Death. Potato, Potahto.

"Yeah," I answered, stopping at the door.

"We just wanted to say how honored we are to be working for Noir," The other officers nodded behind him as he spoke.

"Yeah, me too," I said with a grin before moving down the corridor.

_________________________

I couldn't move much anymore. That was normal. Something flipped a switch in my consciousness and suddenly I was the ship. My nav officer had already requested undock clearance for me, "Good," I thought as I guided the ship through the newly opened hole in the roof.

In a few moments I was among the stars. I thought my cloak on, and my ship disappeared.

Continued in Part 2

Child's Play

Somebody save me,
Let your warm hands break right through it,
Somebody save me,
I don't care how you do it, just
Stay, stay
C'mon, I've been waiting for you
Remy Zero - Save Me

It is without much ado that I point you yet again(I did this a year ago...) towards Childsplay:

Christmas is next month. I thought I'd get this out before Thanksgiving. You know, before you start buying that holiday swag. Now I know it's been a tough year pretty much everywhere for people, but there's a charity run by the guys over at Penny Arcade. It's called Child's Play, and I can't think of a more noble cause to throw a few gaming bucks. They buy books, games, movies, and toys for kids in hospitals across the world.

Check it out.

Good Day

Vote for CSM

The only thing necessary for the triumph of evil is for good men to do nothing.
Edmund Burke

Let your voice be heard!

We're about halfway through the voting now, and I'm sure you've been keeping up with my interview series.

That said, I didn't get to interview everyone, so take a good hard look at the people that are running.

I'm not pushing one candidate or another, but I've already made my decision and voted.

Let your voice be heard!

Waiting on the Air

Come on, come on
Put your hands into the fire
Explain, explain
As I turn I meet the power
This time, this time
Turning white and senses dying
Pull up, pull up
From one extreme to another
Thirteen Senses - Into the Fire

Here's a funny thread.

Now

Hallan knocked twice on the door. He heard a shuffling inside but no one called out. He stepped back and nodded to the two heavily built men to his left. They moved forward and smashed their weight into the door, which then came crashing down. One of them fell with the door, and the other pulled a pistol from his side as a laser sight came out of the darkness and painted his forhead.

One silenced shot later, and the big man wasn't standing anymore. Hallan pulled his own pistol out and leveled it towards the assailant. Hallan let loose a few rounds into the couch that served as cover for the man, who flew backwards as his gun slid across the floor.

Hallan walked over to the man and grabbed him by the collar, "We need your passwords,"

The man spit blood into Hallan's face and smiled, "What're ya gonna do, kill me?"

"Not yet," Hallan said as his men filed into the room.

Five Days Ago

"Hey Alek, did you see that Tengu kill?" Hallan said with a grin as they walked down the corridor.

"Yeah," the Noir CEO answered as he chuckled, "But I saw that Ares loss too,"

The group of Noir pilots finally arrived at the Little Sister's Bar.

"Wait a minute," Nidia said, pausing at the door, "Is this a strip club?"

"I think so," Taram answered with a raised eyebrow.

"Fuck yes," Nidia replied.

"That girl ain't quite right," Hallan muttered.

_____________________

"Where the hell are they?" Alek said, looking at his watch.

"There," Hallan pointed at the door.

Alek stood up and walked towards the group that had gathered at the door, "Sickboy?"

The rest of the pilots began to drink and enjoy the show as the Maru Ka'ge CEO and Alek sat down at a table alone.

"Hey Eriskegal," Hallan said pointing at a particularly plump lady in the corner, "I think she's giving you the eye,"

"Fuck you Hallan," Erisk shot back with a laugh.

"I could get used to Pure Blind, plenty of kills, plenty of action," Oxana yelled over the music.

"Who would've thought the Sisters of Eve could be so accommodating?" Risu said as one of the dancers began to give him a private show.

Alek sat down at the table along with his pilots. His face flashed in anger as the Maru pilots began to leave.

"We've got a problem," He began.

Now

"Fuck," The man said as Hallan removed his gag, "TC8453Blue," Hallan nodded to a short man in glasses who was waiting near the door. The man and a few guards left immediately.

"That wasn't so hard, was it?" Hallan grinned as he put the knife down, "Unfortunately, I couldn't help but notice though you've got some expensive implants in that head of yours,"

"No!" He managed to get out as Hallan replaced the gag. Hallan pulled out his pistol and shot the man in the heart twice.

The man with glasses returned with a smile on his face, "We've cleared out his accounts," There was a pause as he observed the dead man in the chair, "Ok, I'll send some cleaners down here,"

"Yeah," Hallan added, "When his clone gets activated, we'll come back. Clear out the surveillance records and clean this mess up,"

"No problem,"

CSM Election Interview Series: Ashina Sito

Hallan Turrek > My name is Hallan Turrek from A Merry Life and a Short One. Today, I'm interviewing Ashina Sito.
Hallan Turrek > Hello Ashina!
Hallan Turrek > How're you doing?
Ashina Sito waves
Ashina Sito > hello
Ashina Sito > fine, you?
Hallan Turrek > I'm well. Lets dip into your platform here:
Hallan Turrek > Your platform seems to indicate a great interest in 0.0. Do you consider yourself primarily a null-sec PvPer?
Ashina Sito > Well, I do some High sec can flipping/ninja baiting
Hallan Turrek > What does that entail exactly?
Ashina Sito > My focus is on Introductery PvP for new players
Ashina Sito > well, with baiting
Ashina Sito > I have used on an alt a mining bait vexor
Ashina Sito > mining into a jet can to attract flippers
Ashina Sito > moved up to a Hulk later
Hallan Turrek nods
Ashina Sito > she went 18 and 0 in it
Hallan Turrek > You said your focus is on introductory PVP?
Ashina Sito > yes
Hallan Turrek > You mean introductory PvP in 0.0 for new players?
Ashina Sito > That is correct
Hallan Turrek > You believe then that 0.0 is the best place to learn PvP?
Ashina Sito > Well, the reason for the focus on 0.0 PvP is simple
Ashina Sito > no kill rights
Ashina Sito > I trian up new pilots, yougest ever to go into 0.0 was playing for 5 hours
Hallan Turrek > You believe that kill rights are a barrier normally to those wishing to learn combat?
Ashina Sito > if you go and gank someoen in low sec as a newbiw you could be in trouble
Ashina Sito > Not if you go to 0.0 =D
Hallan Turrek > So is that something you'd like to see changed?
Ashina Sito > Not at all
Ashina Sito > well
Ashina Sito > transferable kill rights should be done
Hallan Turrek > What do you mean?
Ashina Sito > well, lets say I kill you in low sec
Ashina Sito > but your not skilled enough, as a pilot or a player, to take advantage of that kill right in high sec
Ashina Sito > the ability for you to hire aonther pilot to attack me woudl allow you some revenge
Hallan Turrek nods
Ashina Sito > it would give Anit- pirates somethign to do.
Hallan Turrek > I didn't see that in your platform. Is that an addition?
Ashina Sito > no, your questions brought it up
Hallan Turrek > So it's not something you feel you'd push for?
Ashina Sito > push, no. Back yes.
Hallan Turrek > Lets talk about the "Incubator Systems" your platform mentions.
Hallan Turrek > What is an "Incubator System"?
Ashina Sito > many stations. with most if not all the usefull services.
Hallan Turrek > You believe the current regions such as Syndicate are insufficent?
Ashina Sito > yes
Hallan Turrek > How so?
Ashina Sito > There is not enough space, that simply
Ashina Sito > there does not need to be a lot, but there is room for some more regions like syndicate
Hallan Turrek > That's a requirement for good 0.0 PvP?
Ashina Sito > it does no good to have a base 14 jumps from the nearest clone bay
Ashina Sito > no, good populations
Ashina Sito > more players, more PvP, more PvP more fun
Hallan Turrek > So a combination of factors then?
Ashina Sito > correct
Ashina Sito > clones, manufacturing and hopefully good refining
Ashina Sito > then anyone, player, corp or alliance can come out and test teh waters
Ashina Sito > after a time, tehy will move on. Ether back to high/low sec
Ashina Sito > or into Player Sov space
Ashina Sito > hopefully with Dominion there will be room for them
Hallan Turrek > So then what would you do to solve the problems of 0.0 PvP?
Ashina Sito > Well, that is an impossable question to answer atm
Ashina Sito > Dominion is so close
Ashina Sito > it will change everything
Hallan Turrek > Does that mean your platform is changing as well?
Ashina Sito > What I can say is that I will use my skills and knowladge as well as principles to make sure that I attemt to make things out there as balanced as possable
Hallan Turrek nods
Hallan Turrek > Lets move onto non-0.0 related issues then.
Ashina Sito > ok
Hallan Turrek > Do you believe that ECM is broken in it's current form?
Ashina Sito > Ether ECCM or ECM is broken
Hallan Turrek > Either?
Ashina Sito > since I have expreiance on both sides I woudl say that ECCM needs some help
Hallan Turrek nods
Hallan Turrek > What kind of help are you proposing?
Ashina Sito > The boosting of the ECCM Module by 50-100% and/or the addition of ECCM rigs
Hallan Turrek > So you'd make ECM counterable with just one module?
Ashina Sito > Not really, just give the chance for an ECCM fitted ship to not get jammed rather then soak up jammers and still get jammed. If that makes sence.
Hallan Turrek > You'd rather see a ship with ECCM not get jammed instead of requiring more ECM to jam?
Ashina Sito > Not quite. ECCM should not be a free pass. But in my experience an overheated ECCM BS can still be jammed more then not
Ashina Sito > I woudl like to slide the jam free time to the ECCM ship a bit more then it is now
Hallan Turrek > And that would include doubling the ECCM boost?
Ashina Sito > 50-100% yes, mabe less if CCP added ECCM rigs which would be a great addition
Hallan Turrek > When you say that, you mean all ECCM modules, Passive and Active?
Ashina Sito > I would say all. But don't get stuck on the ammonth of the change. The idea is less a number and more of a concept. A few more jam free cycles for that ECCM fitted ship. At that poijnt I thing that ECM would be well balanced
Hallan Turrek > So your platform seems to indicate that you're unhappy with the way drones currently perform. What are the main problems?
Ashina Sito > they get wilder with every passing year
Ashina Sito > currently the biggest issue is that they will go to an assigned target, then wander off to another target. So you reassign, and they do it again, and again, and again.
Ashina Sito > They still do not stay in a groups
Ashina Sito > group
Hallan Turrek > So you'd propose that they not do that then?
Ashina Sito > correct. They worked well for a while there but sicne Apocrypha they have gone a little bonkers
Hallan Turrek > You platform includes a section on cloaking as well. What does "decloaking friendlies" mean?
Ashina Sito > if one cloaked ship flys within 2km of another firendly cloaked ship they will decloak eachother.
Ashina Sito > This is most problematic with recon/bomber gangs
Hallan Turrek > You'd like that to be less likely to happen or you'd like it not to happen?
Ashina Sito > Movemnt and set up become very difficult
Ashina Sito > It should not happen
Hallan Turrek > What would your solution be exactly?
Ashina Sito never has flone in a cloaker gang... flies with too many noobliets
Ashina Sito > Simplest fix is to make it so friendly cloaked ships do not decloak eachother
Ashina Sito > if that is simple coding wise I do not know
Hallan Turrek nods
Hallan Turrek > You're also proposing to fix the Directional scanner, can you tell me how?
Ashina Sito > Adding an AU or KM option to the directional scanner. Reducing the recalibration from scanning to 1 second from the current 2 seonds. A "cllick to select" instead of click and drag" ability to the angle when using the directional scanner.
Ashina Sito > 3 elements lifted from my CSM blog
Ashina Sito > AU KM conversion is annoying
Hallan Turrek > It sounds like you'd redesign the directional scanner entirely.
Ashina Sito > not really, add a switch for the AU KM
Ashina Sito > the "drag" angle aspect is a real change
Ashina Sito > and peopel are begging for the recalibration timer to be lifted
Hallan Turrek nods
Ashina Sito > In all fairness, those 3 are on the CSM table currently, I left them on as my planks to show people my prepective on things
Hallan Turrek > Besides what we've talked about, what is the number one issue that you'd push for as a CSM member?
Ashina Sito > More monster trucks on space?
Ashina Sito > sorry.... CSM related joke
Hallan Turrek > I see.
Ashina Sito > Tough question.
Ashina Sito > Mabe the removal of insurance for CONCORD related losses
Hallan Turrek > You believe that insurance is broken now?
Ashina Sito > depends on how you look at it
Ashina Sito > but suicide ganking is still cheap and easy
Hallan Turrek > And it shouldn't be, in your opinion?
Ashina Sito > also, if some poor pod pilot gets CONCORDed shooting their friend on accident, they will learn the lesson well if they do not get insurnace
Ashina Sito > In a nut shell, yes. Suicide ganking is too cheap.
Ashina Sito > a couple of thorax's that cost a 3-5 million after insuracen to take out a stationary Hulk mining in high sec
Ashina Sito > Risk Reward, the ganker has no risk and recieves all the reward
Ashina Sito > It's why I take such joy in killing can flippers and ninja's
Hallan Turrek > Are there any links you'd like published with the interview?
Ashina Sito > My Jita Park CSM canidate announcment http://www.eveonline.com/ingameboard.asp?a=topic&threadID=1206974
Ashina Sito > that has a link to my Blog in it
Hallan Turrek nods
Hallan Turrek > Alright then, it was nice talking to you.
Hallan Turrek > I appreciate your time.
Ashina Sito > your welcome, and thak you for your time as well
Hallan Turrek nods

Discussing the New Sov Mechanics

Well you've GOT to have an opinion.
Vincent Vega - Pulp Fiction

Costs

It will cost at least 2 billion a month to keep sovereignty in a fully upgraded system. That seems like the most important change. It will force 0.0 alliances to shrink their empires. This can only be good. More unclaimed space means more alliances will take that space. They may not fully upgrade it, but they'll own it and use it.

If you're willing to skimp on the extras(Cyno Jammers and Jump Bridges) you can hold sov for less than a billion a month. This is a much more feasible concept. If you just want to claim a system and that's all, it's only 600 million a month.

These are easily attainable numbers for small but active alliances. Even moreso once they've taken a system and have started to use it. The numbers are not concrete either, and I would wager they'll go down before the go up.

So the empires shrink, and more people crowd into more systems. Negative effects of course include cloakers(like myself) AFKing in a system and putting a hundred people out of work for a while.

Cool.

Upgrades

So now you can upgrade a system. You'll see more mining sites, hacking sites, archaeology sites, gas sites, DED Plexes, Anomalies, and even wormholes when you upgrade your system. I predict the prices on quite a few things will crash over the next year as the items begin to flood the market. I won't mind.

Also included in this is "forced activity". If you're not using your upgrades fully, you lose them. This is a great idea in theory, but it mainly means you won't be wasting money on upgrades you're not using.

Conclusion

I believe alliances that are used to owning multiple regions will be most opposed to this change. Obviously they'd be interested in keeping costs down. To those of us that are not in sovereignty holding alliances though, this is a boon the likes of which we will never get again. I hope to make good use of it. What about you?

Sov Mechanics Dev Blog

This is a pretty full read. I'll discuss it tomorrow after reading some of your comments on it.

Do you have an opinion? Worse, better? Post here.

Pirate Missions are Broken

Don't think, sorry's easily said
Don't try, turning tables instead
You've taken lots of chances before
But I ain't gonna give any more
The Alan Parson's Project - Eye in the Sky

They're hard to run. I mean that's the easiest thing to say is wrong with them. Any amount of mission running tends to break your faction with pirates pretty badly. Once it's below a certain point, that's it. Added to that is the fact that if you don't control the 0.0 that they're held in, you're out of luck.

How would I fix it? Add Double Agents into the game. These would be agents with the opposing factions of the pirates. A Caldari double agent, for example, would give you either Caldari or Guristas missions. The agents would only offer you the missions once you'd acquired a certain personal standing with them. You'd have the choice to pick either mission type. You'd also still have to trek to 0.0 for the LP rewards.

I also think it would be pretty fun to have that added depth into the game.

What do you think?

The X is for Awesome.

Allow me to tell you about a fellow called Danny X. This is a member of my corp who has Carte Blanche to do whatever the hell he wants. I'm going to show you why.

First, he kills a retriever in a reaper. In a wormhole. And he gets the pod.

Then, he comes back hours later, and steals a Drake their industrial pilot has ejected from literally right next to them, and then kills two more retrievers with it.

Then he tags along on a Noir Academy roam and manages to net them this kill.

What's worse is that the guys in the corp aren't even that impressed by this kind of thing anymore. I just hear them laugh and say "Oh yeah. That's just Danny for ya,".

I stand in awe.

CSM Election Interview Series: Jonathan Dawnchaser

Hallan Turrek > My name is Hallan Turrek from A Merry Life and a Short One. Today, I'm interviewing Jonathan Dawnchaser.
Hallan Turrek > How are you doing Jonathan?
Jonathan Dawnchaser > Great
Jonathan Dawnchaser > Only a little nervous entering the wider stage of New Eden
Hallan Turrek > Heh, it can be daunting.
Hallan Turrek > Lets get right to it, what out of game experience do you have that you think qualifies you for the position of CSM?
Jonathan Dawnchaser > One moment, I am trying to think of how to best answer that
Hallan Turrek nods
Jonathan Dawnchaser > I am a graduate student pursuing a degree in computer science, and while my focus isn't on MMO design I am familiar with the scalability issues MMOs have to address. This gives me insight into how new features effect existing products.
Jonathan Dawnchaser > My focus is on Network Security (Data Integrity, Confidentiality, and Authentication).
Jonathan Dawnchaser > Aside from my academic career, I also have experience in mediation, something I think would be useful when trying to bring disparate groups together to accomplish something.
Hallan Turrek nods
Hallan Turrek > And ingame?
Jonathan Dawnchaser > I have spent the last nine months in the School of Applied Knowledge, learning the game and then fostering other new players that I have seen first hand how ill prepared many new players are for the barrage of information presented to them.
Jonathan Dawnchaser > Today alone, I have helped five new players (some that spent less than an hour in their school corp before being scooped into a player corp that doesn't teach them anything) through some of the hardest "starter" content.
Hallan Turrek > Alright. It seems from your answer and your platform that new content and the new game experiance would be the focus of your time on the CSM, would that be a correct assumption?
Jonathan Dawnchaser > It would be part of it
Jonathan Dawnchaser > We all have heard about the new 11% tax that is going to be placed on the rookie corporations. I think it is only fair that some measure of aggression sharing also be included (obviously not immediately, but eventually).
Hallan Turrek > It seems from your platform so far that would be the only focus, am I missing something?
Jonathan Dawnchaser > If you do a word find for "Aggro sharing across fleets" you will find this
Hallan Turrek > I understand that, but that seems to be a much bigger issue for rookie corps than the normal corps.
Jonathan Dawnchaser > Yes, I'm sorry, were you including "rookie corps" under "new game experience"?
Hallan Turrek > I do, generally.
Hallan Turrek > Most would, who weren't in a rookie corp really.
Jonathan Dawnchaser > I think the new game experience is very important to the life of Eve Online
Hallan Turrek nods
Hallan Turrek > There's nothing wrong with that, but I'm just asking if that is to be your primary focus.
Jonathan Dawnchaser > MMOs live and die by how new players take to a game. And for Eve, the first few days (if not moments) seem to be the most important. A player that has readily available advice is less frustrated and enjoys the game more.
Jonathan Dawnchaser > Yes, my primary focus is on the new player experience
Hallan Turrek nods
Hallan Turrek > So what's the most important thing you think needs changed?
Jonathan Dawnchaser > I think a "primer" would help.
Jonathan Dawnchaser > the tutorials are nice and all, if you figure out which part you need to read
Jonathan Dawnchaser > I don't remember reading anywhere when I first started that "Right Click" was one of the three "easy" buttons of Eve.
Hallan Turrek > So then, you'd include a basic tutorial on that?
Jonathan Dawnchaser > I am not sure it has to go that far
Hallan Turrek > What would you do then?
Jonathan Dawnchaser > maybe just a page that can be loaded in the forth coming improved in game browser that has a bullet point list of tips
Hallan Turrek nods
Jonathan Dawnchaser > Sometimes simple is better
Jonathan Dawnchaser > a list allows a user to go through text instead of tabbing through a tutorial hoping they are in the right one
Hallan Turrek > For arguments sake, couldn't you make that page and try to spread it around?
Jonathan Dawnchaser > I did
Jonathan Dawnchaser > I used it have my bio dedicated to that, but current needs have forced me to repurpose it.
Jonathan Dawnchaser > But I am in the process of coding a page to have those tips
Hallan Turrek nods
Jonathan Dawnchaser > It comes down to visibility. Most people that know of these lists, don't need them.
Hallan Turrek nods
Hallan Turrek > Moving on to your mining ideas.
Jonathan Dawnchaser > The one thing I want for mining is more interactivity.
Hallan Turrek > You support locking bigger ships out of newbie systems? Or are you for creating new systems for newbies only?
Jonathan Dawnchaser > I think that cruisers, mining barges, exhumers, etc have no place in a Tutorial System's belts
Hallan Turrek > Wouldn't that be meta-gaming for a game that does everything by RP rules?
Jonathan Dawnchaser > It would be metagaming, but there are ways to justify it in game. Shrink the gates going into the stations.
Jonathan Dawnchaser > sorry shrink the gates going into the systems.
Jonathan Dawnchaser > There are so many systems in eve that using those systems is like a slap in the face to new players
Jonathan Dawnchaser > but that is just a small part of mining
Jonathan Dawnchaser > The main thing I think mining as a whole needs is more interactivity.
Hallan Turrek > You'd like normal space to be more like wormhole space?
Jonathan Dawnchaser > Partially
Jonathan Dawnchaser > And not necessarily
Jonathan Dawnchaser > Right now a miner: Undocks, warps to a belt (or bookmark), gets into range, cycles the lasers, docks to unload, and repeats
Jonathan Dawnchaser > Or some variation
Jonathan Dawnchaser > But mainly that is it, it isn't fun
Hallan Turrek nods
Hallan Turrek > But in your system he would...
Jonathan Dawnchaser > I think including explorations, which admitably take longer to perform, would mix things up a bit
Jonathan Dawnchaser > For example, let's say a current miner takes 10 units of time to mine 100 units of minerals
Hallan Turrek nods
Jonathan Dawnchaser > I see no problem with a new system that required 5 units of time to find ore that yielded the same 100 units of minerals given 5 units of mining (essentially this ore yields twice as much).
Jonathan Dawnchaser > Perhaps the exploration method yields a slight advantage (110 to 100) to make it worthwhile.
Jonathan Dawnchaser > But overall the current method of going to known belt beacons suspends my belief in the Eve World.
Jonathan Dawnchaser > These sources of great potential wealth are known but aren't controlled?
Hallan Turrek nods
Hallan Turrek > Alright, so moving on to the rookie corp extensions then. What were your plans?
Jonathan Dawnchaser > Eve is a very social game
Jonathan Dawnchaser > and I know that in real life I made some of my best friends in college
Hallan Turrek > So you'd like to expand that social aspect?
Jonathan Dawnchaser > A character's School Corporation (their first rookie corp) is sort of like their college
Jonathan Dawnchaser > and joining a player corporation means leaving that behind
Jonathan Dawnchaser > yes you can make a public or private chat channel, but then it has to get spread around
Jonathan Dawnchaser > and as veterans leave a school corp it means they can't share their experience with new players
Jonathan Dawnchaser > I believe in CCP's vision for 0.0 and player corporations, but I think that if there isn't a way for people to pass on what they learn, Eve could never evolve into CCP's "Emergent" Vision.
Hallan Turrek nods
Hallan Turrek > So you said you'd like to see aggro shared across fleets. Did something specific make you decide that was important?
Jonathan Dawnchaser > Yes
Jonathan Dawnchaser > There are many ways to "wage" PvP in this game, and the one seen most in high sec is commonly referred to as "baiting."
Hallan Turrek nods
Jonathan Dawnchaser > The big problem I have with baiting is the inequity of the situation. The baiter has a disparate amount of control of the situation.
Jonathan Dawnchaser > The baiter can decide to only target rookie corp members (and often do so) because they guarantee an isolated target.
Hallan Turrek > Do you mean can flipping?
Jonathan Dawnchaser > I am talking about "can flipping" or looting someone else's wreck
Jonathan Dawnchaser > Baiting with the aggression timer.
Jonathan Dawnchaser > the target can engage or not, but whatever they choose they are alone if they are in a rookie corp
Jonathan Dawnchaser > but if the baiter is in a player corp, it could be a situation of a gang verse 1.
Jonathan Dawnchaser > That doesn't seem fair to me.
Jonathan Dawnchaser > If a baiter can have a gang waiting just at warp distance, I feel the target should be able to share the aggression timer with their fleet.
Hallan Turrek nods
Jonathan Dawnchaser > This would also address other issues in Eve
Hallan Turrek > Like what?
Jonathan Dawnchaser > such as:- Suicide Ganking- Transitioning players into pvp
Jonathan Dawnchaser > Right now the typical suicide ganking strategy is:1. Wave tries to kill the target before concord gets them.2. An alt warps in to loot/salvage
Jonathan Dawnchaser > That alt is normally in the fleet with the gank squad, if the gank squad hit a small fleet, maybe the hauler is dead, but the others could intervene to stop the looting of the hauler.
Jonathan Dawnchaser > That seems much more in line with the conventions Concord espouses in the context of Eve's story
Hallan Turrek > Then they leave the alt out of the fleet.
Jonathan Dawnchaser > Alt still gives aggro when looting the hauler
Hallan Turrek > That happens now, you want concord to stop them?
Jonathan Dawnchaser > Right now, the aggression window is given to the person that is looted
Jonathan Dawnchaser > That person is usually in a pod at that point
Jonathan Dawnchaser > If the pilot is in a player corporation their corp mates get a window
Jonathan Dawnchaser > This change would also make outsourcing escort duty a possibility in high sec
Jonathan Dawnchaser > as those fleeted with the hauler would get aggression windows
Jonathan Dawnchaser > This change wouldn't stop the alt from looting the dead gank ships or salvaging anything, but it would help protect the cargo of the victimized party
Jonathan Dawnchaser > in fact it doesn't stop the alt from looting anything
Hallan Turrek nods
Jonathan Dawnchaser > it just allows the attacked party (in this case the escorts) the option to fight back.
Hallan Turrek nods
Hallan Turrek > Alright, what's the most important thing you want to see changed in Eve?
Jonathan Dawnchaser > I think Aggression Timer sharing is the top of the list
Hallan Turrek nods
Hallan Turrek > Any links you'd like published in this interview?
Jonathan Dawnchaser > Just my JPSC announcement thread.
Hallan Turrek > It was nice talking to you Jonathan. Good luck in your bid.
Jonathan Dawnchaser > Thank you Hallan, I appreciate the time you spent listening
Hallan Turrek nods
Jonathan Dawnchaser > Fly safe. o/

The Non-Interview

So sometimes people contact me for interviews without any preparation. I've decided to troll anyone that does that to me again.

Hallan Turrek > Howdy.
Z0D > morning HAllan
Z0D > Eva told me i should talk to you
Hallan Turrek > About?
Z0D > CSM
Hallan Turrek > Aha. I am indeed the person to talk to about interviews on that.
Z0D > its a first for me on that part :))
Hallan Turrek laughs
Hallan Turrek > I'll need a link to your platform.
Z0D > been more in the back of Take Care as an advisor
Z0D > a link to my platform?
Hallan Turrek nods
Hallan Turrek > What you're for, what you're against. What you plan to do.
Hallan Turrek > I don't do interviews unless you have a well defined platform posted somewhere.
Z0D > like what i stand for etc, the different points etc?
Hallan Turrek > Yes. That.
Z0D > k, will need to work on that and put it through the take care web site as well as prepare a campain thread for the Jita speak corner
Hallan Turrek > Well, lets cover some basics.
Z0D > kk
Hallan Turrek > Are reinforced bulkheads overpowered?
Hallan Turrek > If so, how would you fix them?
Z0D > well everything has been so tweaked compared to a few years via stacking and some more severely than others, but defitively it has removed the abiliuty as in the past to move ships at insane speeds to put more people whatever the ships are to a more
Z0D > similar speeds, i find and that smy opinion that like overdrive mods that a lot of those affect the stats in ways that i think don't totally rely to their initial module goal
Z0D > deftivrely by adding structure maximum velocity is reduced, but 11% in that sense should be different and more take longer to acheive the same maximum velocity rather than simply reduce the max speed
Z0D > on T2 mod for example
Hallan Turrek > I've heard alot of talk lately about the Bantam being boosted, are you in support of those changes?
Z0D > the real base stats of some of those basic ships could receivce a liltle help help new players starting a biut more when they are in their initial starting phase and in trials etc
Z0D > help help --> love...
Hallan Turrek > What do you plan to do in Iceland?
Z0D > well, that would be to help push ideas and players issues so they can actually become realities in the future, lots of things in the game are either not enough or too much or in other case simply don't make any senses
Hallan Turrek nods
Z0D > and an example on that the very CVA incident that just happened....
Z0D > how do we go as a CEO or Director go about taking 24 hours to expell a member from corp... but can instantly kick all corps out of alliance and close alliance with a single click with no votes of any kind.....
Hallan Turrek > Someone told me that they were going to give us more snowballs this Christmas, that's pretty cool right?
Z0D > hehe alwayts cool to do some cold damage :))
Z0D > i was at the last Fanfest (my first) was some great fun and met some people i did not know in game and made some new ones, was surprised at how cold it was for even just early October
Hallan Turrek nods
Z0D > Defitively want to go back through :))
Hallan Turrek > You get laid out there?
Z0D > with the beer lol! lots of it , first 3 days slept maybe 8 hours...
Z0D > was there 6 days, 3 days fanfest and 3 extra days to visit some of Iceland, felt for me when arriving like arriving on another planet literally
Hallan Turrek > Do you support the addition of beer to eve?
Z0D > well in station.. would be interesting to be able to fly around and run and do stuff while under the influence and get attributes modidied in a drunken way by it.....
Z0D > and also as items... with spiced wine and the likes, item wise...
Hallan Turrek > Are you the guy that brought down CVA?
Z0D > nope lol!
Hallan Turrek > Liar!
Hallan Turrek > How'd you do it?
Z0D > in a legal way, in long con, i would have been a good corp member, helping everyone and work the ladder until i get the right roles then with access plan asset transfer to maximise the possible gains to the max... then if in excecutor corp, kick every
Z0D > corp out then close the alliance as now, as well as kick as many players with no roles of any kind to cause the maximum damage possible
Hallan Turrek > I knew it was you!
Hallan Turrek > Why'd you do it?
Z0D > hehe i did not do it and out of many alliances out there, its the most unlikely deserving to have some like that especially in such a way done to yourself in such an easy way, its wrong the way it is now, and as a CEO myself and also head of my alliance
Z0D > i know the feeling of how easy it is to do, its way to easy to create such damage as a single person without any forced and mandatory voting system to stop it from happening
Hallan Turrek > Alright I'm gonna come clean with ya. This was a joke interview. If you'd like a real one, follow my instructions at the start of this conversation. Get a platform and contact me then. Thanks for the interest.
Z0D > np

To his credit, he took well.

CVA: Disbanded and Restored

Could turn out to be talking out my ass, but I'm hearing down the grapevine that CVA will be restored after downtime today. For those of you that missed it, CVA was disbanded today by a director of their executor alliance.

I maintain that if the person disbanding the alliance was the owner of the account, it should remain dead. However if the person that disbanded the alliance was not the owner of the account, and was instead some random person who figured out a password, then the Alliance should be restored. It's that simple.

You're going to hear a lot of people soon say that CCP has a double standard between BoB and CVA. That's wrong, as it's two different situations. We all know for damn sure if BoB had been disbanded by someone hacking an account, it would've been restored. It was instead disbanded under existing mechanics by a player who was unhappy with his place in the alliance. If CVA is restored, and it's because an account was hacked, I say good job CCP.

That being said, can someone, anyone really start really pushing CCP to fix this problem(the ease in which an alliance is disbanded)? It's not wrong to use the mechanics as they are currently, but god they're broken.

I leave you with this update from RIGHT NOW:

Boppi - CCP has reacted to CVAs petition, the official answer is in their internal forums.

CVA will be restored before downtime.

Hardin- While this is what we have been led to believe it would be unwise of us (or anyone) to count any chickens at this stage.

Whether the 'restore' happens or not I would from a personal perspective like to thank everyone who has expressed their support either in these forums, other forums or in game. It is sometimes hard to be enthused about RPing 'Amarrian space police' particularly when confronted with a never ending stream of diplomatic headaches and whinage, so it is really cool to see that some people actually appreciate what CVA has tried to build in Provi (even if from our perspective some of it is for the wrong reasons - 'you are good target practice'

Anyway, while I know this is CAOD (and as such this is kind of a stupid request), I would suggest people dial down the speculation for a bit. We will make another statement when we are 100% sure on what has happened and what CCP is (or isnt) doing to correct things.

Thanks.

Not gonna lie, they ARE good target practice.


Update: CVA is indeed restored. Kudos to CCP.

EVE Blog Banter #13: Fatal Rabbit

Welcome to the thirteenth installment of the EVE Blog Banter, the monthly EVE Online blogging extravaganza created by CrazyKinux. The EVE Blog Banter involves an enthusiastic group of gaming bloggers, a common topic within the realm of EVE Online, and a week to post articles pertaining to the said topic. The resulting articles can either be short or quite extensive, either funny or dead serious, but are always a great fun to read! Any questions about the EVE Blog Banter should be directed here. Check out other EVE Blog Banter articles at the bottom of this post!

The first banter of this 2nd year of EVE Blog Banters comes to us fromZargyl from A Sebiestor Scholar, who asked the following: On the EVE Fanfest 2009 page are pictures of prizes for the Silent Auction that was held during the event. One of these photos was entitled “Design your own EVE mission”. My question now would be what kind of mission would you write if you got that prize? What would the mission be about? Would it be one using the new system of epic mission arks? What would be the story told by it? Feel free to expand upon his questions and put together your very own mission!

"Hallan! We were looking for you," Orvyllerier Allerande, Guristas Agent, said with a smile, "We've got a problem. The Cartel came for a visit a few days back," Hallan leaned onto Orvy's desk and grinned. Orvy continued to speak, "Yeah, don't smile, we had our fleet dealing with a fucking 0.0 alliance, and they managed to get some troops onto the station before we called the fleet back to deal with it,"

"Ok," Hallan started, "So what, you want advice on how not to get fucked in the ass now?"

"Shut the fuck up. They left us a message," Orvy rolled his eyes and picked up a datapad, "This mission comes straight from the Rabbit. You already know that fucking with the old man can be hard on your health, but Rabbit is a close second when he's angry," Orvy hit some keys on the datapad and handed it to Hallan.

Hallan tried to suppress a laugh as he looked at the image, "Not exactly subtle is it?"

"No it ain't," Orvy cleared his throat and continued to speak, "I've already uploaded the location of the nearest Cartel fleet. Go out and give them a message from us. Make sure it isn't subtle either,"

"They wasted a fleet and what I imagine was a fairly large boarding party just to leave this message?" Hallan said with a raised eyebrow.

"Hey, I never said they were smart. Get out there and don't come back until you've killed some members of the Cartel,"

"No problem,"

CrazyKinux's Musing - Your Mission, should you decide to accept it...

Zen and the Art of Internet Spaceship Maintenance - First Blood

The Elitist - Guristas Invasion

The Wandering Druid of Tranquility - ...It's another episode of Design Star: EVE Style...

Level Cap -Epic Battles

Roc's Ramblings - The Cave of Time

Aether - Teach a man to fish...

Inner Sanctum of the Ninveah - Mission: Tangled Webs

Adventures in Mission Running - I can haz spaceship?

Nuke Thoughts - EVE Blog Banter 13

Diary of a Pod Pilot - Distressing The Damsel

Guns Ablaze - Dynamic Missions

Achernar - Confidential Report

CSM Election Interview Series: Alekseyev Karrde

Hallan Turrek > My name is Hallan Turrek from A Merry Life and a Short One. Today, I'm interviewing Alekseyev Karrde.
Hallan Turrek > Hello Aleks, how are you doing?
Alekseyev Karrde > I am doing mighty well, thanks
Alekseyev Karrde > yourself?
Hallan Turrek > I'm good.
Hallan Turrek > Lets get this out of the way:
Hallan Turrek > Full disclosure, Alekseyev Karrde is my CEO.
Hallan Turrek > And a real hardass, just FYI.
Alekseyev Karrde > :)
Hallan Turrek > What personal experience do you have that qualifies you for the CSM?
Alekseyev Karrde > I have a degree in international relations and am currently getting a masters in information science. I have significant experience working in groups, traveling internationally, and working with groups made up of many nationalities. Coupled with my ingame experience I think this makes me a strong candidate
Hallan Turrek > So then what ingame experience do you have that qualifies you for the CSM?
Alekseyev Karrde > I've been part of an industrial/pvp antipirate corp as a grunt and as a leader, military director of a small landholding 0.0 alliance, and for over a year and I half I've been CEO, contract manager, and regular FC of Noir. one of EVE's top merc corps
Hallan Turrek > Lets dip right into your platform shall we? What among the items you've chosen to give your attention to would you consider the most important?
Alekseyev Karrde > I'd like to think it's the level of firmness people expect from their CSM reps
Hallan Turrek > Could you expand on what you mean by firmness? Is that honesty?
Alekseyev Karrde > I'd call it an unwillingness to compromise on ones principles
Alekseyev Karrde > I hold myself and those in my corp to a high standard and I don't settle for less
Hallan Turrek > Anyone in particular on the CSM you believe has compromised on their principles?
Alekseyev Karrde > Can't compromise what you don't have I suppose
Hallan Turrek > You're referring to Larkonis then?
Alekseyev Karrde > Pretty much. I don't have any issue with Lark personally, we've been friends and foes. But I do disagree with how he conducted himself as a csm candidate both in the AT7 scamming incident and the eventual insider trading which spurred his resignation
Hallan Turrek > So then you support CCP's recent decision to disallow his candidacy for CSM 4?
Alekseyev Karrde > absolutely
Hallan Turrek > Do you think he should've been permabanned?
Alekseyev Karrde > Honestly no, I think permabanning would've been a little harsh
Hallan Turrek > So you think you could bring something to the CSM that it currently lacks?
Alekseyev Karrde > If elected, I'd be the only mercenary corp representative so bare minimum it'd be a fresh viewpoint
Alekseyev Karrde > I also think that my role as a merc ceo gives me an insight into the many facets of EVE PVP and buisness competition concepts which can give me a more holistic view of changes to PVP, space, and the economy
Hallan Turrek nods
Hallan Turrek > So you're running as a Mercenary candidate then?
Alekseyev Karrde > I won't hide from labels, especially if they aren't wrong, but I'm not the merc candidate or pvp candidate, I'm the best candidate
Alekseyev Karrde > I consider improving the GM department, promoting relevance of small gang warfare post Dominion, removing price ceilings and floors, and improving corporate management tools to be the bulk of my platform.
Alekseyev Karrde > I have something in my platform for CEOs of all stripes, PVPers of all sec levels, wormholers, and industrialists
Hallan Turrek > More on the economy then. You've said you have a distaste for price floors and ceilings, how would you address the problem?
Alekseyev Karrde > I want to identify and eliminate all npc sell orders which can be refined into minerals and I want to remove the insurance payouts for self destruction and CONCORD deaths
Alekseyev Karrde > I know I won't get all of it, especially that first one, but I will try to make the market as free and open for competition as CCP is willing to allow
Hallan Turrek > Would that solve the insurance problem? Can't people just have a corpmate kill them?
Alekseyev Karrde > It won't solve it, no. But I'm hopeful it will help reduce the impact insurance currently has as a price floor
Hallan Turrek nods
Hallan Turrek > Lets talk about PvP then, what's the most important issue on your platform with regards to combat?
Alekseyev Karrde > ensuring the changes to Dominion actually do empower small roaming gangs like CCP has advertised
Alekseyev Karrde > and if they really don't give AF a 4th bonus, getting AFs their fourth bonus so they stop being the Pinocchio of T2
Hallan Turrek > You believe then, that AF's are underpowered?
Alekseyev Karrde > I believe that they are the only tech 2 ships in the game with 3 bonuses instead of 4 and that people still look to the Taranis over the Enyo when they want a frigate blaster boat
Alekseyev Karrde > It doesn't have to be AB speed boost, but they clearly need something to compete or even better DIFFERENTIATE themselves from combat interceptors
Hallan Turrek > How would you fix them then?
Alekseyev Karrde > I'd add race appropriate bonuses to give each ship a little bit of a different flavor while fixing their shortcomings/giving them a new edge
Hallan Turrek > Like that?
Hallan Turrek > Give me a few examples.
Alekseyev Karrde > k. Enyo: second damage bonus
Alekseyev Karrde > Ishkur: 10% drone hitpoints and/or speed
Hallan Turrek > Any concepts in mind for something that isn't Gallente?
Alekseyev Karrde > heheh
Alekseyev Karrde > Retri: 5% rof
Alekseyev Karrde > Vengeance: 5% rocket rate of fire
Alekseyev Karrde > I'm not a dev tho, these numbers will need testing
Hallan Turrek nods
Alekseyev Karrde > the AB boost was a great idea but it overpowered some ships and I knew it probably wouldnt make it through
Hallan Turrek > Lets move on, you've talked a bit about changes you'd like to see to ECM, what's the main problem with it right now?
Alekseyev Karrde > Because of the mechanic that one ECM module can completely disable an enemy ship for 20s it is overpowered vs other ECM and leads to a frustrating gameplay experience
Hallan Turrek > You'd fix that how?
Alekseyev Karrde > I'd bring them in line with the burst and ecm drone mechanic where it just breaks lock or I'd at least reduce the duration from 20seconds activation/lockprevention to 10s
Alekseyev Karrde > 5s would also work ^^
Hallan Turrek > So you'd like to see them with reduced time of jamming? Any compensation for it on the ECM pilot's side, or do you advocate a straight nerf?
Alekseyev Karrde > Reduced jam time is partnered with reduced duration
Alekseyev Karrde > the idea is to get more attempts in so instead of being blocked out of an enjoyable fight for a big chunk of time there's more chance for failure of not eccm'd and success from their side in terms of ships which are eccmd
Hallan Turrek > Won't that have a seriously adverse affect on ships with slow lock times?
Alekseyev Karrde > yeah, it may
Hallan Turrek > And you're alright with that?
Alekseyev Karrde > Small ships in large numbers backed up by EWAR should be an appropriate counter to large ships
Alekseyev Karrde > 10s is a good compromise in my opinion
Hallan Turrek nods
Hallan Turrek > Do you have a problem with current cloaking mechanics?
Alekseyev Karrde > I do. I do not think non cov ops/black ops/recons should be able to inficloak
Hallan Turrek > Why not?
Alekseyev Karrde > AFK cloaking a rifter alt in someone's 0.0 just to mess with them should have a counter besides taking the risk it's not a rifter alt
Alekseyev Karrde > not to mention the stealth buff to macro hunting in 0.0
Hallan Turrek nods
Hallan Turrek > What changes could do that?
Alekseyev Karrde > Add a cap drain, cool down timer, those two are my favorite
Alekseyev Karrde > *cap drain or a cool down timer
Hallan Turrek > Cool down timer?
Alekseyev Karrde > aye, instead of infinitely repeating, extend the activation time to X minutes and then have a period of time during which it cant be activated
Alekseyev Karrde > like they do with doomsdays
Hallan Turrek nods
Hallan Turrek > RR mechanics seem to be an issue that is important to you. Is it broken?
Alekseyev Karrde > It's one of the two things ruining empire PVP
Hallan Turrek > How so?
Alekseyev Karrde > Neutral logistics ships or rr fit bs can be deployed to the field without your opponent being able to challenge their presence, they can then rep and turn the tide of the fight, and then instantly dock or jump (depending) the moment their tank is in
Alekseyev Karrde > danger of being broken
Hallan Turrek > You'd prefer an aggro timer then?
Alekseyev Karrde > aye
Hallan Turrek > Would that solve the problem?
Alekseyev Karrde > It'd allow players to solve the problem. With guns.
Alekseyev Karrde > There's little you can do about alts being on the field if they haven't revealed themselves to be helping your wartargets, but if you can make them pay for getting involved then that's good enough for me
Hallan Turrek > So what's the other issue that's ruining empire pvp?
Alekseyev Karrde > The unrealistic docking radius' of stations in EVE. This applies to lowsec and 0.0 as well
Alekseyev Karrde > Some caldari stations permit you to be over 50km from the actual skin of the station model before you read 1m away or greater on overview
Hallan Turrek > Can that be fixed?
Alekseyev Karrde > CCP has altered the spatial displacement of stations before, they can do it again
Hallan Turrek nods
Hallan Turrek > I believe that wraps it up then.
Hallan Turrek > Any links you'd like published with this interview?
Alekseyev Karrde > My forum campaign thread with updated links to everything in my campaign blog.
Hallan Turrek > Alright it was nice talking to you then.
Alekseyev Karrde > I'd also like to plug www.planetriskshow.com where I'll be making an appearance with other csm candidates for a debate soon.